Neapolitan Pizza Dough

Welcome to the world of Neapolitan pizza! If you’re a pizza lover, then you’re probably familiar with the different styles of pizza dough out there. And if you’re a true pizza aficionado, then you’ve likely heard of Neapolitan pizza and its famous dough. Neapolitan pizza is a style of pizza that originated in Naples, Italy, and is known for its slightly puffy, crispy crust and simple toppings. But what sets Neapolitan pizza apart is its dough. Made with just a few simple ingredients, Neapolitan pizza dough is a thing of beauty – light, airy, and chewy, with just the right amount of crispiness. In this blog post, we’ll explore Neapolitan pizza dough and share tips on how to make your own at home. So, get ready to roll up your sleeves and channel your inner pizzaiolo – it’s time to make some pizza!

The National Crust follows a fairly simple process when making our dough. Firstly we only use 4 simple ingredients, flour, water, salt and yeast. At The National Crust, we use Caputo Blue Pizzeria Flour, as we believe it provides the tastiest dough time and time again. We also use fine sea salt, fresh yeast and regular tap water.

As a home pizzaiolo it can be hard to determine the quantity of each ingredients required to make your desired amount of pizza dough. A handy resource to use is “PizzApp”, which is an application that will take into account factors like room temperature, fermentation time, hydration, ball weight, yeast type and so much more. If you’re struggling at home download the app and it will give you the quantities you need.

At The National Crust we often make our dough at around 60% hydration, with 3% salt content and 275g ball weight, but feel free to play around to achieve your desired result. The quantity of yeast required will be determined by a few factors, but the ambient room temperature and the fermentation time are the main two. The amount of yeast will be worked out by the PizzApp for you so no need to worry! Our pizza dough has a total fermentation time of 30 hours, but anywhere from 10-24 hours is good for home use.

Once you have your ingredients portioned out it is onto the mixing and kneading phase. You can either use your hands or a stand mixer with the dough attachment for this process. At the National Crust we knead for around 15 minutes (this will take slightly longer by hand), until a final dough temperature of between 23-24 Celsius is achieved. Kneading the Neapolitan pizza dough at the correct temperature is crucial for achieving the desired texture and flavour.

The right temperature ensures that the dough is not too cold or too warm, which can affect the fermentation process and the final texture of the crust. Kneading the dough at a lower temperature can make it tougher and harder to work with, while kneading at a higher temperature can cause the dough to over-ferment, resulting in a gummy texture. When kneading the dough at the right temperature, it will be easier to stretch and shape, and will produce a light, airy crust. So, next time you’re making Neapolitan pizza dough, make sure to pay attention to the temperature and knead till 23-24 Celsius for the perfect pizza crust.

To achieve this final dough temperature the water used in the kneading process has to be the correct temperature. For this a formula is used:

Water Temperature °C = 59 – (Flour Temperature °C x2)

This formula ensures that after around 15 minutes of kneading the dough should be around 23 °C.

Once you have all your ingredients at the correct quantities and temperatures it is time to begin kneading the dough. There are many different ways to knead dough but here is how we do it at the national crust:

Step 1: Initial Ingredient – The first step in crafting Neapolitan pizza dough begins by adding the water and yeast to a mixer. Let the yeast dissolve into the water. To this mixture, add approximately ¾ of the total flour required for the recipe. Not adding all the flour at once allows maximum water absorption, which should allow for a smoother, more consistent dough.

Step 2: Mix the water, yeast, and flour – In the mixer add the water yeast and flour, and let the ingredients combine for 2-3 minutes. The goal is to ensure that the water is fully incorporated into the mixture, leaving no visible water remaining. This process helps hydrate the flour and initiate gluten development.

Step 3: Adding Remaining Flour and Salt – Once the initial mixing is complete add the remaining flour and salt. This step should take place gradually to ensure even distribution of the ingredients.

Step 4: Kneading for 15 Minutes – Now comes the crucial stage of kneading the dough. Allow the mixer to continue running for a total of 15 minutes. During this time, the gluten in the flour will develop fully, resulting in a smooth and elastic dough. It’s important to note that gluten development is essential for achieving that characteristic Neapolitan pizza texture.

Step 5: The Poke Test – After the dough has been kneaded for the recommended 15 minutes, it’s time to perform the poke test. Gently press your finger into the dough. If it springs back and leaves no indentation, the gluten has been fully developed, indicating that the dough is ready to ferment. However, if the dough remains sunken or fails to spring back completely, it requires further kneading to strengthen the gluten structure.

Step 6: Balling – If you are making dough at home, it is likely your dough will have a total fermentation time of 24 hours or less. For this fermentation window it is best to ball your dough directly instead of doing a bulk ferment, and then balling your dough.

When balling directly, leave your dough covered on your worktop for around 30 minutes to an hour. You do this to help the gluten relax resulting in a more smooth dough for balling. After this time separate your dough into correctly weighed portions for your balling. At The National Crust we like 275 grams per ball for a 12 inch pizza. Once separated and weighed out it is time to ball.

The aim of balling is to create surface tension on the upside skin of the ball, allowing the dough ball to maintain shape through its fermentation. There are many techniques to balling dough, so have a google and find which is easiest for you. Tip – Make sure to pinch the bottom of your dough ball before placing it down to prove! An open bottom, will mean when you go to press out the dough ball it will have cracks and not be one smooth structure.

Step 7: Fermentation – Once correctly balled place your dough balls into an air tight container evenly spaced apart by about 2 inches. They are placed slightly apart as when the dough ferments it usually doubles in size. Let the dough ferment for your own specified time and enjoy!

Below we have provided a quantity recipe for the average pizza enthusiast, which can be applied to the above instructions. It is adjusted to fit around a busy schedule so therefore is a same day dough, where you would make the dough in the morning and it will be ready in the evening. Make sure to use the PizzApp if you making changes to the recipe, or are using different types of yeasts. Hyperlinks to the ingredients we use can also be found below, so you can make the exact pizza we do! Hope you enjoy and thank you for reading!