Italia

Sácer

Italy

Tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil on a thin disc of slow-fermented dough, baked in under two minutes in a wood oven until the rim puffs and blisters: the pizza Margherita is the version of Neapolitan pizza against which every other pizza is measured, because it has nowhere to hide. The story Naples tells is that the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito made it in 1889 for Queen Margherita of Savoy in the colours of the new Italian flag; historians have found earlier mentions of the same combination, and the royal letter is of doubtful authenticity, but the name has stuck for over a century. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana has defined it since 1984: crushed San Marzano or other plum tomatoes, fior di latte or mozzarella di bufala, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil and salt, on a dough of flour, water, salt and yeast. Nothing else is a Margherita, whatever the menu says.

The dough is hydrated to around sixty percent, kneaded smooth, fermented for eight to twenty-four hours and shaped by hand from a ball of about 250 grams into a disc of 30 to 35 centimetres with the air pushed to the rim. The tomato is crushed raw with salt and spread thin in a spiral, leaving the cornicione bare. The mozzarella is torn or cut into strips, drained well so it does not flood the base, and scattered sparingly; buffalo mozzarella goes on in smaller pieces, sometimes after the first minute of baking. A few basil leaves and a thread of oil go on before the pizza slides into the oven, where the floor runs at around 430 to 480°C and the dome hotter. Sixty to ninety seconds, turned once, and it is out, served whole and uncut, to be eaten with a knife and fork or folded a portafoglio in the hand.

Judge the rim first: it should be puffed and soft, leopard-spotted with char, airy inside and not bready or dense. The centre should be thin and tender, slightly wet where the tomato and cheese meet, soft enough to fold but with enough structure to lift a slice. The tomato should taste fresh and bright, the mozzarella melted into islands with a little milk around them rather than a uniform rubbery sheet, the basil wilted but present, the oil tasting of olives. Mark down a pale rim, a cracker-crisp base, a soggy grey centre from a cool oven or too much topping, cooked tomato sauce with herbs or sugar in it, grated cheese that has gone oily, dried basil, and a pizza that has waited long enough for the base to stiffen. The Margherita is where a pizzeria shows whether its dough and its oven are right, and no amount of toppings on the other pizzas will compensate.

Pizza Margherita

Pizzeria La Roccia

One of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. The dough was one of its best, the basic toppings(tomato, mozzarella, basil) was in the best quality. Would recommend 100%

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Pizza Margherita

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