A la Neopolitan pizza
When I was in Naples, I learned that when you have something traditional on a menu such as Bolognese, you have to call it “A la bolognese” if it’s a restaurant that is not located in Bologna. So, this is “A la Neopolitan pizza,” which I also studied hard in Naples. I mean, you have to try them all, and the toughest question to answer was which was better…
For me, it’s mine. I know, I know, that seems a bit braggy, but that’s just the way it is. Good Neapolitan pizza takes time. You have to respect every step, and it will reward you with the most perfect, chewy, aromatic pizza… When you combine my recipe and Glowen oven, you get a real Neopolitan experience at your doorstep, yup, real, not the “a la” one.
Ingredients
4 pizzas:
- 500g 00 flour, 12% protein minimum (I use caputo, pizzeria)
- 320g lukewarm water (yup, weigh your water)
- 15g salt
- 1g of fresh yeast
- Toppings: fresh mozzarella, pelati, and meat of your choice.
Instructions
Day 1.
- Take half the water and dissolve yeast in it. Add a spoonful of flour (from 500g) and mix. Add salt and stir everything together.
- Mix this into the flour thoroughly. Add the rest of the water, little by little, until it’s all incorporated, and then knead the dough on a surface until you get a nice, smooth dough. (About 5 minutes).
- Cover your dough with a damp cloth and set aside for 1.5h .
- After that, divide the dough into four equal parts and form a ball from each part.
- Gently flour plastic containers and place pizza balls in them. They will spread, so you better use individual for every one if you don’t have one big proofing box.
- Sprinkle flour on top of the balls as well, and then cover it tightly and leave it at room temperature for 5 hours, putting it in the fridge over night.
Day 2.
- Pizza day, yay. You will pull it out of the fridge 2h before baking the pizza.
- To form a dough, you take a ball and put it on a lightly floured surface.
- In the middle of a dough, you put your 4 fingers and then poke the dough through the middle, leaving 1cm of dough untouched – rim/cornishon.
- Strech the dough with both hands until it is around 22cm in a diameter.
- For topping, first put tomato sauce, then mozzarella, and then meat of your choice!
- Bake it in a Glowen oven that had been heating up for 15 minutes.
- Bake it for a 1,5-2 minutes. You have to turn in when you see that the side is getting color.
- Top it with some olive oil and have a blast.