Neapolitan and home-style pizzas, with high-hydration doughs slow-fermented for flavour and structure. Toppings stay restrained: san marzano tomato, fior di latte or fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil and a few well-chosen extras. Whether wood-fired or baked at home, the goal is a charred, airy crust under fresh, simple toppings.
A breadlike yeasted dough is pressed into 23 cm cake tins, given a thick rim, and baked over a deeply reduced tomato sauce sharpened with red wine, vinegar, Worcestershire and Tabasco. Two kinds of salami sit beneath grated mozzarella and cheddar, with jalapeños scattered on top. The pan technique gives a chewy crumb and a crisp, cheese-lacquered base.
A high-hydration overnight dough that sits in the fridge for 8 to 24 hours, slowly building flavour while you sleep. The blend of plain flour for tenderness and strong bread flour for chew gives a base that's crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. Each portion stretches into a 25 to 30 cm round, ready to top and bake on a hot stone.
A pizza built on layered heat: nduja, roquito peppers, fresh green chilli, Calabrese sausage and a touch of dried oregano. After baking, torn fior di latte and a watercress-pesto salad are scattered on top for cool, peppery contrast. A bold pizza that needs a properly hot oven and a confident hand with the spice.
The calzone is pizza's elegant cousin, pizza dough folded like an envelope and sealed, enclosing a luxurious filling of pancetta, cherry tomatoes, ricotta, and basil. The sealed construction creates its own moist environment, keeping the filling tender while the exterior becomes crisp and golden. This is rustic Italian cooking with refinement.
A solo calzone built around a béchamel base rather than the more common tomato sauce, giving the filling a richer, lasagna-like character. Cooked chicken, prosciutto, button mushrooms and spinach pile onto a single oval of thin pizza dough, drenched in white sauce and folded into a sealed half-moon. Two finishing flourishes lift the bake: a final brush of garlic butter and a snowfall of grated Riserva that bubbles in the last minute.
The dough is baked plain with just tomatoes and oil, then crowned off the heat with torn burrata, a herb pesto of basil, mint and parsley, and a tangle of rocket and parmesan shavings. The pesto is what carries the flavour; the burrata adds creamy contrast to the bright, lightly cooked tomatoes. A pizza that depends entirely on good produce.
This is a pizza with substance and spice. A generous topping of seasoned beef and kidney beans sits over a thin crust, topped with a blend of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. The beef is properly browned and simmered to develop flavor, while chillies and cumin add warmth and complexity. This is not minimalist Italian pizza; this is bold, flavorful, filling pizza.
Three margherita-style pizzas with a long-cooked plum tomato ragù as the base, topped with thinly sliced chorizo, capers, olives and torn buffalo mozzarella. The chorizo crisps and renders its smoky, paprika-rich oil over the cheese as it bakes. A scatter of fresh basil at the end adds the herbal lift.
A weeknight-friendly calzone built on a packet ciabatta mix that handles the dough work without a long prove. The filling is garlicky kale wilted briefly in olive oil, sharpened with fresh red chilli, then folded over a generous dollop of ricotta or mozzarella into pasty-shaped half-moons. Baked at moderate heat for 15 to 20 minutes; the dough puffs, the cheese melts, and the kale stays bright.
Mini beef meatballs are first browned, then finished simmering in a quick passata sauce sharpened with vinegar, oregano and chilli flakes. They're scattered over two pizza bases alongside diced mozzarella, sliced pepperoni, spicy cured sausage, green pepper and red onion. A short, hot bake melts everything together; oregano and chilli at the end keep the heat going.
A small pizza built on tomato sauce and cubed mozzarella, baked until crisp and finished with sun-dried tomatoes, rocket, a drizzle of Caesar dressing, oven-crisped pancetta, oregano and Grana Padano. The trick is crisping the pancetta in advance so the finished pizza has texture, not just flavour. Comes together quickly once the dough is shaped.
This is the French answer to Neapolitan pizza. Where Italian pizza celebrates tomato, French pissaladières celebrate caramelized onions cooked until they're almost jam-like in their sweetness and tenderness. A lattice of anchovy fillets and scattered black olives provide salt and briny depth against the onions' sweetness. Baked on a thin pizza crust, this is elegance and restraint.
This is the essence of pizza. A thin, crisp crust topped with a simple tomato sauce, creamy fresh mozzarella, marinated cherry tomatoes, and just-wilted basil. The beauty lies in ingredient quality and the technique of assembly. Each component matters. Too much topping drowns the crust; too little leaves an empty plate. This is balance and respect for simplicity.
Pizza sauce is deceptively simple yet entirely dependent on quality ingredients and proper technique. San Marzano tomatoes are preferred for their low acidity and sweet flavor. The sauce is briefly cooked, never long-simmered, to preserve the fresh tomato character. Garlic, oregano, and basil are the only seasonings; they should enhance, never dominate. This is the classic sauce of Naples and New York, used for Margherita and simple cheese pizzas.
The dough is a quick mix of plain flour, baking powder and Greek yogurt, rolled out and griddled in a hot pan rather than baked. Fennel wedges are charred separately, then a sausagemeat-and-spinach mixture is spread over the cooked base with ricotta and parmesan, and the lot is finished under the grill. A 35-minute pizza that doesn't need a stone or a long prove.
Two pizza bases topped with passata, salami, dollops of bolognese and grated mozzarella, drizzled with chilli oil and baked until bubbling. Fresh basil and more chilli oil at the table finish the dish. The pizza relies on a good bolognese; using leftover sauce from the fridge actually improves it.
A no-yeast dough rolled thin and topped with a crème fraîche, parmesan, lemon and nutmeg sauce, finished with thinly sliced salad onions, red onion and smoked pancetta. The lack of tomato keeps the flavour focused on the savoury richness of the pancetta and the slight sweetness of the onions. A 30-minute pizza that needs nothing more than a hot oven.
A make-ahead calzone built around a deeply reduced chorizo ragù sharpened with paprika and chilli flakes. The sauce simmers for 20 minutes until thick before being parcelled inside ciabatta-mix dough with cubes of mozzarella, sealed with a steam hole, and frozen flat. Pull one (or six) from the freezer, bake at 220°C, and you have a crisp, bubbling calzone in 30 minutes.
Wilted spinach with onion, garlic and thyme is spread over pre-prepared pinsa bases, topped with fontina or mozzarella, pine nuts and parmesan, then baked briefly until the cheese is golden. The slow-fried onion is the flavour foundation; everything else cooks fast in the oven. A vegetarian pizza that lets the cheese and pine nuts do the heavy lifting.
A bricklayer's calzone: pizza dough rolled into a 12 by 18 inch rectangle, brushed with garlic-oregano butter, layered with deli meats, fresh basil and two cheeses, then rolled tight and baked on a hot pizza stone. The crust crisps fast at 200°C; the cheeses melt into the meats inside; a final brush of garlic butter and a scatter of parmesan make the outside glossy. Cuts into thick pinwheel slices, ideal for sharing.
A fresh-yeasted bread-flour dough proves for an hour while a deeply reduced tomato sauce simmers with shallots, garlic, red wine, basil and oregano. The dough is rolled into 30 cm circles, topped with sauce and grated mozzarella, and baked on a screaming-hot baking sheet. Whole basil leaves added off the heat keep the herbal lift fresh on the plate.