Pizza Neapolitan
A thin-base pizza with a large, airy, yet crispy crust. The Neapolitan is widely considered to be a benchmark to test the skill of a pizza maker.
Skill Level
This style of pizza requires a high level of skill when it comes to dough handling and it requires a lot of practice to get right. If you are new to making this style of pizza, I recommend making an extra dough ball or two. Use the extra to practice shaping the dough and as a backup in case you end up ruining one of the pizzas while handling.
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Your Recipe
Time Required
Prep
3 Hours
Prove
30 Hours
Cook
10 Mins
1-2 Mins
Equipment
Digital Scale
Pizza Peel
Airtight Container
Food Processor
Stand Mixer (optional)
Pizza Stone
Frying Pan
Ingredients
The Poolish Recipe
Popular in French baking, poolish is a high hydration flour, water and yeast mixture that we will pre-ferment ahead of time. Overall, it reduces the effort of making the dough and greatly improves its gluten structure. Having a good gluten structure means that we'll have a more elastic dough that is easier to handle. On top of this, it also adds a ton of flavour.
Step 1
In an airtight container, mix the yeast and the honey into the water until dissolved. Leave for ten minutes until the water has a cloudy layer of foam on top, proving the yeast is active and good to use.
Step 2
Add the flour to the yeast mixture and stir until you are left with a paste-like texture. Close the airtight container and leave it on the counter to ferment for 1 hour.
This is what the poolish will look like when first mixed and still "paste-like"
Step 3
After 1 hour, place the container in your fridge. Leave it there for 16-24 hours to ferment slowly.
The poolish will rise and fill with gas bubbles within an hour or two. The extra time in the fridge is used to develop the flavour.
The Dough Recipe
Step 1
Remove the poolish from the fridge and scoop it into a large bowl and add the water. Stir until the poolish is mostly dissolved.
Step 2
Add half of the flour and stir until combined.
Step 3
Add the salt and remaining flour and mix with a spoon until combined into a single, loose mound of dough. Place the dough on your countertop, cover by placing the bowl on top and leave it to rest for 15 minutes.
PRO TIP
Leaving the dough to rest at this point will make it much easier to knead and handle. We are giving the poolish a chance to come up to room temperature and for the gluten structure of the combined mixture to develop.
Step 4
Knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes stretching and moving the dough as much as you can. Or, if you have a stand mixer use it on a low setting with the dough hook attachment for 5 minutes. Once the dough is firm, shape it into a ball, place the bowl over it and leave it to rest for 20 mins.
Step 5
After 20 minutes the dough will have filled with some gas and will be much easier to shape into a smooth ball. Keeping the dough ball upright, place your hands underneath it and stretch it slightly and gently until the top surface looks smoother. Keeping the dough upright, tuck the sides underneath. Holding it with both hands on each side, gently rotate it keeping the top upright the entire time. Repeat this once or twice until you are left with a soft, airy and smooth dough ball.
Step 6
Carefully place the dough ball back in the bowl. Cover with a warm and damp tea-towel and leave it to bulk ferment for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Step 7
Remove the dough from the bowl and stretch it into a long log shape while keeping the top of it upright.
Step 8
Then cut it into 280g pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place the dough balls in either separate bowls or on a tray and lightly dust with flour. Cover the tray/bowl with plastic wrap and leave the dough balls to rise for 2 hours.
PRO TIP
If using a tray, ensure that the dough balls are about 10cm apart as they will expand. If the plastic wrap makes contact with the dough balls, dust them with extra flour to avoid sticking.
Here's what the dough balls should look like after rising for 2 hours
The Sauce Recipe
For neapolitan pizza sauce go with quality of ingredients over quantity. Invest in a high quality tin of tomatoes, San Marzano if you can find them, and remember that less is more.
Step 1
Gently crush the tomatoes with either a potato masher or your hands until only a few small lumps remain.
Step 2
Crush the garlic, tear the basil leaves and add along with the salt. Stir to evenly mix. That’s it!
PRO TIP
Every tin of tomatoes is different, even when high quality. If the sauce tastes a little tart, a small pinch of sugar can help neutralize the acidity but be careful to not make it too sweet.
The Cook
Step 1
Place a pizza stone in the top shelf of your oven and raise your oven to its max temperature with either its grill or broiler function.
Step 2
Cut the mozzarella into 3cm sized cubes and grate the parmesan. The size you should cut the mozzarella is determined by the temperature of your oven and the cook time of the pizza. Ideally you want the cheese to melt at the same pace that the base cooks and rises.
PRO TIP
Always run a fresh mozzarella ball under the tap and taste a tiny piece of it first before adding to the pizza. At this point, the last thing you want is for rotten cheese to ruin your hard work.
