Wood-Fired Pizza

A Neapolitan pizza spends only 60 to 90 seconds in an oven like this, where the floor runs far hotter than any home oven can manage. That quick blast puffs up the rim and leaves the dark leopard spots on the crust. In this pizza jigsaw puzzle a Margherita has just come out of a wood-fired oven onto a floury peel. The name is said to honor Queen Margherita of Italy, who tried a pizza in the colors of the flag on a visit to Naples in 1889.