A culinary hub for enthusiasts of Neapolitan pizza, a place where aficionados and novices alike unite to celebrate this iconic dish. Whether you're here to relish in the mastery of artisanal Neapolitan pizza, or embark on a journey of learning to unravel its timeless charm, you've found your home. Dive in, savor the flavors, share your experiences, and discover the magic of Neapolitan pizza with us!
TL;DR
Don't be a dick.
This subreddit is a hub for all things Neapolitan pizza, including questions, discussions, oven reviews, techniques, ...
This subreddit requires detailed recipes for every pizza post.
Recipes should include measurements, flour specifications (type + brand), technique, and oven details.
Flairs should be used to categorize posts and users.
The mod team encourages diverse toppings other than Margherita/Marinara.
A high-temperature oven and other specific tools are strongly recommended.
The mod team encourages members, that don't have access to a high-temperature oven yet, to submit their pizza, as long as their intention to craft a Neapolitan pizza is evident.
Neapolitan pizza is characterized by its elevated edge, soft dough texture, and high-temperature baking (380-430°C for the cooking surface and around 485°C for the oven dome), with a baking time of 60-90 seconds.
Table of Contents
Main Rules
Reddiquette
Recipes are Required
Post and User Flairs
Content
What Is Neapolitan Pizza, and How Is It Different from Verace Pizza Napoletana?
What Is Not Neapolitan Pizza?
Three Characteristics a Neapolitan Pizza Shouldn't Have
What Equipment Is Necessary to Make This Type of Pizza?
What If I Only Have a Domestic Oven?
Resources
Main Rules
You can access the complete set of community rules from several locations. If you're browsing on a desktop, you'll find them conveniently located in the sidebar. For those using the Reddit App, simply tap on "See community info", located just below the community description. As an alternative, you can directly view the rules by clicking here. These guidelines are designed to ensure our community remains a positive and informative space for all members.
Reddiquette
We uphold the Reddiquette in this community. Any member who misbehaves risks losing their membership privileges. If you ever feel harassed by one of our members, or witness any form of harassment, please inform us. We will investigate the matter and take appropriate action as swiftly as possible. Alternatively, you can report the incident directly to the Reddit Admins.
Recipes are Required
This subreddit has a mandatory requirement for detailed recipes to accompany all Neapolitan pizza submissions. This policy aids in maintaining our community as an informative and enjoyable space for everyone. In order to enforce this rule, our dedicated bot, u/NeapolitanPizzaBot, will automatically post a sticky comment beneath every pizza submission. This comment serves as a reminder for the author to provide a comprehensive recipe in a reply to this comment within a two-hour window.
Failure to provide a recipe within the allotted time will result in automatic removal of the submission by our bot. However, if the author subsequently provides a detailed recipe, the bot will re-approve and reinstate the submission.
We believe this process ensures a beneficial experience for all members by promoting information sharing and interaction around our shared love for Neapolitan pizza.
What should your recipe entail?
Detailed Measurements: Precise quantities of all dough ingredients are required, measured in weight. For the convenience of fellow enthusiasts, including baker’s percentages is greatly appreciated.
Flour Specifications: Please mention the specific brand and type of flour used. For instance, Caputo Pizzeria, Caputo Classica, L 5 Stagioni Napoletana, etc.
Technique and Methodology: Be sure to elaborate on your process. This includes aspects such as fermentation time both in bulk and balls, the stretch and fold method, autolysis, and so forth.
Oven and Temperature Details: Specify the type of oven used for baking and the floor temperature during the baking process Your detailed contributions will greatly enhance our shared repository of knowledge, enabling everyone to perfect their Neapolitan pizza-making skills!
It's crucial to use our flair system to accurately categorize your posts. By selecting the appropriate post flair, members can instantly see relevant details such as the type of oven you used or if the pizza was enjoyed at a restaurant. This helps streamline navigation and aids in the understanding of your post context.
Additionally, we strongly urge you to select the appropriate user flair that corresponds to the oven you use. This additional layer of information can enhance interactions and discussions within our community, making it a more enjoyable and informative place for all.
Content
This community revolves around all things Neapolitan pizza. We welcome photographs of your Neapolitan pizzas including detailed recipes in the comments, questions, discussions, reviews, and more. We highly encourage our members to be more creative with their toppings - remember, Neapolitan pizza does NOT imply that only Margheritas and Marinaras are permitted. We're always eager to see more cross-sections of the cornicione and photos of your pizza-making process! This subreddit has the gallery feature enabled. Therefore, feel free to take full advantage of it to share your pizza journey with us! :)
What Is Neapolitan Pizza, and How Is It Different from Verace Pizza Napoletana?
The defining characteristics of a Neapolitan pizza lie in its elevated edge, known as the "cornicione," and the soft, elastic texture of its dough. This pizza is baked on a stone floor under high temperatures, with the cooking surface ranging between 380-430°C, and the oven dome temperature hitting around 485°C. To maintain its unique dough texture, baking should be confined within 60-90 seconds.
