Owner's Manual

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Margherita Pizza

The key to a good Margherita pie is a brightly-flavored raw tomato sauce

and good quality fresh mozzarella cheese. The last defining factor is the

basil, and there are three schools of thought to how basil is used on this

classic pizza. Perhaps the most traditional method is to place 4 whole

basil leaves on the pizza before it goes in the oven. The other popular

approach places the leaves on top when it comes out of the oven. The

last approach is to chiffonade the leaves and distribute all over the

pizza. We started doing the third option at demos and parties so that

everybody got some basil even when the pizza slices were quite small.

Feel free to add basil in whichever way you prefer. In the photo you can

see the chiffonade of basil distributed on top of the sauce and under the

cheese to help preserve a fresher flavor to the herb while still infusing the

whole pizza as it cooks.

Yields a 10 inch pizza

1 10-ounce ball Artisan Fire Pizza

Dough

2 ounces Raw Pizza Sauce

Pecorino Romano cheese

Extra virgin olive oil

4 basil leaves, cut chiffonade

2 to 3 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese,

cut into strips

Directions

Preheat the pizza oven for cooking with the upper burner control on

HIGH and the lower burner control on LOW.

Lightly dust the work surface and the dough ball with ‘00 ﬂour.

Working on a lightly-ﬂoured surface (we use Caputo ’00 ﬂour), form the

dough into a 10-inch pizza. Spread the sauce into an even layer. Grate

a little Pecorino onto the sauce using a microplane grater. Drizzle on

a swirl of olive oil. Distribute the basil, followed by the strips of fresh

mozzarella.

Transfer to the pizza oven directly on the cooking deck and bake for

2 to 3 minutes until the crust browned. Rotate several times for even

baking.

Remove, let rest for a minute or two, slice and serve.