How to make an authentic Neapolitan Pizza at home

Hello there, welcome back to another recipe! Today we’re pushing the limits and take a shot doing an authentic Neapolitan Pizza. This type of pizza is one of my favorites, it is the combination of a light and airy crust, holds the ingredients without breaking down and it's just so easy to eat. But what makes the Neapolitan pizza so incredible? Well there’s quite a few arguments out there that say it's the water, or the flour or just simply the very strict recipe and guidelines that need to be followed. 

Now, I am very impatient and usually just let my pizza dough rise for about two hours but for this one we’ve decided to let the dough rest for about 72 hrs. In this video Beto from #TeamFOGO is teaching me how to do it, he has researched on youtube and other online articles… so I’m thrilled to give this a try! 

Let’s get that dough started…

Video Recipe

Directions

Dough (24 hrs before) 

1. In a medium bowl blend the flour, yeast and salt and combine thoroughly
2. Add the cold water and with a wooden spoon start mixing it, once all the ingredients are incorporated you can use your hands.
3. Start kneading the dough for about 20 mins, without adding more flour, it will initially be sticky, but as you keep working it the texture will improve. When your dough comes together, it is time to let it rest for at least 24 hours at room temperature. 
4. Put the dough back into the bowl and brush some oil to avoid from drying and cover with a damp cloth
5. Let it rest for at least 24 hrs. 

Sauce

1. Drain the tomatoes, and squish them with your hand 
2. Place the squashed tomatoes  in the cast iron pan if you’re doing it like me on the pizza oven or you can easily do it on the stove
3. Add the entire bunch of basil, salt and pepper to taste 
4. Let the flavors combine in the heat and let it come to a boil, then its ready!

Assembling the pizza: 

1. Start your fire, we use wood and light them up with FOGO starters - we’re looking to get to the 800F degree mark.
2. Once the dough has rested, flour your surface and scrape out the dough from the bowl and divide in 4 equal pieces. (At this stage you can choose to let it rest for an additional 24-36 hrs in the fridge to increase flavors and aromas)
3. Start working the dough, make sure to push it out from the center to the sides (look in video) using your knuckles, you don’t want to roll it out as it will flatten the air bubbles that we want. 
4. Stretch it out for your pizza for about 10-12 inches, do not worry if it isn’t round. 
5. Add the tomato sauce and your desired toppings
6. Put some flour onto the surface of your pizza peel/shovel or if you don’t have one a pizza tray will work great, and slide your pizza on it. 
7. Place the pizza into the oven with gentle swifts, and leave it for about 90 seconds -make sure you see that nice charr color on it. 
8. … and enjoy! 

It’s pizza time!

You can’t imagine how excited I am to try this, after a wait of 72 hours! The first thing we notice is how airy the dough is, you see these air bubbles in the crust. So we finally take a bite and man, it is incredibly good and crunchy but airy, I just LOVED it! 

This was Beto’s first time doing this type of pizza, and of course there is always room for improvement - but this one was pretty awesome for the first try. 

Have you ever tried the authentic Neapolitan pizza? Would you do this at home? Let me know in the comments.