Step 3
Time to shape the base! Take a dough ball and coat it heavily with flour. Place the dough ball on a floured surface and very gently press down on the center of it with the tips of your fingers. We are aiming to gently and evenly push the air in the dough out towards the edge without removing any of the air. “Gently” is the key word here. Once the dough is stretched to about 10cm, you can start to stretch it by pulling on the edges but ensure that you don’t squeeze or pinch the outer rim of the dough. Once the dough has been stretched to about 20cm, carefully pick it up and pass it multiple times from hand to hand. Place it down and continue to gently pull on the edges until the pizza base is about 30cm in diameter.
Shaping the dough is the most difficult part of the process and requires a huge amount of practice to get right. I highly recommend watching this video on how to stretch dough if you are unsure or want to learn some advanced techniques.
Step 4
Lightly oil a large frying pan and carefully add your pizza base. Spoon on a thin layer of sauce and evenly spread it around the center of the base, leaving about 4-5cm on the edge unsauced. This is a thin base pizza so keep the sauce coverage light. Just enough to stain the dough red. Over-saucing will leave you with a watery, soggy and messy to eat pizza that will be difficult to cook.
Step 5
Cook the sauced pizza base on the stove at medium heat for about ten minutes until the base becomes sturdy and the bottom turns a golden brown color and the top has bubbled under the sauce.
Step 6
Remove the pan from the stove and add the mozzarella, parmesan, fresh basil leaves and a very light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
PRO TIP
Brushing the basil leaves with extra virgin olive oil will prevent them from burning in the oven. Adding the basil leaves after the pizza has cooked is also an option.
Step 7
Remove the pizza stone from the oven and place your pizza base on top. You’ll want to work very quickly here as every moment the stone is out of the oven it will lose heat.
PRO TIP
Lightly dusting your stone/pan with either flour or semolina flour will help prevent your base from sticking to it.
Step 8
Cook the pizza in the oven for about 1-4 minutes until the cheese has melted and the crust has risen and developed some colour. The amount of time required really depends on the max temperature of your oven.
Step 9
Remove from the oven and enjoy.
The Cook
Step 1
Start your pizza oven and bring the temperature up to about 500C. Pending on the weather and your oven, this usually takes about 10-15 mins.
PRO TIP
Carefully scatter a teaspoon's worth of flour in your pizza oven when it is at temperature. If the flour catches fire, your oven is too hot. The ideal temperature is just below whatever temperature the flour will catch fire at.
Step 2
While the pizza oven is heating up, cut the mozzarella into 3cm sized strips and grate the parmesan. The size you should cut the mozzarella is determined by the temperature of your oven and the cook time of the pizza. Ideally you want the cheese to melt at the same pace that the base cooks and rises.
PRO TIP
Always run a fresh mozzarella ball under the tap and taste a tiny piece of it first before adding to the pizza. At this point, the last thing you want is for rotten cheese to ruin your hard work.
Step 3
Time to shape the base! Take a dough ball and coat it heavily with flour on the top and underneath. Place the dough ball on a floured surface and very gently press down on the center of it with the tips of your fingers. We are aiming to gently and evenly push the air in the dough out towards the edge without removing any of it. “Gently” is the key word here. Once the dough is stretched to about 10cm, you can start to stretch it by pulling on the edges but ensure that you don’t squeeze or pinch the outer rim of the dough. Once the dough has been stretched to about 20cm, carefully pick it up and pass it multiple times from hand to hand. Place it down and continue to gently pull on the edges until the pizza base is about 30cm in diameter.
Shaping the dough is the most difficult part of the process and requires a huge amount of practice to get right. I highly recommend watching this video on how to stretch dough if you are unsure or want to learn some advanced techniques.
Step 4
Spoon on a thin layer of sauce and evenly spread it around the center of the base, leaving about 4-5cm on the edge unsauced. This is a thin base pizza so keep the sauce coverage light. Just enough to stain the dough red. Over-saucing will leave you with a watery, soggy and messy to eat pizza that will be difficult to cook. Add the mozzarella, parmesan, fresh basil leaves and a very light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
PRO TIP
Brushing the basil leaves with extra virgin olive oil will prevent them from burning in the oven. Putting the basil leaves on after pizza has cooked is also an option.
Step 5
Shimmy the pizza onto the peel and shuffle it into the pizza oven. Allow the pizza to cook for about 30-45 seconds and then rotate it 180 degrees. Cook for another 30-45 seconds and remove it from the oven.
PRO TIP
Although it is easier to sauce and add ingredients to your base once it is on the peel it is not recommended. The longer your pizza stays on the peel, the more likely it is to stick to it. This will make shuffling it into the oven much more difficult. Lightly dusting your peel with flour or semolina flour will also help prevent the dough from sticking.
Step 6
If any part of the crust is lacking color you can shuffle it back into the oven with the under-cooked part of the base at the back of the oven for 10 seconds. Be careful though, it is very easy to over cook and burn the edges.
Step 7
Serve and enjoy!
Video
I highly recommend this video by Vito Iacopelli. It covers the process of creating the poolish and the dough and an alternate method for cooking in a standard fan oven.