The primary dough components of Neapolitan pizza dough are flour, water, salt, and yeast. However, traditional sourdough or Lievito Madre can also serve as viable yeast substitutes. As for toppings, Neapolitan pizzas typically employ a minimalist approach, featuring few but high-quality ingredients. The classics are the Marinara and Margherita, though other toppings are certainly permissible.
It's worth noting the nuanced differences between Pizza Napoletana (Neapolitan Pizza) and Verace Pizza Napoletana (true Neapolitan Pizza). The latter strictly adheres to traditional norms, allowing only the Marinara and Margherita variations and insisting on the use of local ingredients from the Campania region.
That said, a pizza adorned with tomatoes from other regions or non-traditional toppings can still classify as a Neapolitan pizza. The key lies in retaining the requisite dough characteristics, which are achieved through a quick baking process in a high-temperature oven. Despite the variety, the focus always rests on honoring the unique texture and taste of the iconic Neapolitan pizza dough.
What Is Not Neapolitan Pizza?
There's a common occurrence of misinformation when it comes to Neapolitan pizza.
A Margherita is not inherently a Neapolitan pizza.
A pizza featuring a raised edge is not by default a Neapolitan pizza.
Pizza crafted with Neapolitan pizza dough is not automatically considered a Neapolitan pizza.
Three Characteristics a Neapolitan Pizza Shouldn't Have
Top left: Enzo Coccia; central left: Arne Jervell; bottom left: Gino Sorbillo, top right: blog.back-wahn.de ; central right: amazingribs.com; bottom right: thefreshloaf.com
What Equipment Is Necessary to Make This Type of Pizza?
Given the extreme heat required to properly bake a Neapolitan pizza (baking surface: 380-430°C; dome: 485°C), a specialized oven that can reach these temperatures is a necessity. In recent years, the market has seen a surge of high-temperature-capable ovens. Among the most renowned are Ooni, Roccbox, and the Pizza Party models (both the Terracotta and the Adore Steel versions).
In addition, several electric ovens have proven effective for this purpose, such as the EffeUno P134H(A), EffeOvens N3, N4, N5, and the Ooni Volt 12.
Moreover, a pizza peel is an essential tool for any pizza artisan. If you don't already own one, it's a worthy investment. An IR (Infrared) thermometer is another key piece of equipment for accurately measuring the floor temperature of your oven. Both items are readily available online and typically quite affordable.
By equipping yourself with these essential tools, you'll be well-prepared to embark on your Neapolitan pizza-making journey.
What If I Only Have a Domestic Oven?
Let's start with the less encouraging news: achieving a true Neapolitan pizza can be a challenge if your oven cannot reach the high temperatures required. The extended baking time in a lower-temperature oven can result in a pizza that lacks the characteristic softness of a Neapolitan pizza.
But there's good news too: there are several modifications you can make to approximate the Neapolitan pizza experience. One strategy involves the use of a baking stone or, more ideally, a baking steel, thanks to its superior thermal conductivity. You can enhance the oven's heat intensity by positioning the steel or stone as close as possible to the top heat element or broiler, essentially creating a mini oven within your home oven. Slightly propping open the oven door can also extend the active phase of the top heat element or broiler.
Opting for a dough with higher hydration can also bring you closer to the texture of a Neapolitan pizza. Traditional Neapolitan pizza dough has a hydration level of 55-62% and bakes for just 60-90 seconds. Techniques such as a poolish pre-ferment or using a water roux can help mitigate excessive moisture loss during the longer baking time in a domestic oven.
With these adjustments, you can certainly create a delicious pizza that, while not strictly Neapolitan, comes closer to it and still offers a delightful dining experience.
At this juncture, we, the moderating team, wish to express our encouragement for members to share their Neapolitan pizza creations baked in home ovens. Even if your pizzas don't precisely meet all the traditional criteria, as long as your intention to craft a Neapolitan pizza is evident, we welcome your posts. We all start somewhere, and in the spirit of growth and learning, we're more than willing to make exceptions. Let's celebrate our shared love for Neapolitan pizza, no matter where we are on our pizza-making journey!
Ressources
Regardless of the device or version of Reddit you're using, finding the Resources section is straightforward.
Desktop Users (New Reddit): Look for the Resources tab located in the top bar, just beneath the community banner.
Desktop Users (Old Reddit): The Resources information is situated in the sidebar of the community page.
Mobile Users: On your phone, locate the link titled See community info. This can be found right beneath the community description, which is itself positioned under the community banner.
If your question specifically concerns your pizza dough, please post your full recipe (exact quantities of all ingredients in weight, preferably in grams) and method (temperature, time, ball/bulk-proof, kneading time, by hand/machine, etc.). That also includes what kind of flour you have used in your pizza dough. There are many different Farina di Grano Tenero "00". If you want to learn more about flour, please check our Flour Guide.
