Foolproof Neapolitan Pizza Recipe For Pizza Oven

I am SO excited to share my Neapolitan pizza recipe with you. After much testing back and forth and many, many pizza parties, I've got a reliable and spectacular Neapolitan pizza dough! I'll go through every step with you from the flour, fermentation and shaping. And then of course the toppings where I share a Margarita pizza recipe with you! If you have a pizza oven, this is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

So what is a Neapolitan pizza? Neapolitan pizzas are the predominant pizza style if you live in Sydney from specialist pizzerias. These pizzas have a light, chewy, slightly wet centre. Neapolitan pizza dough is made with flour, water, salt and yeast, then fermented for up to 24 hours to develop an airy texture before being hand stretched with a thin base and a puffy, charred crust or cornicione. These are usually baked in wood fired ovens but I have a Gozney gas oven and it works really well in that.

Neapolitan pizzas are topped with San Marzano tomatoes, Mozzarella or Fior di Latte, basil, and extra virgin olive oil. They cook quickly in pizza ovens heated around 485°C/905° for just 60–90 seconds. I got my tips for this from a couple of sources: Richard Eaglespoon and Will from Arno Deli put me onto some delicious pizza sauce and shared the best type of flour with me even being so kind as to drop off a bag of the flour to my hotel reception! And Vito Iacopelli for pizza stretching tips.

Pizza Types

| Type | Crust & Dough | Sauce & Cheese | Cooking Method | Texture | | --------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | Neapolitan | Thin, soft, airy, slightly charred | San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella | Wood-fired at around 485°C/905°F | Light, chewy, slightly wet in centre | | New York-style | Thicker, crispier base | Cooked tomato sauce, grated low-moisture mozzarella | Baked in gas/electric ovens | Foldable, crispy but chewy | | Chicago Deep-Dish | Thick, buttery, flaky crust | Chunky tomato sauce, heavy cheese, layers of toppings | Baked in deep pans | Dense, rich, almost like a pie | | Roman (Pizza al Taglio) | Thick, crispy | Cooked sauce, various cheeses | Baked in large rectangular trays | Crunchy, airy, sliceable | | Detroit-style | Thick, airy, crispy edges | Brick cheese, sauce on top | Baked in square steel pans | Crunchy, cheesy edges, soft interior |

Tips For Making Neapolitan Pizza

1 - I usually use a Cuoco flour by brand Caputo for pizzas but Will from Arno Deli in Newcastle put me onto Caputo's Nuvola flour which is said to give a puffier crust. If you can't access this, Cuoco flour is also good. Cuoco flour has a slightly higher protein content at 13g which makes it a touch easier to work with. Nuvola has between 10g-12.5g protein per 100g/3.5ozs.

2 - Start this pizza recipe 2.5 days ahead of time. Start the pizza dough off with a poolish which is a pre-ferment. This is simply flour mixed with water and a bit of yeast. You'll want this to sit on the benchtop for 24 hours. Poolishes are used in pizza dough to enhance the flavour, texture and fermentation of the dough. As our poolish is a 50/50 water and flour aka a high-hydration pre-ferment, it will create a slightly tangy dough while also making the dough easier to digest. It also makes the dough easier to stretch and creates a crispier crust with an airy, open crumb which is what you're looking for especially in the crusts of Neapolitan pizzas.

3 - The tomato sauce that Will put me onto was great for a margarita pizza. Before that I bought ready made pizza sauces but this one was just whole Italian tinned tomatoes and salt. On his recommendation I crushed the tomatoes with my hands leaving a few chunks for texture. And I absolutely loved it on this margarita pizza where there are only 4 ingredients so each one has to be great as there is nowhere to hide.

4 - I am going to let you in on a secret: I fast tracked a batch of this dough once because I forgot to leave 24 hours for the poolish and I had friends coming over. So I just fermented it for 3 hours and then mixed it and let the bulk dough rise for 2 hours and then placed it in the fridge for an overnight fermentation for 12 hours. And it still worked really well!

5 - I wait about 5 minutes before cutting into the pizzas to let the crust set. I find that when I cut into a hot, fresh pizza the crusts get a bit crushed. Vito uses scissors to cut the crust so I did too (instead of the pizza cutter).

6 - I use these pizza pans as they're good quality and sturdy.

We've been using our pizza oven a lot lately as we absolutely love the pizzas that come out of it. They're often better than the ones you can order and if anything if you eat a lot of pizza it ends up saving a lot of money (minus the cost of the pizza oven ofc). But there are a lot of brands and you don't necessarily have to get a Gozney one. If you make your own margarita pizzas it will cost about $20 in ingredients to make 3 pizzas.

Speaking of saving, we used to get all of our fruit and vegetables delivered in a fortnightly delivery but I found it a bit too difficult with recipe testing not knowing what I was going to receive. It was a bit chaotic trying to finish everything in time too. So nowadays we go to the local Italian fruit and vegetable market. That way, I can get all the supplies that I need as well as the cheeses, charcuterie, pasta and pizza flour. But that means that Mr NQN has to come along because I don't want to carry at all even in a trolley. I mean seriously it’s enough that I cook it all.

