Welcome to my Pizza Napoletana Experiments/Recipe Page! I started this blog posting over 10 years ago with the intention of documenting the perfect recipe for Pizza Napoletana, but somehow, it remained unfinished. You might wonder, with all the resources available online, including detailed information provided by Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana Vera Pizza Napoletana , what is the problem? The answer is simple yet complex: while there are countless recipes and videos showcasing the process (including this 5 minutes one "Farina, acqua, sale, lievito, passione. La vera pizza napoletana. (Flour, water, salt, yeast, passion. The Vera Pizza Napoletana), achieving the perfect Neapolitan pizza requires more than just following a recipe. It demands a deep understanding of the ingredients, techniques, tools and requires lots of passion for the craft. Join me as I dive into the world of Pizza Napoletana, exploring its nuances and sharing my experiences from years of experimentation.
WARNING: I refer to my pizza-making endeavors as "Experiments" because I am continuously striving to achieve the perfect Pizza Napoletana. The recipes listed below are currently in a raw format, primarily for my personal use and reference. However, I aim to continue re-editing them to be more easily understandable for other readers. If you know me and require assistance in understanding the information presented, feel free to reach out to me directly via phone, but if possible please share your results with me. For those interested in delving deeper into some of my experiments and the proportions I've used, you can explore the data on this google spreadsheet. By copying it, you can play around and modify it as you wish. I hope you find this blog both informative and inspiring.
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Original Recipe and Ingredients (as described by Vera Pizza Napoletana regulations document):
- Tomato Sauce - Canned San Marzanos (*), do not cook, smash and add 1g of salt per 100g of tomato sauce, add basil leaves and olive oil and mix by hand, no mixer!
* Fresh tomatoes may be substituted for or in addition to peeled tomatoes above as long as they are fresh and are of the authentic products mentioned previously: “S.Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-nocerino D.O.P”., “Pomodorini di Corbara (Corbarino)”, “Pomodorino del piennolo del Vesuvio” D.O.P.
- Flour: Wheat four type “00”/ four type “0”*: a small amount of wheat four type “1” is allowed to be added, providing the percentage ranges from 5 to 20%.
- Water: Drinking water, non-carbonated, which does not contain microorganisms, parasites and chemical substances in concentrations that represent a danger to human health, used for drinking purposes, for the preparation of food and drinks and other domestic and industrial uses.
- Salt: coarse sea salt (cooking salt) is preferred. Salt plays a crucial role in the dynamics of the dough. It is an excellent antibacterial. Furthermore, thanks to the presence of calcium, the salt acts on the gluten network, strengthening it; it also gives its characteristic color to the final product.
- Yeast: the use of natural yeast is allowed as:
• Compressed fresh brewer’s yeast, an organic product with a yellowgrey color, a bland favor and a low acidity level in packs of 25 – 500 grams (Saccharomices cerevisiae)• Dry yeast from Saccharomices cerevisiae in the proportion of 1/3 compared to fresh.• Natural “sourdough”.The use of dry chemical yeasts with the addition of food improvementagents is not allowed.
Proportions: "The following doses are based on 1 litre (1000ml) of water
- Water 1 litre (1000 ml)
- Salt 40-60 grams
- Yeast (based on temperature and humidity)
- Fresh beer yeast 0.1-3 grams
- Mother Yeast 5-20% of flour used
- Dry yeast 1/3 of fresh yeast used (1gram of dry for 3 grams of fresh)
- Flour 1,600/1,800 (depending on the degree of absorption)."
Process/Dough Making (**)
- Add water to a bowl, add salt, flour, yeast and knead it:
- Kneading time Adding flour (until the “dough point” is reached) according to the mixing technique and mixer technology
- First fermentation Let the dough rest to trigger the first fermentation
- Staglio (portioning in dough balls)
- The weight of the portion must be proportionate to the diameter of the pizza to be made, for example: 200 g portion (pizza diameter 22-24 cm) – 280 g portion (pizza diameter 28-35 cm)
- Second fermentation and maturation
- In pizza dough proofng box
- Storage (room temperature or proofing chamber at
- controlled temperature and humidity)
- Overall fermentation times
- min 12 - max 24 hours (according to the type of four used and taking into account temperature, humidity and time of use)
Baking/Oven: Base cooking temperature approximately 380 - 430 °C
• Dome’s temperature approximately 485 °C• Cooking time 60-90 seconds
Notes:
- To guarantee the uniformity of the product, as seasonal conditions and processing temperatures may vary, the use of proofng chambers with controlled temperature and humidity level is permitted (ideal parameters 18/20 °C temperature and 60/70% humidity).
