neapolitan pizza dough

This classic Neapolitan pizza dough relies on only five key ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, water, and time. After a long fermentation (at least 2 days), the dough is supple and elastic, and when topped and baked, it makes for a crust that's a little crispy on the bottom, cloud-like at the edges, and just chewy enough on the inside.

Neapolitan Pizza Dough

bread flour ((3 dipped and leveled cups))

fine sea salt ((2 teaspoons))

instant dry yeast ((scant 1/4 teaspoon))

cool water ((scant 1¼ cups))

In a large bowl with an airtight lid, mix together the flour, salt, and yeast with a wooden spoon or dough whisk. Pour in the water and mix with the spoon or dough whisk until most of the dry flour in the bottom of the bowl has been absorbed by the dough, then use your hands to turn and knead the dough just until all the flour is incorporated. (I like to push my fingers in and out of the dough like a cat kneading with its paws. That way, I know the last bits of dry flour are fully incorporated, not just stuck to the surface.)

Cover the bowl with its lid and let the dough rise at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours (20 hours is my sweet spot) or until it has doubled in volume.

Scrape the dough onto a floured surface (it will be goopy with bubbles throughout). Divide it into two or three equal-size pieces—two if you like to make 12 to 14-inch pizzas, three if you like to make 10 to 12-inch pizzas. Form the dough pieces into balls, dusting your hands with flour if needed, and place each one in a separate airtight quart-size container. Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator at least 1 hour (preferably 2 hours) before you plan to stretch it for pizza.

Make the best authentic Neapolitan Pizza Dough by hand or in your bread machine using 00 pizza flour. This pizza dough is the perfect combination of chewy and crispy and is a must when making traditional Neapolitan pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.

Authentic Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe

water

yeast

tbsp sugar

olive oil

00 flour

sea salt

plum tomatoes (canned)

black pepper

mozzarella cheese (sliced)

basil leaves

cheese

By Hand: Add the warm water, yeast, and sugar to a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Let sit for 2 minutes, then stir. Add the olive oil, 00 flour and sea salt. Mix with a spatula until a thick dough has formed. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead with your hands until a smooth and slightly sticky dough has formed, about 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, put back into the bowl and cover with a heavy towel. Let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes. Then follow the instructions below for fermenting.

Bread Machine: Add the ingredients into the bread maker pan in the order recommended by your manufacturer, select the dough/pizza dough setting and 2 pound loaf, and press start (if you&#39;ve cut the recipe in half to make 1 pizza, choose 1 pound loaf). The dough setting takes between 90 and 100 minutes on most bread machines. When the cycle is complete, remove the dough and follow the instructions below for fermenting.*Pay careful attention to the dough during the first 10 minutes of kneading. If the dough appears too dry and it&#39;s not shaping into a smooth springy ball, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

Fermentation: Separate the dough to make 2 equal pieces. Punch them down a few times and shape into balls. Put into two oiled gallon freezer bag or bowls covered tightly with plastic wrap. Transfer to the fridge and let rest for 12-24 hours. Remove from the fridge and bring to room temperature 4 hours before shaping and cooking.

Making The Dough

Place a pizza stone into the oven and preheat to 500° Fahrenheit. Once preheated, begin creating the pizza. The stone should remain in the heated oven for about 20 minutes before putting on the pizza. Cover a pizza peel with a generous amount of flour (this keeps the dough from sticking so you can transfer it easily to the hot stone). Place one ball of dough onto the floured peel and begin stretching it into the shape of a circle. Do this by pushing down on the middle of the dough without touching the edges. Push the dough outward until it forms a 12 inch circle with a 1/2 to 1 inch raised edge. It&#39;s important to keep from pressing down on the edge (the crust). If you press the edges flat, you&#39;ll let out the gasses that create an airy and bubbly pizza crust.

