LA PIZZA NAPOLETANA

By Justine Thomas (Stanford University)

If being abroad in Italy has taught me one thing, it’s that Italians are very protective of their fresh foods and regional specialties.  One food of much importance and controversy is the traditional Neapolitan-style pizza.  How do Florentine restaurants like il Pizzaiuolo and Gusta Pizza (or the famous Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba in Napoli) make such deliciously crispy yet soft crust? The key is in the dough itself and the incredibly high temperatures of a wood-burning stove.  Unfortunately the magical results of these two ingredients are difficult to recreate at home, but here are the basics on what makes Neapolitan pizzas so great.

The dough

A basic pasta is simple and dictated by l’Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana:

-flour (tipo 00: the finest grind available)

-water

-sea salt

-yeast

The ingredients need to be weighed as opposed to measured in cups in order to ensure the correct proportions.  However, each pizza restaurant uses different variations of the basic recipe to create a dough personalized to each chef’s own idea of perfection.

With all the ingredients mixed together and after a resting period of at least six hours, the dough should be soft and elastic, but not sticky.  Following traditional regulations, the dough must be kneaded and shaped by hand—no electric mixers or rolling pins allowed (tough luck for those of us who don’t know how to do the fancy wrist-hand motion that most skilled pizzaioli or pizza makers use)!

The toppings

Despite the numerous variations of toppings available at most pizza restaurants in Italy, la pizza napoletana should only include the following variations of a couple of basic, fresh ingredients:

1. The Marinara: San Marzano plum tomatoes (sauce), oregano, garlic and extra virgin olive oil
2. The Margherita: San Marzano plum tomatoes (sauce), buffalo or cow’s milk mozzarella, basil and extra virgin olive oil

With all of the toppings on the dough, you should still be able to see some of the tomato underneath the pieces of mozzarella and there should be a rim of dough running without toppings around the edge for your crust.

The oven

After the toppings are added, the pizza is then put into a wood-burning oven at 485 degrees Celsius (close to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit).  The whole baking process lasts for less than two minutes total and the pizza emerges hot from the oven with a perfectly golden and crispy outer crust.  Sadly this process can’t be recreated in a regular home oven—which usually only reach 550 degrees Fahrenheit—but you can buy commercial ceramic “pizza stones” to help a pizza achieve a level of crispiness somewhat close to your Neapolitan favorite.

Not feeling adventurous enough to make your own pizza? Check out the list of official Neapolitan pizzaioli at the website for l’Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana (http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/).  Buon appetito!