The traditional Italian pizza has been modified over time by different cultures in order to adapt it to their specific tastes and available ingredients.

A lot of this pizza spinouts are known outside of the area where they’ve been invented, but other have managed to make a name for itself. This is definitely the case of Argentinian pizza. Argentina’s population was heavily influenced by Spanish and Italian immigrants, and so it is no surprise that pizza quickly became a basic of their cuisine.

Argentinian pizza is quite unique, particularly when it comes to it’s crust, which is a lot like bread, even crispy.

Today we are going to learn how to make our own Argentinian style pizza.

List of ingredients

  • All purpose flour
    1 Kilos (kg)
  • Salt
    2 Tea spoons (tsp)
  • Sugar
    1 Tea spoons (tsp)
  • Warm water
    2 1/2 Cups (c)
  • Active dry yeast
    15 Grams (g)
  • Extra virgin olive oil
    1/4 Cups (c)

Steps to make Argentinian Pizza Recipe

  1. Get the fermentation started

    Mix a couple table spoons of flour with the sugar, a little bit of water and all the yeast. Mix it all well and let it rest for 20 minutes. By then the mix should be roughly double the size and look quite spongy.

  2. Add the remaining ingredients

    Now add the rest of the flour, olive oil, the remaining water and the salt. Knead well until the dough is uniform and has an elastic texture.

  3. Split into three

    With a knife, cut the dough into three equal pieces and let them rest until they double in size, which should take roughly 1 hour.

  4. Stretch the dough

    On an oiled or flowered surface, stretch the dough with your fingers, giving it a round shape. You can also use a rolling pin, but don’t press to hard. The result should be a round pie, roughly half an inch thick (a little bit over 1 cm).

  5. Preheat the oven to 450 Fahrenheit (+200ºC)

    Turn on your oven. While it is heating up, add just a bit of sauce to the pie so that it will impregnate the dough before it starts cooking.

  6. Prebake for 3-4 minutes

    Now prebake your pie for 3-4 minutes. This is a key step in order to achieve the typical crunchiness of Argentinian pizza.

  7. Add sauce, cheese and toppings

    Lastly, add more sauce to your prebaked pie, mozzarella cheese and your favorite toppings. Then put it back in the oven and bake until the cheese melts.

Cooking tips

As already mentioned, one of the main characteristics of Argentinian pizza is it’s thick and crispy crust. Prebaking your pie is the first step to achieve that desired texture, but if you really want to achieve a result similar to what you would get in Argentinian pizzerias it is highly recommended to bake the pie on a pizza stone.

The pizza stone concentrates heat and will help the dough grow higher and give it an extra crisp.

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Most typical Argentinian pizzas

Argentinians are known for how creative they get with their pizza. They’ll put almost anything on pizza. Bacon, Ham, chorizo, mushrooms, olives, onions, corn, eggplant… you name it! And whatever toppings the choose, they go all in and put a ton of it!

It is not uncommon for restaurants to give a list of ingredients that you can choose from to make your own. They will usually also allow you to divide your pie in two and order half a pie with a bunch of ingredients and the other half with a different mix.

However, if one had to say what are some of the most traditionally Argentinian pizzas of all, probably pizza fugazza and pizza canchera would be the first to come to mind.

Pizza fugazza has it’s origins in Buenos Aires and consists in topping this very crust we just made with cheese, onions (lot’s of onions) and sometimes olives.

Pizza canchera is a cheese-less pizza made from this typical crust, covered with a special heavily seasoned sauce that is reach in garlic, onion and non-spicy pepper.

Pizza is one of those classic comfort foods that everyone loves. A piping hot pie with a crispy crust, fresh tomatoes, and gooey mozzarella is hard to resist. And while there are a million different ways to top a pizza, sometimes the simplest is the best. Case in point: the Margherita pizza.

A true Margherita pizza is made with just three ingredients – fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves. That’s it! But even with such few ingredients, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Keep reading for our tips on how to make the perfect Margherita pizza.

Use fresh ingredients

This one should be a no-brainer, but using fresh ingredients is key to making a great Margherita pizza. Fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil will give your pizza an amazing flavor. And while you can use canned tomatoes in a pinch, they will never taste as good as fresh.

We already shared with you the recipe of the classic pizza dough, so you can refer to this one to make your own, or buy 1 ball of a thin crust dough.

For the sauce and toppings, you’ll need:

List of ingredients

  • Plum tomatoes
    500 Grams (g)
  • Small garlic clove
    1 Grams (g)
  • Extra virgin olive oil
    1 Table spoons (tbsp)
  • Dried oregano
    ½ Tea spoons (tsp)
  • Fresh mozzarella cheese
    1 Cups (c)
  • Fresh basil leaves, for garnish
    4-5 Units
  • Salt

Steps to make Homemade Margherita Pizza Recipe

  1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit

    Do it in advance so that you don’t have to wait later! Depending on your oven you might want to start preheating it around step 4, maybe even earlier.

  2. Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface

    Or prepare your homemade neapolitan pizza dough with our recipe.

  3. Prepare the tomatoes

    Boil a large pot of water. Wash the tomatoes and cut a shallow “x” at the bottom of each tomato with a knife. Plunge the tomatoes in the boiling water gently, and wait until the skin starts to peel off. With a slotted spoon, transfer them into a bowl of iced water. Magic: the skin peels off by itself! Gently remove all the skin from the tomatoes.

  4. Make the pizza sauce

    Cut the garlic into a few rough pieces. Roughly cut the skinned tomatoes into chunks. Grab a blender and add the garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, and kosher salt inside. Once everything is inside, blend until it’s all combined smoothly.

