Neapolitan Pizza Dough

There are many ways to make pizza, but the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) sets a very high and specific bar for making the true original – Neapolitan pizza dough! But if you’re craving the real thing the way it’s made in Naples, follow me!

Although the AVPN provides a recipe on their website, it’s made to make about 14 pizzas.

AND it’s in metric!

So spare yourself the mathematical gymnastics and follow this step-by-AVPN-approved-step to making Neapolitan Pizza dough the “right” way!

What’s So Special About Neapolitan Pizza Dough?

Other than it being the “original”, this pizza dough has some amazing characteristics that are brought out when cooked in a wood-fired oven. AVPN recommends the Ooni Karu 16. However, we use the Solo Stove Pi and we’ve been very happy with our Neapolitans (even when we use the propane feature – don’t tell the AVPN!).

Still, this dough recipe will still produce lovely results in your conventional oven (generally at its highest temperature), especially when using a pizza stone. So read our recipe for Neapolitan Pizza Dough and then head here to read our recipe on the true Neapolitan Margherita Pizza!

The Ingredients

There are just four:

• Flour (more on that in a second)
• Water
• Yeast
• Salt

And if you’ve made more typical homemade pizzas before, you’re going to be surprised how little yeast is used. And, maybe also how much salt?

The Flour

Weight isn’t Always Equal to Volume

True Neapolitan pizza recipes use a weight of flour (grams or ounces) rather than volume (cups). A fairly compact cup of King Arthur Pizza 00 Flour or Caputo Pizzeria flour will weigh 5.5 to 6 ounces (or 85 grams). Today’s recipe assumes this and the final dough will make two ~9.5 to 10 ounce dough balls. 280 grams (just shy of 10 ounces) is the AVPN maximum weight per dough ball, which works nicely for an 11-12 inch pizza.

Tipo 00 Flour

Tipo 00, double zero, or doppio zero all describe the finest level of ground wheat flour (typically Italian) and is the backbone of Neapolitan pizza. 00 flour is so fine as to be like talcum-powder, ultra-white, and completely free of bran (the wheat’s outer coating) or germ (the embryo of the wheat kernel).

And there’s more. Tipo 00 is a measure of how fine the flour is – not necessarily that it’s the right one for pizza. There are other factors like the “PL number“, which is a measure of its extensibility.

OK, Which Pizza Flour Should I Use??

You’re not alone if you think selecting your pizza flour seems daunting. Over the past summer, I have experimented with a number of Italian flours. It probably won’t come as a surprise that each had their own pros and cons. And while several are available on Amazon, it will still be tricky to find one of the most celebrated Italian options: San Felice (still haven’t tried this one!).

And while you can read our articles on each of Caputo Pizzeria (or their Chef’s Flour, which is good for long-ferments), Polselli Classica, and Le 5 Stagioni, you’re not going to go wrong with any of them.

Alternatives?

You don’t need your flour to come from Italy to make a great pizza crust. We very much enjoy King Arthur’s 00 Pizza Flour and Bob’s Red Mill 00 Flour.

And if you don’t mind paying for shipping, we LOVE Central Milling pizza flour – especially a 50/50 mix of Organic and Organic Reinforced.

Can’t find any 00 flours around and you want to make this pizza, even a Tipo 0 (slightly coarser being the main difference) is allowable. And in fact, using a small ratio (no more than 20%) of type 1 is also permitted.

The Water

Yep – there are rules about the water too. Since about 1/4 of your pizza is water, that does actually make sense, right? And of course the most important rule is that it’s clean and pure of anything harmful.

AVPN recommends “moderately hard” water, which is more likely going to be tap water or bottled drinking water. Reverse Osmosis purified water is generally soft and if your home has a water softener, your tap water will be too.

The water should be room temperature and, if you want to get really specific, have a pH of 6 to 7 (which is pure water (7) or slightly acidic (6).

Salt

Sea salt is preferred, but not mandatory. Since it’s dissolved in the water first, the grain size is not that important – although large grains will make it more work for you.

Salt isn’t just for taste, but it’s also for (quoting the AVPN rules) “maintain the growth of bacteria and strengthens the gluten mesh resulting in its fine end colour”.

Yeast

There are three choices for yeast to use in Neapolitan Pizza dough:

• Dry yeast (Saccharomices cerevisiae)
• Fresh beer yeast (they are not specific as to the variety)
• Mother yeast/mother dough (which is effectively sourdough)

Most folks will find dry yeast the easiest to source – but I’m betting you’ll be shocked as to how little you need!

