Authentic Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
Craft authentic Neapolitan pizza dough with this meticulously tested guide, designed to help you achieve unmatched flavor and texture. This blueprint focuses on using cold water and a long fermentation process to create a light, airy crust with perfect crispness and chew.
Equipment
- Large Bowl
- Cling film
- Baking stone/tray
- Oven
- Pizza Peel
- Chopping board
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 640 g Flour
- 360 g Water
- 14 g Salt
- 0.3 g Yeast
- 300 g Plum tomatoes tin of
- 1 tbsp Tomato puree (optional)
- Salt sprinkling of table salt or sea salt
- Pepper freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Mozzarella x 125g bags of fresh Mozzarella balls
- 30 g Parmesan about
- Olive Oil a few glugs
- Basil hand full of fresh leaves
Instructions
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients into a shaggy mass in a large bowl
- Cover the bowl with cling film
- Leave the dough to rest for around 1 hour
- Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead for around 5 minutes
- Place the dough back into the bowl and cover
- Leave the dough to prove for around 20 hours. This long fermentation develops complex flavours, improves dough extensibility, and creates a lighter, more digestible crust.
- About 4 hours before you intend to cook the pizza, divide the dough into 4 equal parts
- Place each dough ball into a small bowl and cover
- Leave the dough balls to prove again for about 4 hours
- Blend a tin of quality plum tomatoes into a smooth sauce
- Cook the sauce until it reaches the desired thickness
- Add a tablespoon or 2 of tomato puree
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Ensure that you baking stone/tray is inside your oven
- Get your oven up to temperature
- Dust a dough ball with plenty of flour and remove from the container
- In the bowl, press down from the centre of the dough towards the edges
- Keep turning the dough as you work the air towards the edges
- Turn the dough over and repeat this process in the bowl
- Remove from the bowl and place on the counter
- Stretch the dough outwards
- Repeat this until you have a base which is about 9 to 10 inches in diameter
- Top the base with around 2 soup spoons of tomato sauce
- Spread about a handful of Mozzarella evenly across the pizza
- Slide the pizza onto a peel
- Load straight onto baking stone/tray
- Cook pizza
- Remove pizza from the oven and place on a chopping board
- Grate parmesan on top and add some torn basil. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of black pepper
- Let the pizza cool a little and tuck in!
Notes
Leftover dough balls can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. I always wrap them individually in cling film to prevent them from drying out. Before using, allow the dough to come to room temperature for about an hour to relax the gluten.
If you can't find "00" flour, a good substitute is a blend of all-purpose flour and semolina flour. I use a 3:1 ratio of all-purpose to semolina to mimic the texture and protein content of "00" flour.
Nutrition
Calories: 600kcal
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