Neapolitan Pizza Dough

If you decide to master one recipe posted on this blog, this one for Neapolitan pizza dough would be a good choice. If you can make this dough, you can construct hundreds of different combinations of delicious thin crust pizzas. It's so easy and affordable, you'll never order out for pizza again!! Here are the details on how to make Neapolitan pizza dough.

Recommended Equipment:
Mixer (I use the standard Kitchen Aid mixer)
Pizza stone

wooden pizza peel

metal pizza peel


Ingredients:
4 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 and 3/4 tspn salt
2 tspn instant yeast
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 and 3/4 cup cold water
cornmeal (for dusting pizza stone and wooden peel)

Preparation:

1. Add the flour, salt, and yeast to a large mixing bowl.
2. Using a mixer with hook attachment, mix the dry ingredients together and then slowly mix in the olive oil and then the water.
3. After ingredients have combined and dough pulls from the side of the mixing bowl, turn the dough out onto a counter top that has been dusted with flour.
4. Work the dough for about 5 minutes.
   
5. Divide dough into 6 equal parts.
   
6. Roll each piece into a round ball and place inside a plastic freezer bag.
   
7. After all of the pieces have been placed inside the bag, seal it and refrigerate it over night.
8. The next day, place pizza stone on an upper rack in the oven and dust it with cornmeal.
9. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
10. Dust the wooden pizza peal with cornmeal.
11. Take one of the balls of dough that you prepared the day before and place it on a counter top that has been dusted with four.
12. Use your palm to flatten the ball, the pull the edges outward as you turn the circle of dough in your hands. Eventually the circle of dough will become thinner and will expand to about 8 to 10 inches in diameter.
    
13. Place the Neapolitan pizza dough onto the wooden peal and top it with whatever topping you like. (The pizza pictured in this post is topped with tomato sauce, fresh basil leaves, oregano, scamorza cheese, Parmesan cheese, and pepperoni). Also, be sure to brush the crust with a thin coating of olive oil.
    
    
14. Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone and bake for 10 minutes.
15. Using the metal pizza peal, slide the pizza off of the pizza stone.
    
16. Slice pizza and serve.

Note: If you don't want to use all of the dough all at once, you can freeze it for up to a month.
Italy