How to Make Neapolitan Pizza Dough

If you’ve made typical homemade pizza dough recipes, you’re going to read this and think “what?!?”. Well, trust me. I took it all from the AVPN rule book, I just changed the quantities to produce two “regulation-size” dough balls.

The other thing to note is that you need to start this recipe at least 10 hours before you plan to eat – and better to go with 24.

• Pour the water into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. If you don’t have one, you can totally do this all by hand.
• Add the salt. Using a small whisk or a spoon, dissolve the salt into the water completely.
• Add about 1/2 cup of flour into the water.
• Add the yeast.
• Start your stand mixer using the hook attachment on its slowest setting and slowly add the flour. Not all flour hydrates the same, so it may be that you’ll need a little less or a little more flour.
• The dough will form into a single compact ball.
  • When this happens, stop the mixer and check the texture.
  • Put a little flour on your hands and pull the dough off of the hook.
  • Knead the dough in your hands.
  • The texture and moistness should be consistent throughout. If it is not, return it to the mixer for another minute and check again.
  • The dough should be slightly tacky and smooth but should not be leaving much sticking to your hands. If it is, return it to the mixer and continue adding flour – slowly.
  • The final dough ball should be “fat” in appearance and sticky, soft, elastic, and smooth to the touch.

• Place the dough on a clean surface and cover with a damp cloth for one hour. The damp cloth is important to keep the outer surface from drying out.

• Remove the damp cloth and separate the dough into two balls of equal size (this recipe will make two dough balls approximately 9.5 to 9.9 ounces – which is right at the upper size limit).
• Work the two halves into balls (the traditional technique is to shape them the same way Italians prepare fresh mozzarella balls).
• Place the two balls into one or two sealed containers – the dough balls will double in size, so make sure they have enough room.

• AVPN allows for differing amounts of yeast based on the time the dough will now sit. The larger amount of yeast will allow the dough to be ready in 8 hours at room temperature. The smaller amount of yeast will require 24 hours at room temperature. If you change the temperature (for example by refrigerating, it will further slow the fermentation).

• The final dough will have become extensible (meaning you can stretch it) but not very elastic – perfect for making our pizza.

Stretching Out Neapolitan Pizza Dough

To be authentic, you MUST stretch the dough by hand. There’s even a specific technique for this. But then there’s also a good reason for this. The goal is to move the air inside the dough into the outer edge of the crust, which is called the “cornicione”. This is going to create a lovely, airy frame for the edge of your pizza.

• Place a light layer of flour on your work surface.
  • Semolina (coarse) flour can be used for this – and I found it to be really helpful for stretching the dough. But you do not want too much absorbed into the dough – so if the dough is very sticky, you might choose to use your 00 (at least to start).
• Remove one dough ball from its container onto the floured work surface.
• “With a motion from the center outwards, and with the pressure of the fingers of both hands on the dough ball…”, stretch your two hands apart and then lift and turn the dough 90 degrees.
• Continue to do this while forming a more-or-less round shape and creating a taller outer rim about 0.5 inches tall.
• You may need more flour during this process but you should use as little extra as possible.
• Done right (which is not easy), the center of the crust should be just 0.1 inches thick. That’s less than the thickness of two pennies!
  • You’re better off with a thicker, smaller pizza than risk making a hole.
  • If you do make a hole, ball the dough up and try again. This will likely add more flour and density to your pizza, so its best to avoid making a hole – especially a second time.

Final Steps for your Neapolitan Pizza Dough

Now that your dough is ready, it’s time to prepare and cook your pizza. I recommend you go onto our Neapolitan Margherita Pizza recipe or use our Neapolitan-style pizza sauce, but you have two dough balls now – so if you have something else in mind…

• Preheat your oven (a wood-fired pizza oven is best at >900ºF; a conventional indoor oven: 450º)
• Spread a light mixture of flour (coarse grain like semolina is great for this) and/or cornmeal on your pizza peel
• Place the dough on the pizza peel, quickly apply your toppings, and launch into the pizza oven!
• Turn your pizza:
  • in an outdoor oven, about ever 45 seconds turn it a quarter turn 4 times until done
  • in an indoor oven, cook for about 10 minutes and turn once, then cook for 5 more minutes and turn off the oven and leave it for 5 more minutes.
• Remove and let stand for about 3 minutes.
• Cut and serve immediately!

October 20, 2024