Neapolitan Margherita Pizza
Before you begin
- This is a Neapolitan pizza. Make sure you've gone through the Preheat tutorial and have a good understanding of how your oven works
- Make sure you've bought or made some Neapolitan Pizza Dough
- We recommend using a Pizza Peel (14" wide or less) to transfer your pizza. In a pinch you can use the backside of a flat pan.
Yield: 1 Pizza Margherita
Fresh Mozzarella: 6oz per pie
Italian San Marzano Tomatoes (check the label closely): 1 can
Salt: 1tbsp
Fresh Basil
Instructions:
- Remove dough from fridge at least two hours before making pizza
- Recommended: turn on your fan/vent for increased ventilation
- Preheat Pizza Shelf for Neapolitan Pizza
- Crush tomatoes in a large bowl with salt. Tomatoes should taste slightly salty, if they don't add a bit more salt until they do
- Rip mozzarella into chunks about the size of a golf ball (no need to be exact)
- Flour hands, counter, and pizza peel (or back of pan)
- Open your first dough ball to about 12" round (our friends over at Gozney have a great video here if you need help)
- Slide your dough onto your floured peel or back of pan. Shake your peel to make sure the dough isn't sticking. If it is, find the part that's stuck and add more flour underneath that spot.
- Quickly but neatly spoon some of your tomatoes onto the dough and lightly spread over the surface using the back of your spoon. You should have a very thin layer of tomatoes going all the way out to about a half an inch from the rim of the dough.
- Give the peel (or pan) a quick jiggle to make sure the dough is still loose and not stuck then add about 5 chunks of cheese.
- Open your oven and, using an oven mitt, pull out the top rack a bit to allow easy access to Pizza Shelf. Transfer your pizza onto your Pizza Shelf (once the dough touches, it will stick instantly, so aim for a spot near the back and withdraw your peel or pan in one quick smooth motion)
- Using an oven mitt, push the top rack back in and close your oven door
- In about 90 seconds, open the door and check your pie, you should see little dark blisters emerging on the surface of the dough. If the pizza appears to be cooking unevenly, rotate using your peel or a metal spatula
- When desired level of doneness is reached, remove pizza using your peel or a spatula onto a pan or cutting board. Top with fresh basil, (photograph, post to Instagram, #pizzashelf, etc), cut, and enjoy
- Your first pizza didn't come out perfect. That's ok. improve with the next one!
- Turn off your oven and leave Pizza Shelf inside until cool before cleaning (not less than 3 hours). We recommend Bar Keeper's Friend, warm water, and a sponge for cleaning. Be gentle on those Heatflection walls!