Recipe for Realness

The Authentic Pizza Napoletana

Pizza napoletana
Description

There is pizza - and there is Pizza Napoletana . The two, connoisseurs say, have as much in common as virgin olive oil has with generic cooking oil. Now, authentic Pizza Napoletana has joined the elite group of European Union-certified food and drink products. In order to qualify for this list, these food products had to meet very strict criteria.

Once a product is granted Guaranteed Traditional Specialty status, other similar products are not allowed to use the same name. To be labeled ‘Guaranteed Traditional Specialty’, the pizza mustn't be over 35 centimeters in diameter and the crust mustn't be more than two centimeters thick. The ingredients must include type 00 flour and up to 100 grams of San Marzano tomatoes applied in a spiraling motion. And the cheese has to be fresh ‘Mozzarella a di Bufala’.

The International Regulation is a set of codified rules, orally transmitted by neapolitan’s generation of pizzamaker, passed down from father to son. In 1984 Antonio Pace and Lello Surace reunited the most important and famous pizzamaker of the time to write down the fundamental rules in order to recognize and differentiate the True Neapolitan Pizza from the other type of pizza. Since then, the International Regulation has been the heart of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, which protect the tradition of this old recipe and spead its secrets, defending its uniqueness and peculiarity.

Ingredients

  • Flour: 1,600/1,800 (depending on the degree of absorption)
  • 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 (1 gram of dry for 3 grams of fresh)
  • Peeled tomato crusched by hand.In case of fresh tomato, it has to be chopped in to slices.
  • Buffalo mozzarella or the fior di latte
  • Grated cheese (if used)
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • Extra virgin olive oil
flour yeast salt basil mozzarela tomato cheese oilveoil water

Preparation

Step one- Mix the ingredients for the dough

Flour, water, salt and yeast are mixed together, starting from the water, making sure that direct contact between salt and yeast does not occur for more than 5 minutes, otherwise the salt will damage the yeast cells. Pour a litre of water into a mixer, dissolve between 40 and 60g of salt, add 10% of the total amount of flour, then add yeast. Start the mixer, gradually add the rest of the flour until the desider dough consistency is achieved (optimal point of the dough). The dough must be worked in the fork mixer, spiral, with dipping arms (basket with rounded and rounded corners) until a single compact mass is obtained. The quantity of water that a flour is able to absorb (hydration) is very important to obtain an optimal consistency of the dough.

Step two- Fermentation and maturation

Once extracted from the kneading machine, it is placed on a work table in the pizzeria where it is left to rest covered with a damp cloth so that the surface cannot become hard, forming a sort of crust caused by the evaporation of the humidity released by the dough itself. After the time deemed necessary to settle and rest, the dough is formed, traditionally by hand. With the help of a spatula, a portion of leavened dough is cut from the dough placed on the work bench and then given a form of dough. In the Neapolitan technique, in the traditional hand-made piece, the dough is shaped (staglio) in the form of balls with a technique that recalls the preparation of mozzarellas (mozzatura). For " Verace Pizza Napoletana” – (Vera Pizza Napoletana) the dough balls must weigh between 200 and 280 g, to obtain a pizza with a diameter between 22 - 35 cm. Once the loaves are formed, a second leavening takes place in boxes for food of variable duration, depending on the temperature and humidity of the environment and the absorption of the flour used. Maturation consists of a series of biochemical and enzymatic processes that split the most complex structures, proteins and starches into simpler elements. Recommended levitation time Min 8 – max 24 hours (with additional hours of kneading – 4 hours).

Step three- Forming the pizza base

With a motion from the centre outwards, and with the pressure of the fingers of both hands on the dough ball, the base is turned over and around many times. In doing this the ‘‘pizzaiolo” (pizza maker)’ forms a disk of dough (disco di pasta). From the centre the thickness is no more than 0.25 cm variance ±10% tolerated

Step four- Adding the condiments

The true Neapolitan pizza must be garnished with ingredients preferably from Campania regions. The peeled tomato crusched by hand doesn’t have to look too dense but chunky. In case of fresh tomato, it has to be chopped in slices. The buffalo mozzarella (chopped in slices) or the fior di latte (chopped into strips) have to be spread uniformly on the pizza. The grated cheese (if used) has to be spread on the pizza with a circular and uniform movement of the hand. The fresh basil leaves are just put on the condiments. The extra virgin olive oil is poured with a spiral motion.

Step five- Cooking

For the perfect Neapolitan pizza, cooking must be done in a blazing-hot wood-fired oven heated to a toasty 430-480°C—because anything less is just an insult to tradition. At these temperatures, your pizza needs just 60-90 seconds to reach crispy, bubbly perfection. No flipping, no poking—just pure pizza magic happening before your eyes. And there you have it—authentic Neapolitan pizza! Beware of imposters, accept no substitutes, and most importantly—enjoy every delicious bite!... 🍕🔥😋.