In Naples, a pizza bakes in about ninety seconds in an oven that runs well over 400°C. A home oven tops out far lower, so the trick is not to imitate the pizzeria exactly, but to borrow its principles and adapt them to your kitchen.
Start with the right flour
Italian tipo 00 flour is finely milled and makes a soft, extensible dough. If you can’t find it, a good bread flour works well too — the crust will simply be a little chewier.
A simple dough for four pizzas:
- 500 g flour
- 325 g cold water (65% hydration)
- 12 g fine sea salt
- 2 g instant yeast
Let the fridge do the work
Mix everything until no dry flour remains, rest for twenty minutes, then knead briefly until smooth. Divide into four balls, place them in a lightly oiled container and refrigerate for 24 to 72 hours.
Cold fermentation is the single biggest upgrade you can make to home pizza. It turns flour and water into something that tastes of bread.
Take the dough out two hours before baking so it comes to room temperature and relaxes.
Heat is everything
Place a pizza steel or stone on the top shelf and preheat your oven at its highest setting for a full 45 minutes. A steel conducts heat faster than stone and gives you a crisper base. Switch to the grill for the final minute to blister the top.
Less is more on top
Neapolitan pizza is about restraint. Crush good tinned tomatoes by hand with a pinch of salt — no cooking required. Tear mozzarella into pieces and let it drain on paper towels so it doesn’t flood the base. Finish with basil and a thread of olive oil after baking.
Shaping without a rolling pin
Press from the centre outward with your fingertips, leaving a 2 cm border untouched. That border is where the trapped air lives; flatten it and you lose the puffy rim. Lift and stretch over your knuckles, then slide onto a floured peel and into the oven without delay.
Your first pizza will probably be misshapen. Your fourth will be very, very good.
