Pizza Margherita — Italy

Pizza Margherita is a round, hand-stretched pizza topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil leaves, finished with a drizzle of olive oil. It belongs to the Neapolitan pizza family, defined by a soft, high-hydration dough that puffs at the rim and bakes quickly at very high heat. It is reported from Naples, where it is treated as a benchmark of the local pizza repertoire, and it is now made far beyond the city, in pizzerias worldwide that follow the same basic proportions of dough, tomato and cheese. Its topping is said to echo the red, white and green of the Italian flag, and the name is often linked to a queen of the same period. To prepare it, a dough of flour, water, salt and a small amount of yeast is kneaded, left to rise for several hours, then divided into balls and stretched by hand into a thin disc with a slightly thicker rim. It is spread with crushed tomatoes, dotted with torn mozzarella, and baked briefly in a very hot oven until the crust blisters and colours lightly, before being finished with basil leaves and a little olive oil. Pizzerias vary the flour blend, the length of fermentation, and the choice between fior di latte and buffalo mozzarella, which changes the crust from light and airy to denser and chewier, and the cheese from mild to richer and tangier. Some cooks add the basil before baking rather than after, but the plain combination of tomato, mozzarella and basil remains the recognisable core of the dish.