Pizza Dough (Italian Napoletana)

Italy is renowned as the home of pizza, and nowhere is this more true than the southern Italian town of Naples. They have mastered the art of creating intensely delicious pizza from the simplest and freshest of ingredients. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) was founded in 1984 in Naples. The organization's goal is to certify pizzerias that use the proper artisan traditions of authentic Neapolitan pizza. They have several requirements that must be met to gain certification, and restaurants must apply for it officially. They also have an American branch and there are currently only a few hundred restaurants in Italy and around the world that are VPN certified. The official requirements of an authentic Neapolitan pizza begins with the crust. The dough must be made with highly refined Italian type 0 or 00 wheat flour, Neapolitan or fresh brewer’s yeast (not dry yeast), water, and salt. It must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer and formed by hand, without the help of a rolling pin. 

When making pizza at home, the crust is the foundation for your work of art, and the element you have the most control over. The type of wheat flour you use may not seem like a big deal, but there are actually several options to choose from, and the seemingly subtle differences could make or break your pizza.

Understanding Gluten Content:
To decide which flour is right for you and your pizza, it’s important to understand the differences between the various types of flour, including all-purpose flour, bread flour, pastry flour, and cake flour. Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that the flours have different textures. For example, cake flour is very soft and fine and almost feels like silk, while bread flour is a bit coarser. The difference in texture is due to the amount of gluten. Cake and pastry flour have very low gluten contents (8 to10 percent), making them “soft” flours, while bread flour has a high gluten content (12 to14 percent), making it a “hard,” or “strong,” flour. All-purpose flour is a combination of “hard” and “soft” flours and contains 10 to12 percent gluten.

Gluten is a protein that, when wet, creates an elastic system throughout the dough and it is what gives bread its chewy, springy nature. The process of kneading dough traps the bubbles of CO2 released by the fermenting yeast in the web that is created by the gluten strands, allowing the dough to rise. The amount of gluten in the flour is what determines just how rubbery and chewy the bread will be. This is why cake and pastry flours have less gluten than bread flours—no one wants to eat a chewy cake.

All-purpose flour: Just as it sounds: mostly good for everything. It will taste good in most pizza dough recipes, but it can sometimes be a bit harder to stretch out, as it may tear more easily. All-purpose flour is great for Sicilian and deep-dish pizza crusts and will do well in thin crust, New York-style, and Neapolitan-style pizzas as well. Your average supermarket brand is adequate, but many swear by King Arthur.

Bread flour: This is most people’s go-to for home pizza baking. It’s easy to find in any grocery store (again, King Arthur is a favorite brand), affordable and adds some extra oomph and crisp to thin crust and New York-style pizzas. It will make your crust crispy on the outside and chewy and textured on the inside. You’ll find that it won’t tear as you stretch it out, although sometimes it can be hard to stretch into shape, continually springing back because of the high gluten content. If you are interested in even higher gluten content, look for King Arthur’s Sir Lancelot variety, which contains 14% gluten and is available on its website.

Caputo Tipo 00 flour: If you want to make Neapolitan-style pizza, which is thin in the middle and puffs up around the rim and is ready to leave the comfort of your local grocery store, seek out the more expensive Caputo Tipo 00 flour. The “00” refers to the texture of the flour: Tipo 00 is the finest grind you can get, 0 is the middle, and 1 is the roughest. This fine grind, along with a 12.5 percent gluten content, which gives your dough just enough - but not too much - elasticity, produces a crust that is chewy but not rubbery, with just the right amount of puff on the edges that get charred in some spots in the oven. Caputo flour can be found in Italian or specialty grocery shops, or online. You can also try King Arthur’s Italian-Style flour, the “American clone of Italian 00 flour,” which you can buy on King Arthur’s website. Be aware that if your oven does not perform well with temperatures over 500°F the Caputo Tipo 00 flour may not brown and char sufficiently for a good Neapolitan-style pizza, so it’s probably not worth the high price tag.

type (tipo) ‘00’ pasta flour (800 g)
2 cups cold water (500 mL)
extra virgin olive oil (40 mL)
fine sea salt (20 g)
natural yeast or 'brewer's yeast' (6 g)

1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil for greasing each pizza tray

Place flour into a large mixing bowl, making a well in the centre. Add the salt, yeast, oil and water into the centre of the well. Use your hands to mix the flour in large circles, using your thumbs to press in. If the dough mixture is too sticky, add more flour to the outside of the dough. You can also do this to help remove sticky dough from your fingers.

Continue to knead until you have created a pillow of dough in the centre of the bowl. Lift the dough and add flour underneath to prevent the dough from sticking while resting. Score an ‘X’ shape on the top of the dough. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 6½-7 hours.

After the dough has rested, divide into the number of portions you desire. For example, you could make three large pizza bases and 5-10 smaller bases with this amount of dough. Start by spreading plenty of flour onto your rolling surface and rolling pin. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place on the surface, forming a roughly rectangular shape, then cut into your desired portions.

Roll the dough portions out into circular bases, using your fingers if needed to stretch out into shape. Don’t worry if the dough is quite thin at this stage, it will continue to rise until it’s time to cook.

Oil each pizza tray (aluminium trays work best for a crispy base), place the dough on the trays and push out to the rim to cover the pan. Be sure to press gently at this stage so as not to push out too much air.

Cover and allow to rest again for around 2 hours.

For some topping suggestions and baking instructions see our Pizza Napoletana recipe.