Pizza Marinara

The oldest and most austere of Neapolitan pizzas: a thin, blistered disc of dough spread with crushed San Marzano tomatoes, sliced garlic, a heavy scattering of dried oregano, and olive oil, baked fierce and fast, with no cheese at all

Origin: Naples, Italy

From the journey of Oregano.

The pizza marinara is the elder of the two canonical Neapolitan pizzas (the other being the Margherita), and the one in which oregano is the star. It has no cheese: only crushed tomatoes, slivers of garlic, a generous storm of dried oregano, olive oil, and salt on a thin, soft, charred Neapolitan crust. Its name has nothing to do with seafood; it is la marinara, 'the mariner's wife's pizza', the cheap, keeping pizza that a fisherman's wife could make for her husband returning from the sea. Stripped of cheese, it lays bare the partnership at the heart of southern Italian cooking, tomato and oregano, and shows why oregano, more than any other herb, is the taste of pizza.

Ingredients

Dough

500 g Italian '00' flour (or strong bread flour)
325 ml water
3 g instant dried yeast
10 g salt

Topping

400 g tinned San Marzano (or good plum) tomatoes, crushed by hand
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp dried oregano
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
0.5 tsp salt (for the tomato)

Method

Make the dough: mix the flour, water, and yeast to a shaggy dough, leave 15 minutes, then add the salt and knead 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Prove, covered, for 2 hours, then divide into 4 balls and prove a further 1 to 2 hours (or refrigerate overnight for the best flavour).
Up to an hour before baking, heat the oven as hot as it will go (250°C/480°F or higher) with a baking stone or heavy steel inside. Crush the tomatoes by hand and season with the 0.5 tsp salt; do not cook them.
On a floured surface, gently stretch a dough ball into a thin disc about 28cm across, leaving a slightly thicker rim. Do not use a rolling pin; press and stretch with your hands to keep the air in the rim.
Spread a thin layer of crushed tomato over the base to the rim. Scatter over the sliced garlic and a generous tablespoon of dried oregano, and drizzle with olive oil.
Slide onto the hot stone and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until the crust is puffed and charred in spots and the tomato is bubbling. Repeat with the remaining pizzas.
Finish with a final small pinch of oregano and a thread of raw olive oil, and eat at once.

Notes

The marinara is a lesson in restraint: with no cheese to hide behind, the quality of the tomato, the oregano, and the crust is everything. Use the best tinned San Marzano tomatoes and a good, pungent dried oregano. A few basil leaves are sometimes added, but the classic marinara is tomato, garlic, and oregano alone. The same topping is excellent on a thicker home-style tray bake if a Neapolitan-style crust is beyond your oven.

The Gastrographer

Name: Pizza Marinara
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 500 g Italian '00' flour (or strong bread flour); 325 ml water; 3 g instant dried yeast; 10 g salt; 400 g tinned San Marzano (or good plum) tomatoes, crushed by hand; 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; 2 tbsp dried oregano; 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 0.5 tsp salt (for the tomato)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control