Use a blender to puree the plum tomatoes until smooth, about 30 seconds. Season with a few sprinkles of sea salt and twists of freshly ground black pepper. Working quickly, spread about 1/3 cup of pureed tomato sauce onto the dough without pressing down. Evenly space half of the sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce. Lightly brush some of the edges with sauce to create a golden crust.

Cover the pizza stone with a generous amount of cornmeal. Carefully slide the pizza off the peel and onto the stone (do not remove it from the oven). If the pizza becomes stuck, gently guide it off with a spatula. The longer the pizza is left uncooked on the peel, the greater chance it has of sticking. Bake for 14 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown and the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the pizza stone using the pizza peel. Top with fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. Lightly sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and sea salt. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Repeat steps 1-4 for the second pizza.

Cooking

Authentic Neapolitan Style Italian Pizza Dough Recipe! Chewy and crisp this is the type of pizza you get when you are in Naples. The pizza dough you've been waiting for is here! Jordan, my husband, is the real master behind perfecting this dough. Neapolitan pizza is largely defined by its pillowy, chewy crust. It is unique and recognizable at first glance by the slightly charred bubbles and puddle of red sauce with circles of white melted mozzarella and fresh green basil leaves. There you have it, the icon Italian flag colors painted in one the most memorable images to Italian cuisine- "la pizza Napoletana". From my heart and cucina to your table, I hope you enjoy this recipe time and time again. A true taste of Italia to your table. You will  hear the voices of the Italians saying, Mangia! Mangia! (eat!) after you make this pizza, pizza, pizza the authentic way! Enjoy. 

Authentic Neapolitan Pizza DOUGH RECIPE

kg – 35 oz Pizza Flour, Tipo 00

salt

dry yeast

Pour water and add salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix well with your hands to help dissolve the salt. Add 100g (10% flour) to the water and mix it through with your hands until the flour dissolves. This will result in a crepe/pancake consistency. Next, add the yeast to the salt, water, and flour mixture helping it melt in the water using your fingers. Mix with your hands until completely combined.

 Important: start adding the flour a little at a time. Add flour with one hand and mix to combine with your other hand as you go. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure no flour is wasted. 

Once the dough has started to come together really well, flip it out on to a bench and start to knead it with both hands absorbing all the remaining flour. Keep working the dough until you find it has come together and has a smooth consistency. Knead the dough by stretching it and fold it over itself to strengthen the gluten strands, and to add air into the dough. But be careful not to stretch the dough so much that it tears. This will develop the gluten in the dough, and make it elastic and stretchy. The kneading process will take around 15-20 minutes. To check if your dough is ready to rest: press down on the dough ball with one finger and if it bounces back, chances are, it’s ready!

Once ready, place the dough aside to rest on a flat surface, covering it with a damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out. Leave this to rest for at least 2hr.

Once 2hr have passed, it’s time to make your dough balls. To do this, cut a piece of your dough and weigh it on a scale aiming for 250g/8.8oz. You should have about 8 dough balls. To make the dough ball, the easiest way, "pinch and tuck method": place small dough chunk on floured surface push down on four corners of the dough with thumb and index fingers.  Pinch thumb and index finger together grabbing the dough. Lift the dough up off the floured surface and tuck and pinch the corners together on the underside of the dough. As you do this, the dough on the upward facing portion should stretch creating a smooth surface. Place the pinched side facing down on the floured surface and rotate the dough a quarter turn. Repeat 4-5 times until a nice ball has formed

Once you have made the dough balls, place them in a flat surface air tight container. Leave this in an ambient location with a temperature between 60.8 degress F – 64.4 degrees F for 24hr. IT IS WORTH THE WAIT! 

After 24hr your dough balls should have risen and are ready to use. Sprinkle flour on to the bench, placing the dough on top and starting an inch from the bottom and working your way an inch from the top, press down using your fingers. Then stop, turn it over and repeat until you have a small round base with a “cornicione” (crust).

Gently stretch this by then picking up the dough and slightly stretching it onto one forearm then flipping it onto the bench. Repeat this before shaping it into a circle and then resting it on your bench.

