GregaIvancic
Essential Ingredients
Toppings (Classic Margherita 1 Pizza)
Neapolitan Pizza Dough (for 6 pizzas)
Equipment
Step by Step Instructions
1
Dough Preparation
- Dissolve yeast in the water: Pour the water in a large bowl and mix in the yeast.
- Mix the salt in the flour: We mix the salt in the flour so it will be more distributed all over the mixture, and it won’t affect the fermentation that fast.
- Gradually add flour: Mix in the flour slowly, little by little, until you don’t incorporate the whole flour into the mix and knead until the dough is not sticky on touch, then cover it, leave it resting about 5-10 min, and knead it again until it's not smooth.
- Bulk fermentation (rest time): Cover the dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let it rest for 20min or until it doubles.
- Final proofing stage (Portion the dough): Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and shape into balls. Let them rest, covered in the dough tray, for another 48 hours.
2
Assembling and Baking
- Preheat the oven: Heat your oven to the highest temperature (250–300°C), ideally using a pizza stone or steel. Alternatively, bake in a wood-fired or gas oven at 450–500 °C.
- Tomato sauce: Crush the tomatoes in a bowl, add a pinch of salt. No cooking required!
- Shape the dough: On a floured surface, gently stretch a dough ball into a circle (about 30 cm diameter). Avoid using a rolling pin to preserve air in the crust.
- Add toppings: Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce, add mozzarella fior di latte, and place fresh basil leaves. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top.
- Bake: Bake in the hot oven for 4–7 minutes (depending on your home oven). In a wood/gas-fired oven, it takes about 60–90 seconds.
- Serve: Enjoy the pizza immediately while it's hot.
What Makes Neapolitan Pizza Dough Unique?
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, or AVPN for short, is serious about pizza. Based in Naples, they’ve a long list of rules for making Neapolitan pizza dough the traditional way. Everything from the ingredients to how it’s cooked has to meet their high standards.
To dive deeper, the AVPN’s rules cover the type of flour, water, salt, and yeast that can be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer.
Baking has to be done in a wood-fired oven at a scorching 480°C (900°F) for just 60-90 seconds.
Historical Roots
Neapolitan pizza has its historical roots in 18th century Naples, Italy. It began as a simple flatbread eaten by the poor, topped with tomatoes from Peru. In 1889, Raffaele Esposito created the famous Pizza Margherita for Queen Margherita, using tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. This set the standard for authentic Neapolitan pizza.
Neapolitan Pizza Ingredients explained
To dive deeper, the AVPN’s rules cover the type of flour, water, salt, and yeast, which can be used in Neapolitan Pizza. In addition they set a standard on how dough must be kneaded and properly baked.
Flour
00 flour is a must-have for crafting genuine Neapolitan pizza crust. It's fine texture and lower protein content will give the crust that soft, delicate feel.
The fine milling gives the dough a smooth texture that’s easy to handle, and the low hydration keeps it from getting too sticky, making it simple to work with.
It’s our go-to for consistently great pizzas in the wood-fired oven.
KEEP IN MIND: All-purpose flour works if needed, but 00 is the secret to getting that real Naples-style bite.
Water
Water temperature is key for your Neapolitan pizza dough. Aim for around room temp, or 20-25°C (68-77°F).
The recipe needs 325ml of water. This amount of water compared to the flour gives a 62% hydration level.
The dough will be supple and stretch easily, perfect for those thin, crispy Neapolitan crusts.
Hydration Ratios
The hydration ratio is the amount of water relative to flour in a dough.
For Neapolitan pizza, we want a hydration ratio of 60-65%. That means for every 1000g flour, we use 600-650g water.
Higher hydration doughs are more elastic and sticky, but give a softer, airier crust with nice bubbles when baked.
Yeast
Yeast is a living organism that helps bread rise by producing carbon dioxide gas. This gas creates bubbles in the dough, causing it to expand and become light and airy.
When we make pizza dough, we use a small amount of yeast because we want the dough to rise slowly over several hours. This slow fermentation process allows the dough to develop complex flavors and a chewy texture.
To use yeast in pizza dough, we:
1. Measure it carefully
2. Dissolve it in water before adding to the flour
3. Let the dough rise at room temperature
4. Refrigerate the dough if not using right away
Salt
We recommend using 2-3% salt relative to the flour weight, which equates to about 20g of salt per 1kg (8 cups) of flour.
We suggest experimenting with different salt levels to find the perfect balance for your taste. Too little salt (0%) can result in overproofed dough that bursts, while too much (6%) can hinder rising and create an unpleasantly salty flavor.
Aim for around 2-3% salt, and you’ll have an elastic dough that rises well and tastes great after proofing for 2 hours at 23°C (73°F).
TIP: Fine sea salt or table salt work best as they dissolve easily in the dough. Coarse salt can lead to gritty deposits in the crust so we don’t use it.
The Mixing and Kneading Process
When it comes to kneading pizza dough, we prefer using our hands over a machine. Hand kneading gives us a better feel for the dough’s texture, allowing us to make adjustments as needed.
Mixers can be handy, but they often warm up the dough too much, making it gummy.
We knead the dough for more or less 10-20 minutes for a 1 kg batch.To test if you’ve kneaded enough, do the windowpane test - stretch a small piece of dough until it’s translucent without breaking.
After kneading, we shape the dough into a ball, put it in an oiled bowl, and let it rise for 1-72 hours. While rising, the gluten keeps developing and traps the gas bubbles made by the yeast. This gives our crust a light, airy texture.
Fermentation and Proofing
Fermentation and proofing are two key phases in making pizza dough that work together to develop flavor, texture, and elasticity.
In the bulk fermentation phase, the dough rises as a single mass, allowing time for flavors to develop and gluten to form. This creates a dough with better structure and taste.
Next, the dough is divided into individual balls for a final proofing phase. During this step, the gluten relaxes further, making the dough easier to stretch and shape into a pizza crust. Proofing also allows the dough to develop even more flavor before baking.
By controlling time and temperature during fermentation and proofing, you can create a pizza dough with the ideal balance of flavor, texture, and workability.
Multiple Fermentation Phases
You can tell the dough is ready when it’s doubled in size after the bulk fermentation.
Next, shape the dough into balls for the final proofing stage, where they’ll puff up further.
To check if the dough is fully proofed, gently poke it - if it springs back slowly, leaving a small dent, it’s time to stretch the dough and get baking!
