Serves: 10
There’s something truly magical about creating an authentic Neapolitan Pizza at home. This traditional Italian dish, with its light, airy crust, rich tomato base, and perfectly melted mozzarella, transports you straight to the streets of Naples. It’s more than just a meal, it’s an experience.
Whether you’re hosting a family gathering, having friends over, or simply treating yourself, making your own pizza is a fun and rewarding process. We’ve partnered with Gino Pizza Ovens to bring you a beloved and classic Neapolitan pizza that will bake perfectly in their latest pizza oven!
With a little preparation and the right ingredients, you can create this masterpiece that rivals your favourite pizzeria, all from the comfort of your kitchen or outdoor oven.
Roll up your sleeves, fire up the oven, and get ready to enjoy the perfect slice of Italy!
Neapolitan Pizza Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1.5kg ’00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
- 7g dry yeast
- 45g fine sea salt
For the toppings:
- 5 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
- 3x teaspoons fine sea salt
- 25 basil leaves
- 7 mozzarella balls (approximately 125g each), drained and diced into 1cm cubes
1. Combine the Ingredients
Begin by mixing all the flour and fine sea salt in a large bowl to ensure even distribution. In a jug pour 1 litre of room temperature water and add all the yeast, stirring to combine.
Gradually pour the water and yeast mixture into the bowl of flour and salt. Mix it all together using the handle of a wooden spoon to create a wet dough.
2. Knead and Divide the Dough
Once you have a wet dough, transfer it to a well-floured surface and knead it by hand for about 10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic in texture. Continue by shaping the dough into a ball and returning it into a large ball which you will cover with cling film and rest it at ambient room temperature for roughly 1 hour.
Next, dust a work surface with a light coating of flour and place the dough on top. Then divide the dough equally into 10 pieces and roll them into tight balls. Do you best to avoid air bubbles in the middle of the dough balls.
On two large trays, dusted with flour, place the balls about 10cm apart from one another. Cover the tray with the dough balls on with cling film and leave them to rest at room temperature for 1.5 hours.
Once the dough has risen, it’s ready to be stretched, topped with your preferred ingredients, and baked to perfection.
3. Prepare Everything to Cook
To start preparing the sauce combine the chopped tomatoes, basil leaves, and 4 teaspoons salt in a large bowl, mixing them all together thoroughly and setting it aside.
Before preparing your pizzas start preheating your pizza oven to an internal temperature of 450°C.
4. Stretch Your Pizza and Add Toppings
Lightly flour a work surface and place a dough ball on it. Using your hands to push the dough ball out from the centre, create a circular disc about 28cm, or 11inches in diameter. Once the dough is stretched pull it onto a pizza peel, so it is ready to slide into the oven.
If you do not have a pizza oven you can slide the spread-out dough onto a flat baking tray ready to slide into your oven.
Next, using a large kitchen spoon or the back side a ladle, spread 1/12 tablespoons of tomato mixture on top of the pizza base. The best way to achieve this is like you might see in pizzerias, where they dollop the sauce on the middle of the base and spread outwards in a circular motion. Leave roughly a 1cm border free of sauce for a nice, reliable crust.
On top of the pizza sauce scatter some of the chopped mozzarella.
Baking Your Pizza: Pizza Oven
Slide the pizza from the pizza peel onto the baking stone within the pizza oven, ensuring it lands evenly to cook properly. Bake the pizza for approximately 60–90 seconds, rotating it halfway through using a turning peel to ensure an even bake. Keep a close eye on the crust and toppings as the high heat of a pizza oven can cause it to cook very quickly. Once the crust is golden, puffed up, and slightly charred in spots, and the cheese is bubbling, remove it from the oven using the peel.
Baking Your Pizza: Conventional Oven
If using a conventional oven, carefully slide the pizza from the tray or parchment paper onto a preheated pizza stone or baking tray. Bake for 7–10 minutes, checking frequently towards the end of the cooking time. The pizza is ready when the crust is golden and crisp, and the cheese is melted and bubbling. If your oven has a grill function, you can turn it on for the last 1–2 minutes to mimic the browning effect of a pizza oven.
5. Serve and Enjoy!
Once your pizza is cooked and removed from the oven, simply drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil to taste and serve it immediately.
We hope you enjoy crafting and savouring this traditional Italian favourite in the comfort of your home!
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