Homemade Neapolitan Pizza (Pizza Napoletana)
on Feb 18, 2022
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Also known as Pizza Napoletana, Neapolitan Pizza is one of the most famous varieties of pizza, baked daily in restaurants all over the world. With high-quality ingredients, you can create a Naples-worthy pizza in your oven at home. It’s a fun project for beginners who love experimenting in the kitchen.
Neapolitan pizza is also known as Naples-style pizza. This classic pizza is made in the style of pizza makers in Naples, a city in southern Italy. As with most authentic Italian pizzas, the Neapolitan is quite minimalist in its toppings, adding to its universal appeal.
The most popular Neapolitan is the Pizza Margherita. This pizza is topped with fresh mozzarella, a rich tomato sauce and flavorful basil leaves.
What is Neapolitan Style Pizza?
Neapolitan style pizza is a traditional, authentic variety of pizza that originated in Italy several centuries ago. Naples, a large city in southern Italy, was known for its special type of pizza featuring a thin base and raised edges. The popularity of Neapolitan pizza spread throughout Italy and the rest of the world.
Traditionally cooked in a wood fire oven, it’s a round pizza with a diameter of no more than 14 inches. Its soft, fragrant crust is smothered in a rich tomato sauce and topped with simple ingredients. Authentic Neapolitan pizza is made with buffalo mozzarella and garnished with ingredients sourced from the Campania region in Italy.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pizza Dough: You can use store-bought pizza dough or make it from scratch. In a large bowl, combine flour, water, salt and yeast. Cover the bowl with cling film or a damp cloth for proofing.
- Pizza Sauce: For the best-tasting Neapolitan, a homemade sauce is the way to go. If purchasing ready-made sauce from the store, go for the best quality you can find.
- Fresh Mozzarella Cheese: Fresh, creamy mozzarella is an absolute necessity here. If you can, try to get buffalo mozzarella. Otherwise, opt for the highest quality available.
- Basil Leaves: Fresh basil leaves are the finishing touch on a perfect Neapolitan pizza. If you don’t have a basil plant in your backyard, check your supermarket’s fresh produce section.
- Cornmeal: Cornmeal is used to prevent pizza dough from sticking to your hands, the counter or the pizza stone. You can also use semolina flour for this purpose.
How to Make Neapolitan Pizza
Step 1: Make Neapolitan Pizza Dough
The dough is arguably the most important part of this recipe. Neapolitan pizza is characterized by its crust – satisfyingly thin and crispy at the base, but airy and puffy around the sides. An authentic Neapolitan crust starts with the dough.
In a large bowl, combine flour, water, salt and yeast into a mass of dough. Cover the bowl with cling film or a damp cloth. Allow the dough to rest for about an hour, before giving it a final knead. Leave the dough to proof overnight for best results.
Step 2: Add the Toppings
- Flour a work surface and add the pizza dough. Using your fingertips, stretch it out into a circle about 14 inches round.
- Sprinkle a large pizza pan with the cornmeal.
- Then slide the dough on top.
- Spoon the pizza sauce onto the dough and use a brush to distribute evenly, leaving an inch around the edges uncoated for the crust.
- Cut the mozzarella ball into 1/4-inch thick slices. Remove excess moisture if necessary using paper towels.
- Arrange the slices of mozzarella on top spaced apart slightly.
Step 3: Bake the Pizza
Place the pizza in the prepared oven. Bake at 500°F until the cheese is fully melted, about 7 to 8 minutes in a conventional oven. Garnish with basil, serve and enjoy!
Toppings for Neapolitan Pizza
For a true Italian experience, keep it simple with the toppings. Mozzarella and fresh basil are all you need for a delicious, restaurant-style Neapolitan pizza. Add a crack of black pepper or chili flakes if you like it spicy.
Tips for Making Neapolitan Pizza
- You can make the pizza dough ahead of time and refrigerate it for 2-3 days: Neapolitan pizza tastes best when the dough has had time to proof. Make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate for a couple days before baking.
- If you prefer a crispy crust, roll out the dough thin: The beauty of making Neapolitan pizza at home is that it’s 100% customizable. For a super-thin crust, just do a few more passes with the rolling pin.
- Nobody likes a soggy crust: Be sure your mozzarella isn’t watery by patting dry with paper towels. Using too much sauce is another culprit for soggy crusts.
- Add basil onto the pizza after baking to avoid charring: Basil leaves are too delicate to withstand the heat of the oven. Add to the pizza after baking for best results.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are the Rules for Neapolitan Pizza?
Unsurprisingly, pizza is serious business in Italy, with Neapolitan pizza being granted protected status by a standardization body. Foods with this designation have to meet strict requirements based on traditional pizza-making techniques. An authentic Naples-style pizza must be made with specific types of tomatoes and mozzarella made from the milk of water buffalos.
What’s the Difference Between Sicilian and Neapolitan Pizza?
Sicilian and Neapolitan are both famous varieties of authentic Italian pizza. As the names suggest, Sicilian pizza originated in Sicily, while Neapolitan pizza is Naples-style. Sicilian pizzas are much larger than Neapolitans, with a thick, crunchy crust. In Sicily, pizzas are piled high with toppings, while pizza makers in Naples kept it much simpler.
What’s the Difference Between Neapolitan and Margherita Pizza?
Margherita is another popular kind of Italian pizza. It’s a Neapolitan pizza with the classic toppings – tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and olive oil. Neapolitan pizzas can have a variety of toppings, but the Margherita is the most traditional, with its ingredients each representing a color of the Italian flag.
Do I Need a Neapolitan Pizza Oven?
While Italian pizza makers may use fancy wood or brick ovens, you’re welcome to use whatever’s in your kitchen. As long as your oven is hot enough, it will get the job done. You will need to bake Neapolitan Pizza at 500°F.
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Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ball homemade pizza dough
- ⅓ cup pizza sauce, homemade or store-bought
- ½ ball fresh mozzarella cheese, about 4 ounces
- 4 basil leaves, roughly torn
- Cornmeal, or semolina flour
Instructions
- Make the homemade pizza dough and/or homemade pizza sauce. (You can use store-bought although the flavor is better when you make your own.)
- Place the oven rack in the upper middle position and place a pizza stone (if available) in the middle. Preheat the oven to 500°F or as hot as it will go.
- On a work surface, cut the mozzarella ball into 1/4-inch thick slices. Remove excess moisture if necessary using paper towels.
- Flour a work surface and add the pizza dough. Using your fingertips, stretch it out into a circle about 14 inches round.
- Sprinkle a large pizza pan (or pizza peel if you have one) with the cornmeal/semolina. Then slide the dough on top.
- Spoon the pizza sauce onto the dough and use a brush to distribute evenly, leaving an inch around the edges uncoated for the crust. Then arrange the slices of mozzarella on top spaced apart slightly.
- Add the basil leaves if using a pizza oven. For a standard oven, add them after baking to avoid charring.
- Place the pizza in the prepared oven. Bake until the cheese if fully melted, about 7 to 8 minutes in a conventional oven or 2 minutes in a pizza oven.
- Add the basil afterward if needed. Cut into pieces and serve warm.
Notes
- Avoid a Soggy Crust: This can happen when fresh mozzarella is watery. Remove excess moisture from the cheese with paper towels. Also make sure not to use too much sauce.
Nutrition information provided is an estimate only and will vary based on ingredient brands and cooking methods used.
