Margherita Pizza on the Buschbeck Pizza Stone

If you only ever make one pizza on the Buschbeck, make it this one. Margherita is the test of everything - your dough, your sauce, your heat. There's nowhere to hide behind fancy toppings, so it has to be right.

This is the first pizza I slide into the oven every single time, before the toppings get ambitious and the kids start arguing over who gets the pepperoni. Good tomatoes, torn mozzarella, a scatter of basil. That's it.

Cooked properly on a Buschbeck pizza stone, with that rolling heat from a small bright fire, a Margherita takes two or three minutes. Blistered crust, molten cheese, a kitchen you didn't have to heat up. It's the pizza that converts people to cooking outdoors for life.

Makes 1 pizza · Fire: very hot · Cook: 2–3 min

Ingredients

• 1 ball My Everyday Pizza Dough (see Breads, Pizza & Flatbreads)
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) tinned crushed tomatoes
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• Pinch of sea salt
• 125 g (4 oz) fresh mozzarella, torn
• Handful of basil leaves
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• Semolina or flour, for dusting

Method

1. Heat the pizza oven insert until the stone reads about 400°C (750°F).
2. Mix the tomatoes with the garlic and salt. Stretch the dough into a 25 cm (10 in) round on a floured paddle.
3. Spread over the sauce, leaving a border, then scatter with mozzarella. Drizzle with a little oil.
4. Slide onto the stone and cook for 2–3 min, turning once, until puffed and blistered. Top with basil and serve.

Fire note: Keep a small, bright fire burning at the back of the oven so the flames roll over the top of the pizza. Use the wood pizza paddle to turn it halfway so it cooks evenly.

Buschbeck kit: Pizza Oven Insert · Wood Pizza Paddle · Infrared Thermometer

How to cook Margherita Pizza on a Buschbeck

The Buschbeck pizza oven insert is what makes this work. You want the stone screaming hot, around 400°C, before the dough goes anywhere near it. Get your fire going well ahead of time and let the stone soak up that heat properly - rushing this step is the number one reason home pizzas turn out pale and sad.

The trick with a wood-fired Margherita is keeping a small, bright fire burning at the back of the oven, not underneath your pizza. You want the flames rolling over the top, crisping the crust and melting the cheese from above while the stone handles the base. This is proper Buschbeck technique - heat from two directions at once.

Stretch your dough using my everyday pizza dough recipe, dust your paddle well with semolina so nothing sticks, and work quickly once it's topped. Slide it onto the stone with confidence - hesitating halfway is how you end up with a folded pizza and a bad mood.

Use the wood pizza paddle to give it a quarter turn halfway through cooking, because the heat at the back of the oven is rarely even all the way round. Two to three minutes is all it needs. Watch the crust, not the clock - you're looking for puffed, blistered and charred in spots, not burnt.

What to serve with Margherita Pizza

Keep it simple, the same way you kept the pizza simple. A big green salad with a sharp dressing cuts through the cheese nicely. If you've got the fire already roaring, start with fire-blistered tomatoes with burrata while the stone comes up to temperature, or follow the Margherita with a calzone for anyone still hungry.

FAQs

How hot should my Buschbeck be for Margherita pizza?

You want the pizza stone reading around 400°C (750°F) before you cook. An infrared thermometer takes the guesswork out of it.

Why does my pizza stick to the paddle?

Not enough semolina or flour underneath the dough, or you left it sitting too long before sliding it onto the stone. Dust generously and move quickly.

Can I use normal pizza dough on a Buschbeck?

Yes, any good dough works, though a higher-hydration dough handles the intense heat better and gives you that blistered crust.

Why do I need to turn the pizza on a Buschbeck?

The fire burns at the back of the oven, so heat isn't perfectly even. A quarter turn halfway through stops one side from burning before the other is cooked.

Get all 89 recipes in The Wood Fire Kitchen

Margherita Pizza is one of 89 recipes in my cookbook, The Wood Fire Kitchen: Recipes for your Buschbeck outdoor fireplace. It covers everything from lighting and reading the fire to pizza, grilling, the rotisserie, camp-oven dinners and desserts baked in the embers, with a Buschbeck kit note on every recipe so you know exactly which accessory to reach for.

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Want a look inside first? Grab the free sample on the book page, or browse more Buschbeck recipes.