The first time that we went I pointed to some peaches and I asked him if he wanted some and he said, "No way they’re too expensive". He kept saying no to things and then I realised it was because fruit was more expensive than the last time he went to the shops. I explained to him that we were going to spend $50-$60 there for a weeks worth of fruit and vegetables, and that’s just the way that it is nowadays.

“I just have to not look at the prices, I guess,“ and after a while he'd stop wincing every time I put some mangoes, fresh berries or pizza flour into the trolley. I think for the last few years he was living in ignorant bliss! But he definitely knows how good the pizzas are and how much we are saving there. And it's not just because Teddy and Milo look at him like this when they come out of the oven.

So tell me Dear Reader, are you the person that does the shopping? How much do you spend a week on fruit and vegetables and for how many people?

Neapolitan Pizza Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 45 minutes plus 50 hours time

Cooking time: 2 minutes per pizza

Start this recipe 2.5 days ahead of time

Makes 3 x 28cm/11inch pizzas

• 550g/1.2lbs Caputo Nuvola flour
• 340g/12flozs water
• 2g/0.07ozs instant dried yeast
• 13g/0.4ozs salt
• 8g/0.3ozs white sugar

For Margarita pizza

• 250g/8.8ozs mozzarella or fior di latte, cut into small cubes
• 300g/10.6ozs whole peeled San Marzano tinned tomatoes
• 6g/0.2ozs salt
• Small handful fresh basil leaves

Step 1 - Make the poolish. Take out 150g/5ozs out of the total flour and 150g/5flozs of the total water and mix with 1g/0.0.35oz of instant dried yeast in a medium bowl and mix well. Cover and allow to ferment overnight.

Step 2 - Place the remaining 400g/14ozs of flour with the remaining 1g/0.0.35oz instant dried yeast making sure that the yeast is well distributed. Add in the 190ml/6.7flozs in a bowl and mix together along with the salt and sugar. Add in the poolish and stir together until you get a shaggy dough. Fit a mixer with a dough hook and knead on the lowest setting for 7-9 minutes or until you get a window pane effect where you can pull the dough apart slowly without tearing (with floured hands).

Step 3 - Use a dough scraper and scrape the dough out onto a surface and grease a large bowl (I use the same mixer bowl). Shape into a ball and cover and allow to double the size. If it is cold where you are, place in a bowl of hot water, changing once or twice. This will take about an hour.

Step 4 - Weigh the dough. You should get 3x 290g/10.2oz balls of dough. Sprinkle a surface with flour and then fold each dough over from north to south, turning each time so that it gets four folds. Then shape it into a ball by cupping the dough with both hands and stretching it down into a tight ball. Then cup it on a surface and turn it slightly while cupping it. By the end you shouldn't have any cracks in the dough anywhere on the ball of dough. If there are any bubbles that pop up, prick them. Place in a large container with a lid and allow to rise in the fridge for 24 hours.

Step 5 - 2.5 hours before you want to cook the pizzas take the dough out of the fridge and place the container on the counter. Have three shallow plates ready. After one hour, take each risen dough and reshape it. Repeat the same process as before - fold each dough over from north to south, turning each time so that it gets four folds. Then shape it into a ball by cupping the dough with both hands and stretching it down into a tight ball. Then cup it on a surface and turn it slightly while cupping it. By the end you shouldn't have any cracks in the dough anywhere on the ball of dough.

Step 6 - Sprinkle a plate generously with flour going to the edges, not just the centre and place the dough ball on this. Place a bowl on top that will completely enclose it. Repeat with the remaining dough balls and allow it to rise around 1-2 hours. The dough will be ready when it reaches around 22C/71.6F.

Step 7 - While the dough is rising, get the topping ingredients ready. Add the salt to the tomatoes and crush them with your hands. Cut the cheese into small cubes.

Step 8 - 45 minutes before you are ready to cook your dough, preheat your pizza oven. You are aiming for at around 480°C/900°F.

Step 9 - Sprinkle flour on a benchtop surface and take a pizza round and place it bottom side up (upside down) and add more flour there too. Keeping your dough as round as possible. Cup the dough around the edges to make it a circle. Rotate the dough pressing it out with your hands. With Neapolitan dough, you want to hold the dough down with your right hand and stretch it with your left hand (or vice versa, whatever you are most comfortable with). This takes practice so don't expect your pizza to be perfectly round the first time.

Step 10 - Spoon the tomato sauce on top with back of a large oval spoon. Tear the leaves of basil and place the basil underneath the small cubes of cheese.

Step 11 - Brush some semolina flour on a pizza peel and slide it onto the peel. You need to do this in one swift action in one direction. Usually I lift one side while Mr NQN slides it onto the peel with one swift forward motion. When it is on the peel reshape it again to keep it a circle (sometimes you have to do this, sometimes you don't).

Step 12 - When placing it in the pizza oven, slide it onto the heated pizza stone in one forward motion, not back and forth. Again this helps keep the round shape. Cook pizzas for around 60-90 seconds. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with extra basil if desired.