Types of Traditional Pizza Napoletana:
“Pizza Marinara”
- Canned peeled tomatoes 70 – 100 g *
- Olive oil (Virgin or Extra Virgin) 4 – 5 g (variance of +20% tolerated)
- Garlic One clove
- Oregan 0.5 g (a pinch)
- Salt As needed
“Pizza Margherita”
- Canned peeled tomatoes 60 – 80 g
- Olive oil (Virgin or Extra Vergin) 4 – 5 g (variance of +20% tolerated)
- Mozzarella/Fior di latte 80 – 100 g
- Fresh Basil A few leaves
- Hard cheese (grated) 10 – 15 g
- Salt As needed
Sample detailed processing instructions for a 1 liter of water recipe:
Details: The preparation of " Verace Pizza Napoletana” - (Vera Pizza Napoletana) exclusively follows the below method of production used in a continuous cycle.
1) Blend flour, water, salt and yeast.
- Pour a litre of water into a mixer, dissolve between the 50 and the 55g of salt, add 10% of the total amount of flour, and then add 3g of yeast.
- Start the mixer, and then gradually add 1800 g of flour (w220-380) until of the desired dough consistency is achieved. Combining the ingredients should take 10 minutes.
- Mix the dough at low speed for 20 minutes, until the dough forms a single ball. To obtain the optimal dough consistency, it is very important to control the quantity of water, so that the flour is able to absorb it all. The mixture should be sticky, soft and elastic to touch. The distinguishing product factor and characteristic of the recommended flour used for " Verace Pizza Napoletana” - (Vera Pizza Napoletana) allows it to absorb between 50 to 55% of its weight in water to reach the “optimal point” The preparation of the dough in the mixer should be done without causing the dough to become warm.
2) Fermentation/Dough Rising:
- First phase: remove the dough from the mixer, and place it on a surface in the pizzeria where it can be left to rest for 2 hours, covered by a damp cloth. In this manner the dough's surface cannot harden, nor can it form a crust caused by the evaporation of the moisture released from the dough. The dough is left, intact, to rise for 2 hours. With the aid of a spatula, the mixture is cut into strips from which pieces are broken off and then shaped into balls. The formation of the balls must be done exclusively by hand. This technique, known as ‘staglio a mano’ whereby the dough is made into small balls,‘panetti’, is reminiscent of the technique used in the preparation of mozzarella – ‘mozzatura’ also done by hand. For " Verace Pizza Napoletana” - (Vera Pizza Napoletana) the dough balls (‘panetti’) must weigh between 180 and 250 g.
- Second phase: Once the individual dough balls (‘panetti’) are formed, they are left in ‘rising boxes’ known as “mattarelle” (alimentary cases – see appendices for further details) for the second rising stage, which lasts between 4 to 6 hours. By controlling storage temperature (keeping at room temperature), these dough balls can then be used at any time for the following 6 hours.
3) Shaping the pizza: Hard to describe, please watch this clip on youtube.
** This video "Farina, acqua, sale, lievito, passione. La vera pizza" shows all the steps in less than 5 minutes but this "Neapolitan Pizza: original recipe by Enzo Coccia" video shows and explains some of the basic techniques in more detail.
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Now I will share my notes/experiments information: My latest and best experiments are generally on the top of my notes below just after the display of my ovens. Those are then followed by generic information that I found very valuable and or previous recipes. Feel free to read if you are interested.
- Ovens:
I do not have a real brick oven so I started with a 2nd generation Ooni oven. Ooni has new models now. Traditional Pizza Napoletana are cooked at high temperatures if possible when oven reaches a temperature of 485° C, (905F) (Cooking Surface between 380-450 C, Dome at 485 C). (For home oven made pizza see this recipe here)
Pizza recipes:
My last and potentially best Pizza Dough Recipe (Feb. 2024) is below. I used a poolish 50%/50% mix of water/flour/yeast and (honey). I KNOW, I KNOW, not a Vera Pizza Napoletana ingredient. But I wanted to try this suggestion by Chef and youtuber Vito Lacopelli . I started the poolish 24 hours before my main dough or around 48 hours before serving my pizza).
