Neapolitan Margherita pizza with blistered cornicione and fresh basil

Pizza Napoletana

Neapolitan Pizza (Napoletana) in a Pizza Oven

Name: Neapolitan Pizza (Napoletana) in a Pizza Oven
Yield: 4 pizza
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 680 g flour; 420 g water (62% hydration); 17 g salt; 0.68 g instant yeast; 320 g san marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed; 320 g fior di latte mozzarella, torn; 40 g extra virgin olive oil; 16 fresh basil (add after baking); 4 g fine sea salt

Naples, Campania · round · soft center · puffy crust

The Neapolitan pizza is the reason most people buy a pizza oven. A 00 flour dough at 62–63% hydration, cold-proved for 24–48 hours, shaped by hand and slapped thin — the center is almost translucent, the rim will inflate and char in spots. At 480°C+ on a stone it bakes in 60–90 seconds. The toppings are minimal and raw: crushed San Marzano tomatoes, torn fior di latte, a few basil leaves added after the oven. The heat does the work.

What sets it apart — The cold long ferment and the extreme heat produce a crust with an open, honeycomb crumb and a surface that blisters and chars without drying out. There is no shortcut to 480°C — a conventional oven at 250°C makes a different product.

How many pizzas?

makes 4 × 280g balls
1120 g total dough

The dough · baker’s %

Flourstrong 00 or bread flour680 g
Water62% hydration420 g
Salt17 g
Instant yeast×1.25 active-dry · ×3 fresh0.68 g

Bake

480+°C · 900+°F1–1.5 min

Launch directly onto the hottest part of the stone. Rotate once at 45 seconds. The base should be crisp; the rim blistered and lightly charred in spots. Do not open the lid during the bake.

Serving

Serve whole, eat immediately. Cut into wedges at the table or fold each slice into a portafoglio and eat standing up.

Topping — scaled for 4 pizzas

San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed320 g
Fior di latte mozzarella, torn320 g
Extra virgin olive oil40 g
Fresh basil (add after baking)16
Fine sea salt4 g

Margherita

Crush the tomatoes by hand and season lightly — they will concentrate in the oven. Spread in a thin spiral, leaving a 2cm rim. Add torn mozzarella. Drizzle with oil. Bake. Add basil the moment it comes out of the oven.

Ferment & prep: Mix flour, water (cold), salt, then yeast. Bulk-ferment at room temp 2 h, then ball and cold-prove in the fridge 24–48 h. Remove 2 h before baking to come up to temperature.