  5. Prepare the cheese

    If the mozzarella is packed, drain it in the water before cutting it into slices.

  6. Assemble your margherita pizza!

    Spread the pizza sauce evenly on the whole pizza dough with a spoon. Start from the center and keep some blank spice for the crust on the edges! Do the same with the mozzarella. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

  7. Cook 10-12 min at 500ºF (260ºC)

    If you home oven does not reach a high enough temperature, just set it to the maximum. You can always use an oven stone to concentrate the heat, plus it will give your pie an extra crisp!

    Supervise so you won’t let it burn! You’ll know it’s good when the mozzarella has melted over the pizza and the edges are slightly brown.

  8. Add the basil and a drizzle of olive oil when out of the oven

    And voilà! You have the perfect homemade Margherita Pizza! Enjoy and tell us what you think!

And if you want your first homemade margherita pizza to be an authentic success, here are 4 tips that will make a difference in your cooking.

Don’t overdo it on the cheese

While you do want to use a decent amount of cheese on your pizza, you don’t want to go overboard. Too much cheese will make your pizza greasy and heavy. Stick to using fresh mozzarella, and use just enough to cover the pizza.

Other cultures, such as the Argentinian, like to put lots of cheese on their pizza, but traditional Italian pizza actually uses quite little quantities. On a traditional margherita pizza it is common for the cheese not to cover the whole pie. Just sprinkles of mozzarella are sufficient, and seeing the red color of the tomato sauce in between is perfectly fine.

Use a good quality olive oil

Another important ingredient in a Margherita pizza is olive oil. You’ll want to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. This will give your pizza great flavor. Be sure to to add the oil carefully though, you don’t want your pizza to be swimming in it.

Choose the right type of tomato

There are different types of tomatoes you can use for your Margherita pizza, but we prefer to use plum tomatoes. They have a firmer texture and not as much water content, which means they won’t make your pizza soggy.

Bake your pizza at a high temperature

Baking your pizza at a high temperature is crucial to getting a crispy crust. We recommend baking your pizza at 500 degrees Fahrenheit if possible for the best results, and always recommend using a pizza stone to make sure it is cooked evenly.

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Take your homemade pizza to the next level with this oven stone made of all natural Cordierite. Unlike with metal pans or trays, this pizza stone will give your crust an extra crisp.

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Neapolitan pizza is a style of pizza that originated in Naples, Italy. The dough is made with flour, water, salt, and yeast, and it is typically hand-stretched or rolled thin. Traditionally, this pizza is then baked in a wood-fired oven at a high temperature for a short period of time, resulting in a crispy crust.

It is also great for beginners, as it requires just a few simple ingredients, the recipe is very easy to follow and it cooks nicely in regular domestic ovens.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get cooking!

List of ingredients

  • Active dry yeast
    1 Table spoons (tbsp)
  • Sugar
    1 Tea spoons (tsp)
  • Lukewarm water
    1 1/2 Cups (c)
  • All-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
    4 Cups (c)
  • Salt
    1 Table spoons (tbsp)
  • Extra-virgin olive oil

As you can see the list of ingredients is short and straightforward. If you don’t cook much, active dry yeast might be the only ingredient you might not know, but do not worry, it is available in the baking aisle of most supermarkets.

If for whatever reason you cannot find active dry yeast in your local super market, or if you want to make this recipe even simpler, there are a variety of brands offering ready to use “pizza flour”, which is basically all-purpose flour already mixed with active dry yeast.

Steps to make Classic Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe

  1. Combine yeast, sugar and water

    In a large bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and lukewarm water. Stir to combine and let sit for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is foamy. (If you are using ready-to-use pizza though you can combine steps 1 and 2).

  2. Add flour and salt

    Add flour and salt to the bowl, and stir to combine. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. If you have an electric stand mixer handy, don’t hesitate to use it.

    If you are doing this by hand don’t get frustrated. The dough might look like you expect it for the first few minutes of kneading, but don’t worry, if you’ve measured the quantities right it will eventually become smooth and elastic.

  3. Let the dough rest

    Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place dough in the bowl (if you don’t have olive oil a little bit of butter can also do the trick). Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

  4. Divide in 4 equal pieces

    Turn out dough onto a floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces.

  5. Make a 12-inch thin circle

    Using your hands, press each piece of dough out into 12-inch circles.

  6. Add toppings

    Add tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and your favorite toppings.

    Traditional Neapolitan pizza usually have quite thick borders, so if you are looking for that traditional look remember not to spread the sauce all the way to the borders. Check the photo at the beginning of this post.

  7. Put it in the oven!

    Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (250 degrees C). Transfer to a pizza stone or baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and crispy.

Cooking tips

Although this classic Neapolitan pizza though can be cooked in a regular domestic oven just fine, the crust might not become as crispy as if cooked in a pizza oven. If you love your pizza crispy, but getting a pizza oven is not an option, using a pizza stone in your regular oven can really help take your homemade pizzas one step closer to the real thing, improving how their look and texture.

Keep them for later!

Neapolitan pizza dough can be frozen for up to 2 months. Complete the recipe up until step 4 and them simple place the dough pieces in freezer bags, getting as much air out as possible before sealing, or wrap them in plastic film.

When ready to use, let the dough thaw overnight in the fridge, and then proceed with the recipe as usual. In my experience unfreezing it in the microwaves does not work well. Even in defrost mode the dough will cook slightly, specially on the outside, while still being ball-shaped, and that will prevent it from cooking properly in the oven later.