I’m going to skip straight to the recipe and not try to romance you into it. I will however say that I made at least 20 different pizzas before landing on what I can only describe as the best homemade Neapolitan pizza dough recipe.

First things first: what is Neapolitan pizza? As (perfectly) describes by Serious Eats: Neapolitan pizza is made from a lean dough—that is, it’s got nothing but flour, water, salt, and yeast. No oil, no sugar, nothing. With so few ingredients, the key to great Neapolitan pizza crust is a good long fermentation period during which time starches will break down into simpler sugars, yeast will create flavorful by-products, and gluten formation will occur, allowing you to stretch the dough out easily and making for a dramatic rise and good charring in the oven.

 

I’ve tried 1, 3, 12, 24, 36 and 72 hour slow fermentations, and I feel like the 12-24 hour window is the sweet spot. Here are some more learnings that (a lot of) trial and error taught me:

Non-negotiable variables:

• You need a pizza steel, period. There’s no alternative. In order to try and replicate the temperature and feel of a furnace as best as possible, you need a pizza steel. I’ve tried pizza stones as well, which are great, but in my experience the 6mm thick pizza steel I got from Gourmetstal is unlike any other.
• You need a broiler. The pizza steel isn’t enough. You need a broiler to cook the top part of the pizza as quickly as the bottom bit cooks, especially if you want some nice browning bordering on charred bubbles.
• A pizza peel or equally flat and thin item that’ll help you slide your pizza onto the steel and lift it off of
• Your pizza steel needs to be properly pre-heated, ideally for an hour before you slide the fist pizza onto it.

 

Pro-tips that’ll help make this a lot easier:

• When you knead the dough, don’t place the salt directly on top of the yeast. Place them in opposite corners of the bowl and bring them together as late as possible. Salt kills yeast.
• Make sure your dough comes to room temperature before you start stretching out your pizza and baking it. This will (a) ensure easier stretching and (b) it will prevent a temperature shock in the oven that tends to lead to burnt bubbles on the crust. I personally love those burnt bubbles, but some schools of thought argue that they’re considered a flaw by true Neapolitan standards. You do you but the stretching will still be easier at room temp.
• When you stretch the dough out (by hand,) do it directly onto the pizza peel. I find it so much easier this way than having to lift a raw, fully loaded pizza off the counter with the peel  before transferring it to the oven
• Make sure there is enough flour (or semolina) on the peel to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to it and your pizza can slide onto the steel easily, but don’t put too much excess flour as it will burn
• My recipe has an 80:20 ratio of all purpose to spelt flour because I like the depth of flavor that comes from spelt, but you can always use 100% all purpose flour.

Suggested toppings: the sky is the limit and pizza and ramen are really about whatever floats your boat, but we can all agree that when it comes to pizza, less is more. Just make sure you’re using good quality ingredients and let everything shine. If you can, always avoid pre-shredded cheese. A roughly torn apart ball of buffalo mozzarella is so much more enjoyable, from tearing to consuming. When it comes to Neapolitan pizza, it’s really all about a good sauce, good mozzarella, and a few basil leaves. Some good tomato passata, or (my favourite) a garlic and chili infused cream sauce are a great start. I also love drizzling on some basil infused EVOO at the end for an extra kick of basil. God, I love basil.

Here’s all you need to do:

Ingredients for the best homemade Neapolitan pizza dough (makes 4 x 125 gram/8 inch pizza crusts)

• 400 grams AP flour
• 100 grams spelt flour (you could use all AP if you want, but this is the combo I was most happy with. The spelt adds more depth of flavor too)
• 7 grams dry active yeast
• 325ml water at around 50 degrees Celsius
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• A drizzle of olive oil (to cover the kneaded ball of dough in before setting it to proof)

Method:

1. Add all your dry ingredients into a big bowl. Place the salt and yeast at opposite corners as salt kills yeast.
2. Pour warm water (around 40-50 degrees) and mix everything well. I find it less messy to actually start the mixing process with a spoon
3. Once everything is fully combined and you have what appears to be a ‘shaggy dough’, I removed the spoon, scrape the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface,  and with as little hand contact as possible, I start pulling out the edges of the dough and folding them back in and over the rest of the dough. I do this for 10-15 minutes, until the dough goes from being shaggy to more ‘put together’ and springy. Never add more flour.
4. Knead the dough for another 10 minutes. The kneading process helps form the gluten bonds, which allow for a lighter, more ‘air bubbly’ dough as the yeast starts doing it’s thing
5. Once it comes together well enough to be pulled together into a ball, tuck all the loose bits into the bottom end, lightly line the dough ball with a think layer of olive oil, and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave on your kitchen counter for 1 hour.
6. after 1 hour, move the dough into your fridge for the next 12 hours. Make sure you cover it in cling film.
7. The next morning or after 12 hours, remove the dough from the fridge. Dust your hands with flour and divide into 4 equal portions of 125 grams and shape into even balls again. Place these on a nightlight floured surface and cover with damp cloth again. Let these rest for 2 hours so they can proof/rise again and also for the dough to come to room temperature.
8. Preheat your oven to the highest setting an hour before you start making your pizza, as you want your pizza steel/stone to be extremely hot. You also want to make sure your broiler is on too before you slide your pizza in as that’s what will ensure the charred bits on top.
9. Spread some flour or semolina onto the pizza peel and using your hand, start stretching the dough outwards in circular motions. Top with sauce, cheese and meat of choice, but make sure not to go overboard with the toppings
10. Remove any excess flour/semolina from around the edges of the pizza but make sure there’s enough of it to let the pizza slide off the peel effortlessly onto the pizza steel/stone
11. Open your oven door and slide the pizza on to the steel. It helps to slightly slide forward, jerk your hand back a bit and then completely slide the rest off.
12. Your pizza should be ready in 5-7 minutes. Using a pizza peel again to lift and pull the pizza off the steel and out of the oven but make sure you do it as fast as possible as a lot of heat will be escaping and hitting you in the face.
13. Garnish your pizza with fresh basil, a drizzle of EVOO, and enjoy. Fair warning: it will be a LOT hotter than the pizzas you order in so you might want to wait 5 mins!