The first pizza you pull out of an outdoor oven will change your standard for what pizza is supposed to be. The crust blisters and chars in spots in under two minutes. The cheese melts without burning. The basil wilts from the residual heat after it comes out. The whole thing is fundamentally different from anything that has ever come out of your indoor oven, and you will understand immediately why people build outdoor kitchens around these ovens.
Getting there requires understanding two things: the dough and the technique. The toppings on a Margherita are simple enough that they are not the variable. The dough and the process are where the result is determined. This guide covers both completely.
The Dough
Neapolitan pizza dough uses four ingredients. Flour, water, salt, and yeast. The quality of each one matters. The process matters more. Do not rush it.
Ingredients for 4 Dough Balls (4 individual pizzas)
- 500g 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
- 325g cold water (65% hydration)
- 10g fine sea salt
- 2g instant dry yeast (less than half a teaspoon)
On the Flour
Use 00 flour. This is non-negotiable for authentic results. 00 flour is finely milled Italian flour with a specific protein content, typically 11 to 12.5%, that produces a dough with the right elasticity and extensibility for Neapolitan pizza. It stretches thin without tearing, produces a light open crumb inside the crust, and creates the characteristic char-blistered exterior at high temperature.
Bread flour is an acceptable substitute that will produce good results. All-purpose flour will work in a pinch but produces a denser, less extensible dough. Standard grocery store 00 flour labeled for pasta will not perform as well as 00 flour specifically milled for pizza, which is available at most specialty food stores and online.
On the Hydration
This recipe uses 65% hydration, meaning the water weight is 65% of the flour weight. This is at the lower end of the range for Neapolitan dough and is intentionally chosen for its workability. Higher hydration doughs, 70% and above, produce an airier, more open crumb but are significantly stickier and more difficult to shape without experience. Start at 65% and increase hydration in future batches as your handling skills develop.
On the Yeast
The quantity of yeast in this recipe is small deliberately. Less yeast means a slower, cooler fermentation that develops more complex flavor in the dough. A dough made with a quarter teaspoon of yeast fermented for 24 to 72 hours produces a noticeably more flavorful result than the same dough made with a full teaspoon of yeast and rushed to proof in three hours. The flavor of the crust is built during fermentation. Give it time.
Making the Dough
Day One: Mix and Bulk Ferment
Combine the flour and yeast in a large bowl and mix briefly to distribute the yeast evenly through the flour. Add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Add the water gradually to the flour mixture, incorporating as you pour. Mix until no dry flour remains and a shaggy dough forms. It will look rough and uneven at this stage. That is correct.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface without flour and knead for 10 to 15 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky but not sticky. The dough should pass the windowpane test: stretch a small piece gently between your fingers until it is thin enough to be translucent without tearing. If it tears immediately, knead for another five minutes and test again.
Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, and refrigerate for 24 hours minimum. 48 to 72 hours is better. The cold retards the yeast activity and the slow fermentation develops flavor compounds in the dough that a fast room-temperature proof cannot produce.
Day Two or Three: Divide and Ball
Remove the dough from the refrigerator two to four hours before you plan to cook. Allow it to warm at room temperature. Cold dough is stiff and resistant. Properly tempered dough is extensible, relaxed, and easy to stretch.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces of approximately 210g each. Shape each piece into a tight ball by folding the edges under themselves and rolling on the work surface with a cupped hand until the surface is taut and smooth. A tight ball holds its shape during the final proof and produces a better rise in the oven.
Place the dough balls on a lightly floured tray or in individual containers with enough space between them for expansion. Cover and allow to proof at room temperature for two to four hours until the balls have relaxed visibly and puff slightly when pressed with a floured finger.
The Toppings: Margherita
The Margherita is the test of any pizza oven and any pizza maker. Three toppings. No complexity to hide behind. Every element has to be right.
San Marzano Tomato Sauce
Use whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, DOP certified if available. Crush them by hand in a bowl until broken down to a rough, slightly chunky consistency. Add a pinch of fine sea salt and a small drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil. That is the sauce. Do not cook it. Do not add herbs, garlic, or sugar. The high heat of the oven will cook the sauce directly on the pizza in under two minutes. Raw sauce going into the oven produces the bright, fresh tomato flavor that defines Neapolitan pizza.
Use approximately three tablespoons of sauce per pizza, spread in a thin spiral from the center outward, leaving a one-inch border around the edge for the crust to puff and char.
Mozzarella
Use fior di latte, fresh cow's milk mozzarella, or buffalo mozzarella if you can source it. Both work. Buffalo mozzarella has a richer, slightly tangier flavor and higher moisture content. Fior di latte is milder and melts more evenly.
Tear the mozzarella into irregular pieces by hand rather than slicing it. Uneven pieces melt at slightly different rates and produce the characteristic pooled, blistered cheese appearance of a properly made Margherita. Remove mozzarella from its liquid and allow it to drain on a paper towel for at least thirty minutes before using. Excess moisture from undrained mozzarella will pool on the pizza and make the base soggy.
Use approximately 80 to 100g of mozzarella per pizza. Less than you think. The cheese expands as it melts.
Fresh Basil
Add fresh basil leaves after the pizza comes out of the oven, not before. Basil placed on the pizza before the cook will burn completely at oven temperatures of 800 degrees or above. Added after, the residual heat wilts the leaves perfectly without burning them.
