Summer 2023, I'm walking through the streets of Naples, basking in the sun, and eating at least one Neapolitan pizza a day—I still have the best memories of this trip!
What was the highlight? My sister and I took a pizza class and learned firsthand how to make authentic Neapolitan pizza. We first mixed the dough, kneaded it for a long time, and shaped it. Then we learned which ingredients are typically used for a Neapolitan pizza. After that, we went to the kitchen and got to work. How do you shape the dough? How much tomato sauce and cheese do you need? What's the best way to transfer the pizza to the oven? I highly recommend taking a class there if you ever find yourself in Naples on vacation!
What ingredients do you need for a Neapolitan Sourdough Pizza?
Flour: Italian flour Typo 00** (preferably Caputo, see remarks): Pizza is usually baked with flour that has a high protein content. This allows it to absorb a lot of water and creates a nice oven spring. You best put your trust in Caputo's Typo 00 flour. I also like to add a little pizza flour (for longer dough fermentation) or German type 812 wheat flour.
Tomatoes: San Marzano tomatoes*** (see remarks): These tomatoes are traditionally used in Naples for Neapolitan pizza. They are slightly sweeter and more delicate in flavor than the classic puréed tomatoes you can find in German supermarkets. For the authentic taste, I highly recommend using Italian San Marzano tomatoes.
Cheese: Fior di Latte: This Italian mozzarella is made fresh from cow's milk and is used in Naples to make Neapolitan pizza. If you've ever used a piece of mozzarella from the supermarket to make pizza, you've probably noticed that it melts completely differently than you're used to from a good pizza... For this reason, I can only recommend using the original Fior di Latte mozzarella. Unfortunately, importing this cheese isn't as easy as importing the other ingredients. A quick internet search will surely lead you to an online retailer who imports this cheese fresh from Italy every week and ships it cooled straight away via post within Germany. I've had very good experiences with this supplier; the cheese arrived without any interruption in the cold chain. It freezes wonderfully until you find the time to use it.
Recipe for Sourdough Pizza
For this recipe I have relied heavily on the “Sourdough Pizza Crust” recipe by “Little Spoon Farm” It's not a long, time-consuming, or complicated recipe, and it's quick and easy to throw together. I've made a few minor adjustments here and there to adapt it to the flour I'm using and to give the dough a bit more strength through kneading. I've found that the dough can easily tear during shaping if you haven't built up enough gluten by extended kneading and if the dough doesn't pass the "window test." I'm also happy to share with you in my recipe which ingredients are best used for a classic Neapolitan Margherita pizza topping.
Home Oven or Pizza Oven?
The biggest challenge when baking pizza at home is certainly the oven. Real stone ovens in pizzerias can reach temperatures that our home ovens can only dream of! And this is often the reason why homemade pizza doesn't taste quite as good as the one from the Italian restaurant around the corner... But there are solutions to this problem too!
There are a variety of pizza ovens available for home use that reach significantly higher temperatures than your standard oven. They can use different technologies, such as gas or electric, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I bought an electric pizza oven* (see remarks) just a few weeks ago and can highly recommend it! It reaches temperatures of up to 840 °F (450 °C) and cooks your pizza to perfection in just 2 minutes! It also comes with a pizza shovel, and the door keeps smoke to a minimum, meaning you can use it indoors. I definitely recommend it!
If you don't want to have another kitchen appliance taking up space, or if the price seems a bit high for authentic pizza joy, you can of course continue to bake your pizza in your home oven. In that case, I would at least recommend investing in a pizza stone, which you heat up along with the oven and then bake the pizza on. The € 10 for a pizza stone is definitely worth it in exchange for a crispier pizza!
Baking Schedule
In terms of timing, I prefer to follow the following baking schedule for this recipe:
- Day before – at noon: refresh the sourdough starter (feed your starter)
- Day before – evening: mix and knead the dough, perform the coil fold and let it rise overnight
- Baking day – morning: perform the coil fold and place it in the refrigerator
- Baking day – at lunchtime, in the evening or even the following day: baking the pizza
Certainly, no one has ever been born a pizza maker, and it takes a bit of practice to master all the techniques to reliably make a good pizza every time. Feel free to share your first attempts or progress in the comments! I'm always happy to answer any questions as well!
If you now feel even more like baking with sourdough, you will find here all my sourdough recipes!
Sourdough Pizza (Neapolitan Style)
Authentic Neapolitan pizza – enhanced with a sourdough levain! With my sourdough pizza recipe, you can enjoy this Italian classic at home and unwind.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
For the topping:
Instructions:
Making the Pizza Dough
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Add the water and sourdough starter to the bowl of your kitchen machine and mix. Then add all the other ingredients for the dough, adding the salt last.
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Knead the dough thoroughly in the stand mixer until it has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and passes the windowpane test (see video). To do this, take a small piece of dough and stretch it out. It shouldn't tear easily, but spread thinly and almost become see-through. If it doesn't, let the dough knead a little longer.
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Then perform the coil fold (see video) and let the dough rise on the working surface at room temperature overnight or for 8 - 10 hours.
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Repeat the coil fold and then refrigerate the dough until you're ready to bake the sourdough pizza. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 36 hours.
Baking pizza
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Half an hour before you want to bake your sourdough pizza, you should pour semolina onto the working surface and place the pizza dough on top so that the dough can come to room temperature. At the same time, you can preheat the pizza oven or, alternatively, preheat your home oven with a pizza stone, set to maximum temperature using top/bottom heat.
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When your oven is preheated, shape the pizza. You can find good instructions in this video. Then top your sourdough pizza with whatever toppings you like. I chose a classic Margherita with the ingredients listed above. Carefully slide your sourdough pizza onto a pizza shovel, on which you've previously spread some semolina. You can adjust the shape a little here. Then place the sourdough pizza in the pizza oven or your home oven (reduce the temperature to 350 °F / 180 °C) without losing any of the toppings or folding the pizza awkwardly.
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If your pizza oven reaches 840 °F (450 °C), your sourdough pizza should only take about 2 minutes to cook. Then remove it and serve immediately.
Your pizza will bake in your home oven for about 10 minutes. Once the base is cooked and the cheese is golden brown, you can remove it and enjoy.
Nutritional Information
servings 2
- Amount per Serving
- Calories 1016kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 47.5g74%
- Potassium 37.35mg2%
- Total Carbohydrate 100.6g34%
- Dietary Fiber 4.75g19%
- Sugars 4.55g
- Protein 42.9g86%
** The daily percentages are based on a 2000 kcal diet. Your daily figures might be higher or lower according to your caloric need.
Remark
*Advertisement (Affiliate): If you want to get the same pizza oven like me, you can find it here . It's an electric pizza oven, meaning you don't need a gas cylinder to operate it. The pizza oven reaches 840 °F (450 °C) and has a special program for Neapolitan pizza! Plus, you get a pizza shovel included!
**Advertisement (Affiliate): Italian flour Typo 00 is best for pizza. The most popular flour is the original Italian Caputo flour, which I also used for this recipe. You can buy it online, for example, here .
***Advertisement (Affiliate): Traditionally, San Marzano tomatoes are used for pizza in Naples. Here you can order whole canned tomatoes online. For the pizza sauce, you should first puree these whole tomatoes.