Princess
How to make the "Best Pizza at Sea" at home
Craving a taste of our renowned pizza? We share our much-loved margherita recipe, so you can share a slice with your family at home
Our hand-tossed, Neapolitan-style pizza, which is freshly baked out on deck on all of our ships, has got a serious reputation. Our guests regularly give us rave reviews and USA TODAY even hailed it as the "Best Pizza at Sea". But as we can't offer you a slice of our famed dough right now, we thought we'd do the next best thing and share our special margherita pizza recipe, so you can make it at home with your loved ones instead.
A margherita from Verdi's Pizza, one of our onboard pizzerias © Princess
Ingredients
(Makes 2 x pizzas)
FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH
385g plain flour
2 teaspoons active or instant yeast
1 pinch of sugar
240ml lukewarm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Extra flour for dusting and lining the bottom of pan
FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE
2 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH
• If you're using active dry yeast, dissolve it, along with a pinch of sugar, in 2 tbsp of water. Then let the yeast and water mixture sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded.
• Combine the yeast, flour, lukewarm water and olive oil, and then mix together.
• Add the salt and mix for five more minutes, creating a pizza dough that's smooth and firm.
• Remove from the dough from the bowl and place in a covered container overnight in the fridge.
• When ready to use, remove the dough from the fridge and divide into 2 equal ball-shaped pieces.
• Spray or sprinkle the balls of dough with a little olive oil and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour, covered loosely with cling film.
• Preheat oven to 230C (210C fan oven).
• Dust a flat surface with flour and gently press one ball of dough into a disk shape
• Sprinkle the dough disc with a little flour and stretch into a large, round pizza base. Dip your fingertips into flour if the dough gets sticky to touch.
• Carefully transfer the dough base onto either a pizza pan or baking sheet that has been dusted with flour to prevent sticking.
• Top the base with the tomato sauce (see cooking method below), mozzarella cheese and any other desired toppings.
• Bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes, or until the cheese and crust are golden.
FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE
• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and sauté lightly.
• Add the tomatoes and bring to boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer until the tomatoes have reduced by one third.
• Add dried oregano and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• For a smoother sauce, pulp the tomato sauce in a hand blender. If not, simply allow sauce to cool before spreading on pizza dough.