Finishing Oil
A small drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil after the pizza comes out of the oven is the final touch. Use an oil with character, fruity and slightly peppery, not a neutral cooking oil. The flavor reads clearly on a simply topped Margherita.
Heating the Oven
Gas Pizza Ovens
Set the oven to its highest setting and allow it to preheat for a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes. The goal is a deck temperature of 750 to 850 degrees Fahrenheit. Use an infrared thermometer to measure the deck surface directly, not the dome temperature. The deck needs to be at full temperature to produce the rapid underside cook that lifts and chars the base correctly.
If the deck reads significantly hotter than the dome or vice versa, adjust the flame and give the oven additional time to equalize. A properly heated oven cooks the pizza from all directions simultaneously.
Wood-Fired Pizza Ovens
Build the initial fire in the center of the oven floor using kiln-dried hardwood, oak preferred, in small splits that ignite quickly. Allow it to establish before adding larger pieces. The dome will initially blacken with soot as the oven heats. When the dome clears from black back to its natural color, the oven has reached cooking temperature. This typically takes 45 minutes to an hour depending on oven size and starting temperature.
Once the dome clears, push the fire to one side of the oven using a fire poker. The cooking area is the center and opposite side of the floor from the fire. The flame curling across the dome radiates heat from above while the heated floor provides heat from below.
Check deck temperature with an infrared thermometer. Target 750 to 850 degrees Fahrenheit in the cooking zone. Manage temperature by adjusting fire size: add wood to increase heat, allow to burn down to reduce it.
Stretching and Launching
Stretching the Dough
Do not use a rolling pin. A rolling pin compresses the gas bubbles that have formed in the dough during fermentation and produces a flat, dense crust without the open, airy interior that characterizes great Neapolitan pizza.
Flour your work surface and your hands generously. Place a dough ball on the floured surface and press it flat from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving the outer inch of the dough untouched to form the crust rim. Lift the dough and allow gravity to stretch it, rotating it around your fists or using a gentle back-of-the-hand stretching technique. Work quickly and with confidence. Tentative, slow stretching tears the dough.
Target a stretched round of approximately 10 to 12 inches in diameter with an even thickness across the center and a slightly thicker rim. Small tears can be pinched closed from both sides. A thin spot that is not a full tear is acceptable. Perfection of shape is not necessary for great pizza. Even thickness across the cooking surface is.
Building the Pizza
Build the pizza on a well-floured pizza peel, not on a surface and then transferred. Semolina flour on the peel surface reduces sticking significantly better than 00 flour and is the standard choice for launching. Dust the peel generously with semolina, lay the stretched dough on it, and shake the peel gently to confirm the dough moves freely before adding toppings. A pizza that sticks to the peel before going into the oven will fold and collapse on launch.
Add sauce, then cheese. Work quickly. The longer the topped pizza sits on the peel, the more moisture the toppings transfer into the dough and the more likely it is to stick.
Launching
Open the oven. Position the peel at the back of the target landing zone at a low angle. Slide the pizza off the peel with a quick, confident forward-and-back motion. The forward motion starts the pizza moving off the peel. The quick pull back leaves it in the oven. This technique takes practice. Your first launch will feel uncertain. By your fourth or fifth pizza, it becomes natural.
Close the oven door or partially close the opening to retain heat.
Cooking and Turning
At 800 to 850 degrees Fahrenheit, a Neapolitan pizza cooks in 60 to 90 seconds. At 700 degrees it takes 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Below 650 degrees, the crust will cook through without the blistering and char that define the style.
Watch the pizza from the moment it launches. After 20 to 30 seconds, use a turning peel or a long-handled metal spatula to rotate the pizza 90 to 180 degrees, bringing the side facing away from the fire or the back of the oven toward the heat. Rotate once or twice during the cook to achieve even charring around the crust.
The pizza is done when the crust is blistered with leopard spots of char on the cornicione, the cheese is fully melted and beginning to show small golden spots, and the underside, checked briefly by lifting an edge, is a deep golden brown with a few dark spots.
Remove with the peel onto a cutting board. Add fresh basil immediately. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Slice and serve within two minutes. Neapolitan pizza at its best is eaten hot, standing up, within arms reach of the oven.
Getting Better at It
The first one will be imperfect. The shape will be uneven. The launch might be awkward. The char distribution will not be exactly right. Eat it anyway. It will still be the best pizza you have made.
By the third or fourth pizza of a session, the process becomes fluid. The dough handles differently once you understand how it behaves. The launch becomes reliable. You start to read the fire and know instinctively when to rotate.
The skill compounds quickly. Most people who make outdoor oven pizza more than twice develop genuine competence within a handful of sessions. The technique that felt foreign at first becomes one of the most satisfying things you do in your outdoor kitchen.
Beyond the Margherita
Once the base technique is established, the variations are endless. A few favorites that work particularly well at high outdoor oven temperatures:
- White pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, and thinly sliced garlic. No tomato sauce. Finish with fresh arugula and lemon after the cook.
- Nduja and honey. Spread nduja, the spreadable spicy Calabrian salami, in place of or alongside the tomato sauce. A light drizzle of wildflower honey after the cook balances the heat.
- Fig, prosciutto, and gorgonzola. Add the prosciutto and fresh figs after the cook to preserve their texture. The gorgonzola goes on before.
- Potato and rosemary. Thinly sliced potato, rosemary, good olive oil, and sea salt with no sauce. A Roman-style variation that surprises everyone who tries it.