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DOUGHRISEFOUNDERS
Recipe
6 min read
Sourdough Pizza Margherita with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes & Fresh Basil
A classic sourdough Margherita pizza recipe with a slow-fermented base, blistered cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. Perfect for long summer evenings.
Top view of a baked Margherita pizza with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil leaves.The smell of a pizza base charring on a hot stone on a warm June evening is one of those things that genuinely stops you in your tracks. Windows open, something cool in hand, that first thin wisp of smoke curling up from the oven , there are worse ways to spend a Friday.
The Margherita is a recipe people often overlook in favour of something more complicated, but get the dough right and it is the purest expression of what sourdough pizza can be. A slow-fermented base with real depth of flavour, a quick no-cook tomato sauce, good mozzarella, and blistered cherry tomatoes that burst with sweetness when the heat hits them. Nothing hidden, nowhere to hide. The sourdough Margherita rewards patience and punishes shortcuts, which is exactly why it is worth mastering. This version uses a 65% hydration dough , manageable enough for a home baker but with enough water to give you that open, airy crumb and a crust that blisters properly under high heat.
Dough
- 500g strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 325g water, lukewarm
- 100g active sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 10g (2 tsp) fine sea salt
- 10g (2 tsp) olive oil
No-Cook Tomato Sauce
- 400g tin whole San Marzano tomatoes
- 2g (a generous pinch) fine sea salt
- 1g dried oregano
- 5g (1 tsp) olive oil
Toppings
- 250g fresh fior di latte mozzarella, torn
- 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
- A handful of fresh basil leaves
- Extra virgin olive oil, to finish
- Flaky sea salt, to finish
Baker's Tips
- Your starter needs to be properly active for this , peaked, bubbly, and passing the float test. If yours has been sitting in the fridge for a while, give it two feeds on the day before you plan to bake. Think of it like debugging: if the output is wrong, check the inputs first.
- Tear your mozzarella a couple of hours before baking and leave it on a plate lined with kitchen paper. Getting rid of excess moisture means you will not end up with a soggy base, especially on a home oven that cannot reach Neapolitan temperatures.
- If you are baking multiple batches or scaling this recipe up to feed a crowd regularly, the DoughRise Bakery plan is worth a look , it handles commercial batch scaling, team accounts, and bakery cost reporting, so the numbers stay under control when you move beyond the home kitchen.
METHOD
- Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour and water and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and leave to rest for 45 minutes. This short rest (autolyse) lets the flour hydrate fully before you add anything else.
- Add starter and salt. Add the active sourdough starter and the salt, then squeeze and fold the dough until both are fully incorporated. It will feel slightly sticky and rough at first , that is fine. Drizzle in the olive oil and fold it through. Cover and leave at room temperature.
- Build strength with folds. Over the next 3 to 4 hours, perform 4 sets of coil folds roughly 45 minutes apart. To coil fold, wet your hands, slide them under the dough, lift the centre, and let the ends fold underneath. Rotate the bowl 180 degrees and repeat. After each set the dough will feel noticeably more elastic and hold its shape better.
Why this works
Coil folds build gluten structure without overworking the dough, which keeps gas bubbles intact as fermentation progresses. The olive oil added at mixing coats the gluten strands slightly, which contributes to a more extensible dough , easier to stretch without tearing. At 65% hydration, there is enough water to encourage good fermentation activity and an open crumb, while still giving you a dough that is manageable to shape by hand.
- Divide and ball. Once the dough has grown by around 50% and feels airy and pillowy (usually after 4 to 5 hours at around 22°C), tip it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 4 equal portions of roughly 235g each. Shape each into a tight ball by folding the edges underneath and rolling it against the surface to build tension. Place each ball into a lightly oiled container or tray, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight (8 to 12 hours). Cold retarding slows fermentation and develops the flavour significantly.
INTO THE OVEN
- Preheat hard and long. Place a heavy baking steel or the thickest baking tray you own on the highest rack in your oven. Set the temperature to its maximum (usually 250–280°C for a home oven) and leave it to heat for at least one hour. The thermal mass in the steel or tray is what drives the bottom-crust char. If you have a grill (broiler) function, switch it on for the last 5 minutes of preheating.
- Make the sauce. Crush the San Marzano tomatoes by hand directly into a bowl. Add the salt, oregano, and olive oil. Do not cook it. A raw sauce stays bright and jammy in the oven's heat rather than turning dull. Taste and adjust the salt.
- Take the dough out early. Remove your dough balls from the fridge at least 60 to 90 minutes before baking. Cold dough tears rather than stretches, and you want the gluten relaxed before you open the pizza out.
- Stretch each base. Flour your surface generously. Press a dough ball flat with your fingertips, working from the centre outwards. Leave a slightly thicker rim around the edge , that is your crust. Once it is about 20 centimetres across, pick it up and gently drape it over your knuckles, letting gravity stretch it to around 28 to 30 centimetres. No rolling pin. A rolling pin degasses the dough and you will lose the blistered, airy crust you worked all day for.
- Top and bake. Lay the stretched base on a well-floured pizza peel or a piece of baking parchment. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of sauce onto the base and spread it to within 2 centimetres of the edge. Scatter the torn mozzarella and the halved cherry tomatoes. Slide carefully onto the hot steel and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, keeping an eye on the crust and turning the pizza halfway through if your oven has hot spots.
- Finish and serve. Pull the pizza when the crust is deeply golden with dark, charred spots and the cheese is molten and bubbling. Drape fresh basil leaves over the top immediately, finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of flaky salt, and serve straight away. Repeat with the remaining balls.
Want to dial in this recipe for different batch sizes or flour types? Use the free DoughRise Hydration Calculator to calculate exactly the right ratios for your flour and batch size.
Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store
Photo by Valentin Angel Fernandez on Pexels