Simple Neapolitan Pizza Dough
This Neapolitan pizza dough is perfectly crispy and chewy. My favorite is to top it with a crushed tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, prosciutto and arugula. The dough takes only about 20 minutes to prepare, but you do have to let the dough refrigerate for about 12 hours. You will also want to take the dough out of the fridge an hour before you want to bake it to bring it to room temperature.
The recipe was made by my little brother Ian Bella. He has been perfecting it for about a year now. Some would say he is a pizza connoisseur. For best results, he recommends using King Arther bread flour, and whole milk mozzarella cheese to top it.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Bread Flour- my favorite is King Arthurs Bread Flour
- Active Dry Yeast
- Water
- Sugar
- Olive Oil
- Salt
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Heat your water to 110°F – 115°F before adding this yeast. This will activate the yeast. If the water is too cold, it will not activate, and if the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes. This is essential to form and strengthen the gluten strands. This will make the dough perfectly chewy and will give the crust formation and keep it from being flat. If you do not know how to knead, here is a video from all recipes that explain how to knead the dough.
- If you do not have a pizza stone, you can bake the pizza on parchment paper on a regular baking sheet for the same amount of time. Just heat up the oven with the pan in it to start so that it is hot when you place the dough on it. Prepare the pizza on parchment paper so that you can easily slide the pizza onto the hot pan.
Equipment You Will Need
You will need the following equipment to make the pizza dough. I have provided links to amazon products if you do not have any of the equipment and are looking to purchase it.
- Electric Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
- Knife or Dough Cutter
- Pizza Stone (optional) or Baking Sheet
- High-temperature oven mitts/gloves (not necessary, but you may want for removing the pizza stone from the hot oven)
Simple Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Equipment
- Electric Stand Mixer
- Knife or Dough Cutter
- Pizza Stone (optional, use for best results) or baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Sugar you will add 1 tsp of sugar to the warm water and yeast to activate it, and will add the remaining tbsp later
- 2 1/4 Cups Warm Water Separated, see recipe
- 1 Tbsp Salt
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil Extra Virgin
- 5 Cups Bread Flour
- 1 Cup Bread Flour for Kneading
- 1 tbsp olive oil to cover dough while in the fridge
Instructions
- Combine 1 tsp of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, and 1 tbsp of active dry yeast. Stir together, and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining water, sugar, salt, olive oil, together. Using an electric stand mixer with the dough hook, begin mixing the dough adding the flour 1 cup at a time until all of the flour has been added (total 5 cups).
- Spread about 1/2 cup of flour on the counter and place the dough on the floured counter and begin kneading the dough. Knead the dough for roughly 5 minutes adding flour when the dough starts to get sticky.
- Cut the dough into 4 even pieces, and roll into balls. Prepare a bowl with 1 tbsp of olive oil, place dough in the bowl with the olive oil, then flip it to cover both sides. Transition the dough into a new bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat the process with the remaining 3 dough balls. Place the dough balls into the fridge overnight or for at least 12 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 500 with the pizza stone in the oven, if you are using a pizza stone.
- Stretch dough to about 1/4 inch thick, and place on parchment paper. Prepare pizza to your liking. Place in the oven for 3 minutes. Carefully slide the parchment paper out from under the pizza , leaving the dough on the pizza stone. Continue baking for 7 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. If you are not using a pizza stone, you can leave the pizza baking on the baking sheet with the parchment paper.
- Remove from the oven, and let cool for 3 minutes before cutting.
If you tried this recipe, let me know how it turned out in the comments below. If you liked this recipe, click here to check out some of my others. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.
I hope you enjoy!