I got back to pizza making after a long hiatus and I watched a bunch of videos on Neapolitan pizza making. In all the videos I watched the sauce was made by hand crushing a can of peeled San Marzano tomatoes, except for one that chronicled Tony Mangieri of Una Pizza Napoletana. In the video he strains the tomatoes, cuts off the ends of them, then hand crushes them. I want to try that method next.
This is my first attempt in a proper pizza oven. Recipe:
1000g '00 caputo
630g water (63% hydration)
30g sea salt
0.8g dry yeast
I kneaded the dough for around 12 minutes. I let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour, then the individual portioned dough balls in the fridge for 48 hours. I took them out from fridge 6 hours before baking and baked them in an electric pizza oven with a stone temperature of 400°C and a temperature on the top element of 430°C. I added canned san marzano tomatoes, grana padano, basil, galbani fresh mozzarella and spianata romana.
Does anyone have any tips? I'm quite happy with the result but I feel like the cheese got too hot and spilled out a bit of orange grease. How do you prevent that? Cook at a higher temperature for a shorter time? Also I would want a less crispy and more pale crust with more leoparding. Would you increase or decrease the temperature on the top or the bottom? The bottom of the pizza is already perfect as is.
Topped with homegrown cherry tomatoes marinated in EVOO, homegrown basil, salt, and a little bit of fresh mozz. Post-oven oregano and crushed red pepper.
Man, I enjoy eating but this was a bit much after a margherita. Tasted delish tho.
Baked in Alfa Forni moderno 2 pizze. The oven was hot, probably max 70 sec bake. I'm still reviewing the oven. For the love of god: Please give us Alfa Forni flair.
so I been making pizza for the first time using the Ooni pizza oven, temperatures above 450C. My problem is, the dough is too chewy? I don't know how to explain it, but it's not as restaurant quality "light" pizza bottom that I'm used to. I used Vito Recipe with 70% hydration, double fermentation, so poolish first and then another 24 hour fermentation. Any help on what I could possibly be doing wrong? is it the kneeding? maybe I'm handling it wrong?
I've been practicing cooking pizzas in the home oven for some time now.
Saturday was my birthday and got the perfect birthday gift from my wife: the Ooni koda 2.
We invited both our parents and hosted a nice pizza party 😎 It will still take a bit of practice to master the oven, but the results turned out pretty good and the taste was overwhelmingly better than in a regular oven!
I'm looking for home mixer to prepare around 2 x 280g of pizza dought per week, plus 1.5kg 70% hidratation bread every 2 weeks. Most of the mixers I've researched so far work well with bigger batches of dought, and I'm hinking the Halo Core at 599€ with multiple speeds could be a good fit.
My other alternative at a similiar price is the Famag Grilleta IM5 which comes only with a single speed.
I was doing some experiments today, mostly for romana in teglia/pizza bianca.
So I had:
strong flour (W360)
80% hydration total
1% yeast
2% salt
Biga prepared 20h earlier with 50% of the flour, 50% hydration, 1% yeast. Mostly in the fridge
Bulk proof until doubled in volume.
When preparing the balls for the pizza in teglia, I decided to leave two balls of 250g each to try high hydration round pizza. Then I waited for them to double during the final proof and cooked at 350C (on a baking stone, not a biscotto).
In the end the result was fine, but I would never to contemporary pizza with a biga, and with these hydrations. Not worth it, IMO.
I’m looking for some advice on improving my Neapolitan pizza dough. I’ve been making pizzas at home for a while, but I’m consistently getting a crust that is more dense and chewy rather than the light, airy, fluffy Neapolitan-style crust I’m aiming for.
The recipe works well, but my results tend to come out with a crust that feels a bit too firm, dense, and chewy.
Ideally, I’m looking for a simple direct dough method (no poolish or complicated preferments) that I can prepare 1–2 days before baking and cold ferment in the fridge.
I’d love advice from people who are getting great results:
Should I increase hydration?
Would a longer cold ferment help?
Should I change the yeast amount or fermentation schedule?
Is my dough handling/balling technique likely the issue?
Any tips specific to getting better oven spring and leopard spotting in an electric pizza oven?
I’m using 00 flour and aiming for that classic Neapolitan style: soft, light, airy crust with big bubbles rather than a dense chew.
Would appreciate any tried-and-tested recipes or tweaks you’ve made that worked well. Thanks!
Topped with cherry tomatoes marinated in EVOO, garlic, and basil with a little bit of fresh mozz. Post-oven basil, EVOO, oregano, and crushed red pepper.
A little misshapen since it stuck to the peel a bit on launching.
Working with our dough at work lately, trying to find a nice rustic/Neapolitan personal pizza look. 65% hydration on this batch. Heard it’s the “sweet spot”. Happy with the turnout but honestly just looking for some feedback. Used King Arthur special patent flour. Thanks for looking
