Have you been to a little Italy before, and got some of the best pizza of your life? Most likely it is a Neapolitan pizza. Neapolitan-style pizza is the “attempted” recreation of the pizza style traditionally made in Naples, Italy.

Traditional Naples Pizza usually involves cooking the pizza in a VERY hot pizza wood-fired oven (like 1000° type of hot). It also uses fresh mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, and in general simple toppings.

That being said this is Neapolitan “style”. You are riffing on the beautiful pizza that Naples originated and trying to make the style your own. We do a lot of sausage/onion toppings, but sometimes we add ricotta, pepperoni, banana peppers.

Also, I have made this pizza a lot. I mess up on it still because the dough can be a bit finicky since it is fermented over a couple days and gets soft. If the dough is not kneaded long enough, it just doesn’t taste as good. Not saying it isn’t worth it, just saying that is is ok if it doesn’t turn out your first time. But hey, that is how all cooking/baking is. Practice really does make perfect and “bad” pizza is still great food!

Recipe – pizza dough

• 250g of 00-flour (can use all purpose if you do not have 00)
• 150g Water
• 1.25 tbsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 1/8 tsp Instant Yeast

• Canned tomatoes (I Use)
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Pecorino Romano or Parmesan
• Your favorite toppings!

This will make one pizza!

Tip to keep in mind

1. Adding the small amount of yeast and sugar is very important! This dough rises at room temperature for a while. If you add too much yeast or sugar that will alter how much the pizza dough rises. Pizza dough isn’t meant to rise like normal bread dough.
2. This pizza dough takes at least 1 day of proofing! So you would need the make the dough the day before you cook with it.
3. If you don’t want to let the pizza rise at room temperature, you can let it do a slower rise in the fridge. This would need at least 48-72 hours in the fridge. If you do this route, make sure you take it out of the fridge to get to room temp before stretching it (~4 hours).
4. This recipe doesn’t use olive oil, because at high temps the oils burn. Some people like to coat the dough while it proofs to make it easier to handle, that is optional to you.
5. Using a kitchen-Aid is a good option for kneading!

Instructions – pizza dough

1. Mix the following ingredients in a bowl and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes
   • The dough should be combined and smooth!
   • To know if your dough is done – you can poke it and it should spring back!
2. Sprinkle the bowl you made your dough in with flour and cover the bowl with a wet towel (this helps the dough stay moist). I let this rest for 2 hours.
3. After 2 hours of the dough resting you will form this into a pizza-dough ball. I generally multiply the recipe to make a couple pizzas. If you do this, this is the stage you separate your dough into how many pizzas you are making, then form them into the pizza balls.
4. I store my pizza-dough balls in Tupperware so they are sealed and easy to store. I flour the bottom of the Tupperware and sprinkle flour over the top too and close the lid on! Then we let the dough rest for 24 hours.
   • Ideally room temp is around 60°-70°. If your house is warmer, try to find a cool spot, or you want to let it rise in the fridge
   • After your dough proofs in room-temp, you can also put it in the fridge for a couple of days before using. Just make sure you let it warm up before using.

instructions – baking the pizza

1. Set your oven rack to the top setting, and turn your oven to the highest temperature point. My oven goes up to 550°, so that is what I use.
   • I also use my pizza stone, so I make sure to have that warming up while the oven pre-heats.
   • If you do not have a pizza stone, you can use an inverted baking sheet. This will need to preheat as well (We use this to help cook the pizza bottom faster and evenly)
2. Making Pizza Sauce: I combine tomatoes, 1 tbsp of sugar, and salt to taste. Feel free to add in any Italian seasonings you like. I combine in a blender.
3. Once the oven is preheated, I will start stretching my dough, making sure to not press on the crust area. Make sure you use flour while stretching the dough, to make sure it doesn’t stick.
   • Not stretching the crust is a very important step! I still struggle with this, but it is so worth it for the crust to rise and be so beautiful!
   • Here is a great video from a channel I really enjoy, Vincenzo’s Plate, on how to stretch the dough!
4. Time to assemble your dream pizza! If you have a pizza peel that is sweet – feel free to use that to assemble the pizza on. Or just pull out the preheated surface you plan to cook on, and assemble your pizza on that.
5. Once I put my pizza in the pre-heated oven, I turn on my broil setting and let it cook. I check it to make sure it is not burning, but crisping beautifully.
6. Time depends on how my oven is feeling that day. Just keep an eye on it, usually it is 5-10 minutes until it is cooked though.
7. Enjoy!

(Sorry for the bad picture quality – I was starving and it was night time. Lighting was off and I didn’t care at the time to fix it).

Let me know how the recipe works out for you, good luck and be patient!

If you like this recipe – check out my New York Style Pizza recipe.

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