 Heat Oven to hottest setting 550 degrees F with pizza stone in the middle rack, or heat your professional pizza oven to 750-900 degree F. If using your regular oven, let it heat for 30 minutes with the stone to get the stone really hot. 

Add tomato puree as desired onto the flattened dough and put pizza in the middle rack of the oven on a pizza stone, baking at 550 degrees F. about 10-15 minutes. If using a real high heat pizza oven of 900 degrees F the cooking time is 5 minutes. Add the fresh mozzarella half way into the baking time in the regular oven. Other ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil and basil should be added at the end of cooking about 1 minute before taking out of the oven, or simply add after baking. If desired you can add the fresh mozzarella after the pizza and sauce are completely done cooking and the cheese will remain "fresh".  MANGIA! MANGIA! (EAT!)

Best pizza ever! We made this for a Christmas party with little cousins and it was so much fun! And then to top it off, everyone decided it was the best pizza they have ever had.  You can’t buy something that delicious.  We added a little olive oil and Maldonado salt to the crust, I couldn’t stop eating.

An authentic taste of Italy in your home!

Authentic Neapolitan Style Italian Pizza Dough Recipe! Chewy and crisp this is the type of pizza you get when you are in Naples. The pizza dough you've been waiting for is here! Jordan, my husband, is the real master behind perfecting this dough. Neapolitan pizza is largely defined by its pillowy, chewy crust. 

Once 2hr have passed, it’s time to make your dough balls. To do this, cut a piece of your dough and weigh it on a scale aiming for 250g/8.8oz. You should have about 8 dough balls. To make the dough ball, the easiest way, "pinch and tuck method": place small dough chunk on floured surface push down on four corners of the dough with thumb and index fingers. 

Pinch thumb and index finger together grabbing the dough. Lift the dough up off the floured surface and tuck and pinch the corners together on the underside of the dough. As you do this, the dough on the upward facing portion should stretch creating a smooth surface. Place the pinched side facing down on the floured surface and rotate the dough a quarter turn. Repeat 4-5 times until a nice ball has formed

Once you have made the dough balls, place them in a flat surface covered in plastic wrap, or air tight container. Leave at room temperature for 24hr. IT IS WORTH THE WAIT! 

After 24hrs your dough balls should have risen and are ready to use. Sprinkle flour on to the bench, placing the dough on top and starting an inch from the bottom and working your way an inch from the top, press down using your fingers. Then stop, turn it over and repeat until you have a small round base with a “cornicione” (crust).

Best recipe ever, and I’ve tried a few. I love how Elena sees into the future and anticipates my questions like which yeast and flour to use and how to put the dough balls in air tight containers. My kids love “making” pizza, usually just putting toppings on at the end, but I will take what I can get for such an awesome product at the end. You realize when you take that first bite that all the details go so far in the end.

This is a recipe straight from Italy. If you want to make authentic pizza Napoletana at home this is your one stop recipe for detailed step by step instructions  to get you the result you desire. Enjoy!

This pizza dough is heavenly! Amazingly fluffy and tender with a crispy exterior that melts in your mouth!

Making pizza again this weekend and this is our family go-to recipe!!

I always look forward to thin crust pizza when I go to Italy, and I miss them when I come back. Our pizza's made with your pizza dough brings me right back to warm summer evenings in Italy. Wonderful!!

Delicious!  I never thought I would make that picture perfect Neapolitan pizza but with this recipe I did. I added fresh ricotta dollops and it was amazing.

Great recipe, this my 5th time and it had produced great pizza every time!! Well worth the time and energy!

I’m not normally one to leave reviews, but this was SO good! I wanted to try just crushed tomatoes as the sauce so I could focus more on the flavor of the dough and I was amazed by how yummy it was! Will definitely save this recipe for later. Thank you for the great recipe!

