Are you looking for the best tips and tricks for the perfect pizza? With this basic recipe from Naples, it works as you know it from the Italian . But you should bring some time, because the dough in this recipe takes a little longer. But he’s better by worlds. In this post I will show you how easy it is to make Italian pizza yourself. There are a few things that you should definitely consider.
Neapolitan pizza – the original
The original pizza as we know it comes from Naples. Flat breads with toppings were known before, but the variant with tomato sauce is actually from this area of Italy. There it was also determined how it should be in this region, the perfect pizza.
The following characteristics characterize a real Neapolitan pizza:
| Thin bottom For most, a thin bottom is perfect for pizza, just like it is in Naples. Here it is even a must to be called Neapolitan pizza. | Little topping Even though you can now get more topped pizzas, there is actually only Pizza Margherita (tomato, basil, mozzarella, olive oil, grated hard cheese) and Pizza Marinara (tomato, olive oil, garlic, oregano). |
| Soft middle Most of us like thin-bottomed pizza. In Naples the floor is so thin that the middle is basically soft. That is why the original pizza is also eaten with a knife and fork or folded in the middle. | Airy edge The edge must be crispy, but at the same time soft and airy. The crust should be wafer-thin, like the shell of an egg. |
| Black spots A few black spots must be visible from the baking, but they must not get out of hand, otherwise the whole pizza will taste burnt. | Olive oil If you order a pizza in Naples, you will definitely get a little dash of olive oil on your food before serving. |
The most important thing for a perfect Italian pizza is time, because the dough in particular takes a few hours to get around the corner like the Italian. There are also a few important factors that affect the taste and quality of our pizza.
How is the pizza perfect?
A few factors affect how our pizza will end up. I would like to show you what these are before we start working on the perfect pizza.
The right tomatoes for the sauce
So that the pizza tastes really fruity and delicious, the base must fit. That is why the tomato sauce should only be prepared with San Marzano tomatoes, Just as it is done in Naples.
Pizza dough like in Naples
An important component for the perfect pizza is the dough. This should be loose and airy, but at the same time not too crisp and heavy. That’s why I wrote down exactly in my recipe how the pizza dough becomes like your favorite Italian.
Highest possible temperature
A baking or pizza oven with the highest possible temperature is necessary to make the floor nice and crispy. It is more difficult in our home oven. After all, very few of us have a wood-burning stove like the Italian around the corner.
Therefore, the oven for pizza must always run at the highest level. In this context, it is also important to heat up the tray on which the pizza is to be baked.
The same is also true with pizza stone or Pizza steel.
Use the right cheese
Usually there is no other cheese on an original Italian pizza apart from mozzarella. But it can be made from both cow’s milk and buffalo milk.
Tip: The mozzarella balls soaked in salt water are less suitable because they water heavily. Ideally you have cut-proof mozzarella, If you still want to use the balls, then squeeze them out well with a paper towel.
Make pizza yourself – how to do it step by step
Now it starts. I’ll show you step by step how to go about making the perfect Italian pizza.
Prepare pizza dough
It is best to start preparing the pizza dough in the morning. This should go at least 6 – 8 hours.
Click to the pizza dough recipe
Prepare pizza sauce
The tomato sauce for the pizza base is made in no time.
Click to the pizza sauce recipe
Prepare cheese and topping
Whether you want to bake a classic Margherita pizza or a Hawaii pizza, some ingredients should be prepared beforehand. This saves you having to search while occupying.
Usually only cow or buffalo milk mozzarella comes on the real Italian pizza. If you like, you can spice up this very stale cheese with a little Parmesan.
Preheat the oven
As mentioned in the article above, the right temperature is an important factor so that the pizza becomes like an Italian. Temperatures of up to 500 degrees are quickly reached in the classic pizza oven. Unfortunately, that won’t work for most of us in the home oven. If you often make pizza yourself, you might consider buying a pizza oven.
If you only have the home oven available, set it as follows: top / bottom heat and the highest possible temperature
Shape the pizza dough
When the dough has had enough time to develop fully, it is time to shape it. However, we do not need a rolling pin for this, but rather take our hands.
Put some flour on the work surface, put a ball of dough in front of you and start from the bottom up, press it flat and at the same time carefully stretch it. When you get to the top, you have a small bead. This is our edge and along that we pull the dough to the side and down.
We do this until the pizza has reached the desired size. Patience is definitely worthwhile here, because that’s the hardest part.
Spread the tomato sauce
After we have our pizza dough in front of us, we spread the tomato sauce on the floor. It is best to use a large spoon or a ladle for this. Place a good dollop of the pizza sauce in the middle of the dough and spread it outwards using the bottom of the ladle or spoon in a circular motion. If necessary, add a little more sauce.
Leave about one to two cm free at the edge.
Pre-bake pizza with tomato sauce
This step is only for all those who make their pizza in a normal oven that doesn’t reach more than 300 degrees. All others please go to step 7.
We put the pizza covered with tomato sauce in the preheated oven for exactly 1.5 minutes and slide the tray as far down as possible. Then take out the pizza and continue with the basic recipe.
Add cheese to the pizza
It is very important with real Italian pizza that the cheese does not come on the topping, but the topping on the cheese.
That is why we sprinkle our pizza with cheese after we have distributed the tomato sauce.
Top up the pizza
Now we come to the penultimate step – the proof. If you want to make a Margherita pizza, you can skip this step. Otherwise, just spread your favorite ingredients on the pizza.
Make sure that there are no too moist ingredients; otherwise your pizza will become watery.
Off to the oven
Our pizza is ready and ready for the oven. This should be set to top and bottom heat and preheated to the highest possible temperature. Ideally, you have a pizza shovel to get the pizza on the hot plate or hot stone.
If you don’t have one, you could put the pizza on baking paper and put it together on a chopping board and then pull the pizza and the paper onto the hot baking sheet.
Be careful not to burn yourself. Ideally, we bake the pizza without baking paper.
Bake and serve pizza
At the highest temperature, which should be between 250 ° C and 300 ° C for most, the pizza only takes a few minutes to finish. Be sure to stick with it here, because it can quickly happen that it burns.
When the cheese has melted and the dough has drawn a nice color, then it is ready.
Tip: If it is finished unevenly, then move the position in the oven. If it becomes too dark at the top while it is still too light at the bottom, simply move to the lower third or vice versa.
When our original Italian pizza is ready, take it out of the oven and add a few more sprinkles of olive oil as needed. If you want to add ingredients such as arugula to your pizza, do not put them in the oven, but only after baking on the pizza. In the oven, they would just get flabby.
Pizza ideas: what can you use to prove them?
Since most people like something more than the classic topping with tomato sauce and cheese, I would like to show you a few pizza ideas here. So you have different options with which to top your pizza and what you could combine.
- Pizza Hawaii: ham, pineapple
- Pizza Quattro Formaggi: various cheeses such as Gorgonzola, feta cheese
- Pizza Salame: Salami
- Pizza funghi: mushrooms
- Pizza Spinaci: spinach, onion, egg
- Pizza Gamberetti: prawns, garlic
- Pizza Tonno: tuna, onions
- Pizza Italiano: Parma ham, parmesan, arugula
- Pizza con tutto: ham, salami, mushrooms, capers, anchovies, olives, artichokes
