This festive season, treat your family and friends to an authentic Italian feast, without dining out, with our easy and exquisite recipes! The third recipe in our Cook an Italian Feast Series is the universal favourite Neapolitan Pizza along with the recipe for the pizza dough!
Here’s a recipe for Neapolitan style pizza you can make at home, inspired by the best pizza in Naples, Italy!
The secret is in the flour. The CasilloTipo 00 Flour is imported from Italy and Italian flour is best for pizza crust and pasta.
Tipo 00 flour is an ultra-fine ground flour and frequently used in pasta and pizza dough recipes. It adds an unswervingly tender and crunchy crust to your pizza dough recipe. Essentially, it has a protein content of 10-12%. Get the flour on this link.
Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
4 cups CasilloTipo 00 Flour (500 grams)
1 1/2 Cups Water Approximate
1 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt (If using table salt, use 1 1/4 tsp)
1/2 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast (2 grams)
2 tablespoons extra virgin Olive Oil (27 grams)
Pinch of Sugar
Preparation
There are various methods of blending the dough: food processor, table mixer, by hand.
In a food processor: blend the flour, salt, yeast, sugar in a bowl. Pound a few times. Put the olive oil into 1 1/2 cups of water. Gradually, start the processor and add the liquid. If the dough seems too parched, add more water — a little at a time till it forms a smooth soft dough. Turn it into a ball. If using a table mixer — Blend the ingredients together in the mixing bowl to form a soft dough. The dough will still be sticky. The time differs but the dough comes off the sides of the bowl. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 5 minutes.
By hand — Blend all the ingredients together to make a soft dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 7 to 8 minutes until it is smooth.
As you’ve kneaded the dough, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow it to rise for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. Punch the dough to de-gas it and divide it into 3 equal-sized balls and keep each in a zip lock bag that has been coated with vegetable spray.
Place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day you can either freeze the dough or make it into a pizza. Before using the dough be sure to let it come to room temperature — this is very important. Think of a pizza kitchen and how warm it is.
When ready to bake – preheat the oven to 500 ℉ or the highest your oven will bake. Bake your favourite pizza for 7-10 minutes or until the crust is done as you like. Every oven bakes uniquely, so keep an eye on it.
As you have prepared the dough using the Best Pizza Dough recipe we have mentioned above, now let’s make the best pizza.
Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
1 ball Best Homemade Pizza Dough
1/3 cup Easy Pizza Sauce
About 3/4 cup fresh or shredded mozzarella
Kosher salt or regular salt to taste
4-5 basil leaves for garnish
Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel
Preparation
Preheat your pizza oven.
Make the Homemade Pizza Sauce.
Slice the mozzarella into 1/4 inch thick pieces. If it’s extremely watery fresh mozzarella, you may want to let it sit on a paper towel to remove moisture for about 15 minutes then pat the mozzarella with the paper towel to remove any extra moisture.
As the oven is ready, stretch the dough into a circle; Sprinkle a pizza peel with semolina flour or cornmeal, then precisely place the dough on top. Layout the pizza sauce across the dough. Coat with mozzarella cheese. Have a bite of the mozzarella cheese to check if it is salty or not; if it isn’t, add a few pinches of kosher salt to the pizza.
While baking in a pizza oven, add the basil leaves. Whereas if you’re baking in a standard oven, add the basil leaves after you have baked (the leaves turn black in a standard oven).
Shift the pizza to the pizza stone on the pizza peel, then bake until the cheese is melted or about 7 minutes in the oven (or 1 minute in the pizza oven). Slice into pieces and serve immediately.
Get in touch with us today to order your favourite Casillo Tipo 00 Flour and other products from our import partners and get them home delivered all over India.
Contact us at italicswineclub@indiaitaly.com or call at +91 9811392313 for more information on our list of offerings, and place your order on this link, and get up to 25% discount.
Source: allourway, acouplecooks