Perfect Neapolitan Style Pizza Recipe

When you’ve had the best pizza in Naples Italy, it’s hard to go back. That’s what happened to Alex and me. You know in the movie The Matrix when Neo is given the choice between the blue and red pill, essentially choosing between blissful ignorance or truth? Well, once you’ve had pizza in Naples, it’s that kind of moment. Eating pizza in Naples, the place where pizza was invented, is like choosing the red pill. Once you know what true Neapolitan pizza is, you’ll never go back! And then you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to recreate it at home. Keep reading for all our tips and tricks to the best homemade Neapolitan pizza.

Video: How to make Neapolitan pizza

Because it’s easiest to learn how to make pizza by watching, here’s a step-by-step video! We’ll show you exactly how to make Neapolitan pizza, from dough to baking.

What is Neapolitan pizza?

So what is Neapolitan pizza? Essentially, it’s pizza made in the style that originated in Naples, Italy. Like any famous dish, there many variations on “authentic” Neapolitan pizza. After eating some of what is considered the best pizza in the world in Naples Italy, we’ve found the following are characteristics of Neapolitan style pizzas:

• Elegantly simple flavors: At the best Neapolitan pizza restaurant we’ve been to, Da Michele, they served two flavors: Margarita and Marinara. Margarita is tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, and Marinara is simply tomatoes and garlic. Both were sweet perfection in their simplicity.
• Soft, thin crust, cooked in a very hot oven: Most Neapolitan pizzas are baked in a wood fired pizza oven that’s around 800 to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The crust is typically blackened by the fire, with puffed edges but very thin towards the middle.
• Simple tomatoes: The crust on Neapolitan pizzas is typically spread simply with tomatoes, usually San Marzano variety. For our version, we’ve used a simple sauce that mimics the flavors we had in Naples.
• Mozzarella: The cheese in Italy is top notch. Neapolitan pizza often has fresh mozzarella or buffalo mozzarella.

How to make Neapolitan pizza dough?

The essential part of Neapolitan pizza is the pizza dough. Alex and I have been working on our recipe for over 10 years. In honing our dough recipe, we’ve learned a few things from some of the premiere pizza restaurant chefs in America, who themselves have studied the pizza in Naples! Our Best Homemade Pizza Dough recipe calls for fermenting the dough: refrigerating the dough for 3 days before using it. Fermenting the dough brings a nutty, complex flavor to the dough. If you’re able to, we’d recommend placing your pizza dough in a sealed container and refrigerating it for up to 3 days.
Another tip for great pizza dough is to use great flour! The flour we use is called Tipo 00 flour; it’s what Neapolitan pizza restaurants use. It makes for a beautiful, supple and fluffy dough. We buy our Tipo 00 flour online.

Do I need Neapolitan pizza oven?

Wouldn’t it be nice if every human could own a Neapolitan pizza oven? We wish! No, you don’t need a Neapolitan pizza oven for this recipe: you can cook it in a standard oven at 515 degrees Fahretheit along with a preheat pizza stone inside. However, if you want those beautiful black char marks on your crust like in these photos, you’ll need a pizza oven. Why use a pizza oven? A pizza oven can get much hotter than a regular oven. Your standard oven can get only to 550F, but a pizza oven reaches temperatures of up to almost 1000F.
Until recently, we did not own a pizza oven. However, we’ve discovered a genius pizza oven called the Ooni pizza oven. The Ooni is small, transportable, and heats up to 1000 degrees Fahretheit in just 10 minutes! It’s powered by wood pellets. Using the Ooni takes a bit of practice, but it’s revolutionized our homemade pizza. And of course, you can use any type of pizza oven to bake this Neapolitan pizza recipe.

What sauce should I use for Neapolitan pizza?

Most Neapolitan pizza recipes call for placing tomatoes right onto the dough. The San Marzano variety of tomato is a type of Italian tomato that is most often used on Neapolitan pizza. You can find canned San Marzano tomatoes in many grocery stores in the United States these days! Previously, Alex and I used San Marzanos right out of the can on our pizzas. But we recently discovered a trick for making a tomato sauce that has even more of the savory goodness we remember from our Neapolitan pizza.

Does Neapolitan pizza have basil?

Like any famous recipe, there are lots of opinions and ways to make an authentic Neapolitan pizza recipe. When we had Naples pizza a few years ago, our pizza had one leaf of fresh basil on it. One leaf! Somehow, that one leaf brought in just the right amount of basil flavor. Because the Neapolitan pizza oven was incredibly hot (around 1000 degrees F), the basil was still a dark green after baking. However, we’ve found that if you’re baking pizza in a standard oven, since it only gets to 550F, you’ll have to cook it for about 7 minutes. In that time, fresh basil turns fully black. Basil isn’t required for a Neapolitan pizza recipe, but if you want to use it and you’re using a standard oven, make sure to add it after baking.

How to avoid watery pizza made with fresh mozzarella cheese?

Have you ever tried placing fresh mozzarella on a pizza and ended up with a watery mess? Mozzarella cheese has a lot of moisture in it some brands more than others! If you’re using fresh mozzarella cheese for this Neapolitan pizza recipe, we recommend slicing the mozzarella into 1/4 inch thick pieces for topping your pizza. If the brand seems extra watery, let it sit on a towel for about 15 minutes, then blot away the extra moisture. Removing the extra moisture helps so that the resulting pizza won’t be overly wet.

This recipe is…

This Neapolitan Pizza Recipe is vegetarian.