If using the 250g weight for each dough ball, roughly what size of a pizza does that yield? Could I instead cut it into 6 balls to make them slightly larger?

A Fantastic website with authentic Italian recipes!! This is be far the  BEST Neopolitan  pizza recipe with clear, step-by-step, instructions  and explanations of each procedure (down to the “science” of each ingredient).

This pizza crust was amazing! Best one I’ve ever tried.

We had just been gifted an early Xmas gift… a pizza oven but we were having the hardest time using the manufacturer’s dough recipe… it was too sticky and hard to work with, it would shrink and it would puff up in the oven. That’s when I came across your blog. I bought the special yeast, flour and dough proofer. GAME CHANGER!!! Even my husband was impressed! This will give us so much more confidence to have friends over for pizza night! I’m excited to try your other recipes!

I made this recipe using half, and with all purpose flour and it turned out really nicely! I'll definitely be using it again, thanks for the recipe!

https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1655781175/naqys7suzvkh1c84uult.mp4

Authentic Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe with a step by step guide to help you achieve optimal results! Neapolitan pizza is largely defined by its pillowy, chewy crust with a simple tomato sauce and puddles of fresh mozarella cheese. This is a recipe you will make time and time again.

If you want a soft and chewy pizza crust with a little crisp and char made with just 4 ingredients, you have to try my Neapolitan Pizza Dough.

00 flour (2 pounds)

water (1.5 pounds)

salt (0.6 ounces)

dry active yeast (0.4 ounces)

Flour.

Flour. Pour 2 pounds flour into a large mixing bowl and then set aside.

Wet mix.

Wet mix. In a separate bowl, pour in your water and then add your salt. Whisk the water until your salt dissolves.

More flour.

More flour. Add a cup of flour to your wet mix and whisk until your wet mix is an even mixture. DO NOT add yeast before completing this step.

Yeast.

Yeast. Add in your yeast and whisk until everything is combined.

Combine.

Combine. Pour your wet mixture into your flour. Use a scraper to mix everything together until dough is solid and slightly stringy.

Knead.

Knead. Knead your dough for 15-20 minutes in dough box or on a clean surface.

Rest.

Rest. Roll dough into a ball and coat lightly with olive oil. Place in a clean bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap for 1 hour.

Ferment.

Ferment. Uncover your dough and cut into 8 ounce balls. Lightly coat in olive oil and place in lidded deli containers. Place in refrigerator for 24-72 hours.

Stretch, cook, and enjoy.

Stretch, cook, and enjoy. Once your dough is fermented, stretch into a circle and place on pizza peel. Add your favorite toppings, fire your pizzas, and enjoy.

BONEPIT!!! THIS RECIPE WAS BANGING!!! ABSOLUTELY DA BEST PIZZA EVER!!!! COMPLOMENTS YO THE CHEF

I'm not one of those hardcore home pizza nerds that can rattle off hydration levels, but I do make it every Friday. I didn't make dough ahead of time this week so was specifically looking for a Neapolitan dough with 24 cold rise and this was turned out great. It stretched out really nicely without tearing. It did stick to my peel using the same amount of cornmeal as I usually use, so next time I'll use more flour while stretching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjzIm_-ala0

This Neapolitan Pizza Dough is going to elevate your wood-fired pizza game to a whole new level. If you want a soft and chewy pizza crust with just the right amount of crisp and char, made with  4 simple ingredients, then you have to try my Neapolitan Pizza Dough. It’s the perfect base for everyone to create their own favorites. To get an authentic Neapolitan pizza crust, your dough has got to be made of just 4 simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast. That’s exactly what I’m going to teach you how to make. You’re going to get a soft and delicious crust with crispy edges, and some amazing charred, leopard spotting just like you’d find in a real pizza joint. Top them any way you want, and enjoy the tastiest pizzas you’ve ever had. I recommend making extra because this stuff will get gobbled up fast.

RECIPE HERE: https://heygrillhey.com/neapolitan-pizza-dough/
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