Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe

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Photo by Fotolia/Perseomedusa
This Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe creates a thin dough that makes a delicious homemade pizza.
8 to 10 minutes COOK TIME
15 minutes PREP TIME
1 ­12- to 14-inch pizza SERVINGS

Ingredients

Directions

  • 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven with a baking stone (scraped clean) at your oven’s maximum temperature — the hotter, the better. (Another option is to use the baking stone over a grill, which takes about two-thirds of the time.)
  • Prepare the toppings in advance. The key to a pizza that slides right off the peel is to work ­quickly.
  • Follow Step 5 of the Master Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Recipe.
  • Flatten the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick round with your hands and a rolling pin on a wooden board. Dust with flour to keep the dough from sticking. (A little sticking can help overcome the dough’s resistance to stretching, though, so don’t overuse flour.) You also can let the partially rolled dough relax for a few minutes to allow further rolling. Stretching by hand may help, followed by additional rolling. Place the rolled-out dough onto a liberally cornmeal-covered pizza peel.
  • Distribute your toppings over the surface, leaving some of its surface exposed so you can appreciate the individual ingredients — and the magnificent crust! — of the final product. No further resting is needed.
  • Turn on the exhaust fan (or use lower heat and bake a few minutes longer), because some of the cornmeal will smoke. Slide the pizza onto the stone (back­and-forth shakes can help dislodge it). Check for doneness in 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the pizza around if one side is browning too fast. It may need up to 5 more minutes.
  • Allow to cool slightly on a rack before serving.
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The secrets to this pizza are to keep the crust thin, don’t overload it, and to bake it quickly at a high temperature so it doesn’t cook down to a soup. It’s unlike anything most of us are used to eating — especially if you make fresh mozzarella!

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