Recipe: Tasty Napoletana Dough for Pizza or Calzone

Napoletana Dough for Pizza or Calzone. I highly recommend cooking by weight. It is fast, and easy to get the exact hydration (flour to water ratio) and dough ball size you want. For pizza dough being exact counts.

The genuine Neapolitan pizza is made with only a few simple ingredients. Pizza Margherita: Named after an Italian Queen, the toppings on this "queen of pizzas" Curiously, this pizza is known as pizza napoletana in Rome, where it is made with a thicker crust, baked in a square baking pan and cut with scissors. Note from Peter: I've been receiving a lot of requests for a proper VPN Napoletana dough. You can cook Napoletana Dough for Pizza or Calzone using 4 ingredients and 19 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Napoletana Dough for Pizza or Calzone

1. You need of flour (use Molino Caputo Tipo 00).
2. You need of water (65% hydration).
3. Prepare of active yeast.
4. Prepare of salt.

To make your pizza balls, shape each piece of dough into a ball. At this stage your pizza balls are ready to be rolled into thin. 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.

Napoletana Dough for Pizza or Calzone instructions

1. I highly recommend cooking by weight. It is fast, and easy to get the exact hydration (flour to water ratio) and dough ball size you want. For pizza dough being exact counts. Nothing works better than a digital scale. Remember to press the conversion button in this app to use grams with the metric system. The version in cups isn't precise..
2. Remember to use only Caputo flour 00..
3. Prepare the active dry yeast using its packaging instructions..
4. Put all the flour in the mixing container and add the prepared yeast (dissolved in water) to it. Use your hands to mix with only the prepared yeast at first, then add water little by little..
5. If you are using a stand mixer, mix it slowly for two minutes, until you have made a ball. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, as it will allow the flour to absorb the water..
6. Add the salt to the dough. Mix at a low speed for 7 minutes.
7. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a slightly oiled bowl and cover it with a humid towel..
8. Let it rise until double. Usually, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Observe how the dough is extensive and soft..
9. Punch it down and push out the air bubbles. Form the dough into a large ball, then cut it into 4-5 equal pieces. Each piece should have approximately 260 grams..
10. Make your pizza balls by shaping each piece of dough. Gently shape your dough pieces into a ball, then stretch the top of the ball down and around the rest of the ball, until the outer layer wraps around the other side. Pinch the two ends together to make a smooth ball with a tight outer "skin". Set your ball seam-side down where it can rest..
11. Dust your pizza balls with flour and store them under a damp towel. This will prevent the outside of the ball from drying out and creating a crust that will become difficult to work. The top of the pizza ball should be soft and silky..
12. The pizza balls will need to rest for about an hour to become soft and elastic, so that they can be easily stretched into a thin crust pizza..
13. If you don't need your pizza balls in one hour, you should refrigerate them and bring back out of the refrigerator for one hour or so before you use them..
14. Try making your pizza balls the day before. Overnight refrigeration helps the dough develop more flavor. A fully developed dough browns better in the oven..
15. It is very extensible. The flour is selected and milled to be easily shaped into a pizza base. You should not over work the dough. It will spring in the oven. The soft, well-hydrated, extensible dough will puff around the outside rim of the pizza where you do not have sauce..
16. It's very silky and soft. Observe that after the process you can see bubbles inside of the dough. You need to work manually otherwise the bubbles will go away. Never use a roll pin..
17. The secret of napoletan pizza is in the way you stretch the dough before putting in the oven. The secret is to do it manually and stretch from the center to the borders so that the air inside of the dough goes to the borders. Borders with air is the secret!! Never press the dough with a roll, otherwise you will lose the precious air bubbles..
18. OVEN PREPARATION: As an engineer, i tried all the possibilities to achieve the best result. I use a cast iron pizza "stone", and use the broil with hi temperature. If you don't have cast iron, the metal dish give better results than a pizza stone. For doing margheritta: put the tomato sauce on top of the stretched dough and put it in the oven, add the mozzarella after you see the dough is ready. That way you make it sure to not overcook the mozzarella cheese..
19. Here are some ideas about authentic italian toppings. https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/354586-margherita-pizza-topping.

You can find canned San Marzano tomatoes in many grocery stores in the United States these days. These are the ratios used by the Associazione Verace Picca Napoletana, which safeguards the original recipe for Neapolitan dough. When you're done portioning the balls, place them on a baking tray or pizza dough tray coated with a little bit of oil or flour and cover them with clingfilm or a lid. Pizza is an artisanal product, so it could be slightly different from pizzeria to pizzeria. The grated cheese (if used) has to be spread on the pizza with a circular and uniform movement of the hand.