Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
According to the original recipe as handed down by generations of pizza makers, the final appearance of the real Neapolitan pizza after cooking in a wood oven must respect the following rules:1. the Neapolitan pizza is rounded, with a diameter that must not exceed 35cm;2. the Neapolitan pizza has a raised edge (the famous cornice), swollen and free from burns of about 1-2 cm;3. Neapolitan pizza must be soft and fragrant.
Ingredients
- 1 Lt. water
- 40-60 g salt
- 0,1-3 g Yeast of fresh beer 0.1-3 gr, 5-20% mother of the flour used, of dry beer ratio 1 to 3 compared to fresh
- 1,6-1,8 Kg Flour "00" or "0"
Instructions
Preparation
- Flour, water, salt and yeast are mixed, starting with the water, making sure that direct contact between salt and yeast does not occur for more than 5 minutes, otherwise the salt would damage the yeast cells. Pour a liter of water into the mixer, dissolve a quantity of sea salt between 40 and 60 g, add 10 % of the flour with respect to the total quantity envisaged, then dissolve the yeast, start the mixer and the rest of the flour is gradually added until the desired consistency is reached, defined as the dough point.The dough must be worked in the fork, spiral, plunging arm mixer (all with rounded and rotating basket) until a single compact mass is not obtained. To obtain an optimal consistency of the dough, the quantity of water that a flour is able to absorb (hydration) is very important.
Leavening and maturation
- The dough, once extracted from the mixer, is left to rest covered with a damp cloth so that the surface cannot harden forming a sort of crust caused by the evaporation of the humidity released by the dough itself. to settle and rest the dough, we move on to the molding of the dough, traditionally done by hand.In the Neapolitan technique, in the traditional hand staglio, the dough is shaped (staglio) in the form of balls with a technique that recalls the preparation of mozzarella (mozzatura). For the "true Neapolitan pizza" the loaves must have a weight between 200 and 280 g, to obtain a pizza with a diameter between 22 - 35 cm. Once the loaves have been formed (staglio), a second leavening takes place in food boxes of varying duration, depending on the temperature and humidity characteristics of the environment and the absorption of the flour used. enzymes that break down the most complex structures, proteins and starches into simpler elements. Overall fermentation times: min 8 - max 24 hours (with the possible addition of processing hours - max 4 hours).
How to roll out the pizza
- With a movement from the center outwards and with the pressure of the fingers of both hands on the dough, which is turned several times, the pizza maker forms a disc of dough so that in the center the thickness is not more than 0.25 cm with a allowed tolerance equal to ± 10 %.
The toppings
- The products used must preferably be of Campania origin. The peeled tomato crushed by hand must be not dense and with pieces still present. The fresh tomato must be cut into wedges. The buffalo mozzarella (cut into slices) or the fior di latte (cut into slices) strips) should be distributed evenly.The grated cheese (if used) should be spread on the pizza with a uniform rotational motion.The fresh basil leaves are placed on the toppings.The extra virgin olive oil is added with a spiral movement.
The cooking
- Cooking must take place inside a wood-burning oven which must have reached a temperature of about 430-480 ° C between the stalls and the vault. With these temperatures it is sufficient to insert the pizza for 60-90 seconds, in which the pizza will cook evenly over the entire circumference.