Below is my original 2nd generation Ooni pizza oven acquired over 7 years ago, followed by my latest one an Ooni Karu 16
Pizza recipes:
My last and potentially best Pizza Dough Recipe (Feb. 2024) is below. I used a poolish 50%/50% mix of water/flour/yeast and (honey). I KNOW, I KNOW, not a Vera Pizza Napoletana ingredient. But I wanted to try this suggestion by Chef and youtuber Vito Lacopelli . I started the poolish 24 hours before my main dough or around 48 hours before serving my pizza).
See some samples of the results:
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| Super Veggie Pizza: Tomato sauce, canned roasted bell peppers, canned artichokes, black olives, onion, fresh zucchini slices, eggplant/bell pepper/garlic paste |
Original Plan to use Poolish (starting ~48 hours before preparing your pizza). Please note that all % are calculated using Flour amount as basis:
Actual/Measured: After the first 24 hours of poolis maturation, when starting the main dough, I have split the poolish in 2 equal parts and added the flour, water and salt to bring the mix to desired proportions (with small differences on hydration):
I let those 2 batches maturating separated in 2 different containers. I let them resting in the kitchen for around 5 hours, until they duplicated in size and then put them in the refrigerator for another 6-9 hours. Next morning, around 6 hours before cooking time, I have separated all this dough into separate balls and let them rest on a dough container until cooking time. That resulted in 13 pizza balls as you can see from calculation below:
Some pictures to illustrate the process:
Poolish:
Weighting and separating the dough into equal weight to make each ball:
Final Storage for the pizza balls:
Next time I may use a frozen "Mother Dough" that was left over from my last production to add further deepness to the pizza taste.
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Going back to basics, this site seems to have all the details of a Vera Pizza Napoletana including a good (not perfect) step by step recipe! It includes a calculator on this page that claims to follow the Vera Pizza Napoletana, I did not check it yet but I want to point it to you , it may help you more than my proportions below.
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One of previous best Pizza Dough Recipe (Sep/2023)
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Preparation: (start at least 24 hours before
- Proof the yeast with a little bit of flour and warm water (use some of the measured water, maybe 80 to 100ml - so you do not add too much moisture to the dough) - Proof the yeast just means testing to confirm it is alive, you mix the yeast with warm (not hot, test with your hand, it should be same as your body temperature) , add a tea spoon of flour and check that small boubles were created by the yeast in 3-5 min.
- Add water (mineral water preferred) to a bow and mix salt, olive oil, flour (little by little) and all the yeast already proofed (after you have added 1/4 or 1/5 of the flour, so you add it from beginning) mix everything for 10-15 min on a Standing Mixer (using the pig tail dough tool) until ready, let it rest for 20 minutes, and then for another 2-3 minutes. Decide if you are splitting it into small balls (200 g or 1/8 of the total weight) or if you don't have space keep as one and then separate it into small balls later. Pizza places separate it in small balls first but I do not have the space/box to store so I kept it as one and splitted it later.
Put in the refrigerator to maturate overnight (see explanation here: https://www.silviocicchi.com/pizzachef/maturazione-dell-impasto-della-pizza/?lang=en ) for as long as possible, I left it there for 24 hours and then removed it from the refrigeration at least 5-7 hours before cooking, so they can raise again at room temperature.
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Preparation: (start at least 24 hours before
- Proof the yeast with a little bit of flour and warm water (use some of the measured water, maybe 80 to 100ml - so you do not add too much moisture to the dough) - Proof the yeast just means testing to confirm it is alive, you mix the yeast with warm (not hot, test with your hand, it should be same as your body temperature) , add a tea spoon of flour and check that small boubles were created by the yeast in 3-5 min.
- Add water (mineral water preferred) to a bow and mix salt, olive oil, flour (little by little) and all the yeast already proofed (after you have added 1/4 or 1/5 of the flour, so you add it from beginning) mix everything for 10-15 min on a Standing Mixer (using the pig tail dough tool) until ready, let it rest for 20 minutes, and then for another 2-3 minutes. Decide if you are splitting it into small balls (200 g or 1/8 of the total weight) or if you don't have space keep as one and then separate it into small balls later. Pizza places separate it in small balls first but I do not have the space/box to store so I kept it as one and splitted it later.
Put in the refrigerator to maturate overnight (see explanation here: https://www.silviocicchi.com/pizzachef/maturazione-dell-impasto-della-pizza/?lang=en ) for as long as possible, I left it there for 24 hours and then removed it from the refrigeration at least 5-7 hours before cooking, so they can raise again at room temperature.
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Below are other recipes
Pizza Dough Recipe 1 (from Flour Package)
Pizza Dough Recipe 1 (from Flour Package)
- 1000 g of Flour 00- 590g of Water (m- 30g of Salt- 0.5-2g of Yeast(let it rest for 12 hours
Recipe 2 (from Ooni book): (I ended up using this recipe but used only 550g of water (since I thought the dough was already too soft) and 10g of yeast (since one small pack had 10 grams inside it)
- 1000g of Flour 00- 600g of water- 20g of Salt- 40g of olive oil- 14grams of dry yeast
- 500g of Flour 00- 300g of water- 7g of dry yeast- 20g olive oil- 10g of Salt
and or detailed instructions if you have time...:
- Proof the yeast with a little bit of flour and warm water (use some of the measured water so you do not add too much moisture to the dough)
- Mix salt with flour and olive oil and yeast and mix everything until ready, make it into a mushroom ball and put in the refrigerator to maturate (see explanation here: https://www.silviocicchi.com/pizzachef/maturazione-dell-impasto-della-pizza/?lang=en )
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There is a recipe from Vera Pizza Napoletana that is similar to Recipe 1 aboveI should try next time. You can use this spreadsheet to define the proportions but below is for 1 kg of flour (8 200g dough pizzas):
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* you can test your yeast by Step 1: Dissolve sugar in water. Add yeast and stir to dissolve.
Preparation (from 6h 30min to 8h 30min): (195g doughs for 25 cm pizzas, or 8 balls)
- 10 minutes to add flour and prepare mixture in order to reach its ‘optimal point’, knead for a further 20 minutes.
- First stage of dough rise 2 hours “staglio a mano” dough hand cut and rolled into small balls referred to as ‘panetti’ Form small balls of approximately 180- 250 grams (250g for a 32 cm pizza)
- Second stage of dough rise Place balls in ‘rising boxes’ (alimentary cases) for 4-6 hours
- Recommended levitation temperature Room temperature : 25°c Conservation temperature As above for 6 hours following second stage of levitation.
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Step 2: Leave your yeast for 10 minutes. If the mixture rises to double or triple in size, then your yeast is active!
- 10 minutes to add flour and prepare mixture in order to reach its ‘optimal point’, knead for a further 20 minutes.
- First stage of dough rise 2 hours “staglio a mano” dough hand cut and rolled into small balls referred to as ‘panetti’ Form small balls of approximately 180- 250 grams (250g for a 32 cm pizza)
- Second stage of dough rise Place balls in ‘rising boxes’ (alimentary cases) for 4-6 hours
- Recommended levitation temperature Room temperature : 25°c Conservation temperature As above for 6 hours following second stage of levitation.
Temperature considerations: from here
The dough for our pizza should have a temperature of about 24 degrees. Considering that produce heat during kneading, if the ambient temperature is 30 ° we have a little problem. The only way to intervene is the temperature of the water that in fact we have to put in the refrigerator during the hot season.
A good rule of thumb is the so-called rule 55: the sum of the ambient temperature, the temperature of the flour (consider that conventionally equals the ambient temperature) and water temperature must give us the value 55.
Let's take an example: if our temperature is 20 °, then the water will be more or less than 15 ° (20 + 20 + 15 = 55); but if we have 25 degrees as ambient temperature, then the water will be around 5 °.
For further info on pizza, this site is an interesting one: https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/features/italian-pizza-guide
Some other pizza dough's recipes:
The following link is from the chef elected the best pizza outside Italy.
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I found this recipe and want to try: 60% dough pizza
* Pizza Recipe - Makes 10 Pizza Dough *
- Poolish for Pizza -
300g Water
5g Yeast
5g Honey
300g AP Flour King Arthur
* 1hr Room Temp - 16-24hrs in Fridge
- Pizza Dough -
Polish (above)
700g Water
1100g AP Flour
30g Salt
