Looking for the best homemade Neapolitan pizza crust recipe that is perfectly light and airy with those big bubbles?? We've got you covered! This is our tried and true Neapolitan pizza dough recipe that can be easily made at home with just a few ingredients for the best pizza!
The dough/crust is the backbone of any good pizza. Without a good dough, you’ll have a poor crust, and the pizza can only be so good without a good crust. We’ve had so many great pizzas all over the world and it is important enough to us that we developed an amazing dough for the perfect pizza canvas.
We are big Italian food lovers in this house, and if you are too, then you must check out some of our Classic Italian Recipes from Homemade Pasta to Lemon Cream Gelato!
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How is Neapolitan Pizza Dough Different?
With all of the styles of pizza out there, we believe one stands out as the king - Neapolitan pizza. Why is this dough different from the others? Well, the best description is more of what it is NOT. It isn’t “bready” and it isn’t cracker-like crunchy. It is crisp on the outside and airy and light on the inside with a perfect “chew” to it. Ideally, a Neapolitan crust will also have some nice bubbles and a slight char on the outside of the crust. Relative to the pizza universe, Neapolitan pizza dough is average thickness, maybe even considered a bit thin in the center. But the crust around the outside is generally quite tall or thick, but maintains that super light and airy texture. The most important characteristic is the "crisp chew," meaning it is slightly crispy on the outside but maintains a slight chew underneath.
What is Poolish and Why We Use it in Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Use of a poolish when making a pizza dough is a not-so-secret weapon that really amps up everything about the pizza. A poolish is nothing more than a type of starter. We make ours the day before (about 10-15 hours) and by the time we add it to the dough, it is extremely active and turbocharges the dough, adding texture (the chewy-crispness quality), flavor (a little tanginess like an ultra-mild sourdough), and the distinctive bubbles that should be in a Neapolitan pizza dough.
The poolish itself is very wet, unlike the resulting dough, and consists of nothing more than yeast, water, and flour. It only takes about 5 minutes to make a poolish and then it just sits at room temperature overnight. It is so easy and is absolutely worth making for your dough.
Ingredients
This Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe is made with the following simple ingredients:
For the Poolish
- Dry Yeast: We prefer to buy Italian yeast for pizza, such as THIS ONE from Caputo. A small amount is used as the poolish sits overnight to allow the yeast to do its magic.
- Tipo “00” flour: Sometimes labeled “pizza flour,” this flour is finely milled and produces the best results for pizza, pasta and focaccia. We use THIS ITALIAN BRAND for Tipo 00.
- Cold water: The water for the poolish should be around 40°F.
For the Dough
- Dry Yeast: We use the same yeast for the main dough mix as the poolish.
- Sugar: Just a small amount of granulated white sugar to help get the yeast going.
- Warm water: We aim for around 85°F for the warm water. The most important thing here is that you don't go over 110°F or you can kill the yeast.
- Tipo “00” flour: Again, we use Italian Tipo 00 flour for our dough, but any Tipo 00 will work here.
- Ice water
- The poolish
- Kosher salt: To flavor the dough
- Extra virgin olive oil: For both texture and flavor
See recipe card below for quantities.
Substitutions
Here are a few common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:
- Tipo “00” flour: Although highly recommended, all purpose flour or bread flour will also work in this recipe. The resulting dough may be a bit denser with these flours compared to Tipo 00, but the recipe will still work.
- Italian Pizza Yeast: Instant yeast or active dry yeast will also work as well and is a suitable substitution in both the poolish and dough.
- Sugar: You can substitute honey in place of the sugar in the final dough mixture.
How to make Neapolitan Pizza Dough
This is not a difficult recipe to make, it just requires a little patience and proper dough preparation. Once the dough is ready, it is formed into eight balls and each ball of dough will make roughly a 12” pizza.
Equipment
A few pieces of equipment go a long way toward helping you prepare the dough
- Stand mixer with a dough hook. Alternative, you can mix and knead the dough by hand until it forms a smooth cohesive ball.
- Bench scraper makes it easy to maneuver the dough as it is a little sticky.
- Rubber Spatula also helps with the dough and poolish
- Pizza peel for shaping and easily transferring your pizza to and from the oven.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Step 1: Make the Poolish
- The poolish is only three ingredients and can be made with a bowl and spatula. Combine the yeast and cold water and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then mix in the flour to form a very thick, wet poolish. Once mixed it sits covered with plastic wrap overnight (we recommend 10-15 hours).
Step 2: Mix the Dough
- Combine the yeast, sugar, and the water and set aside for about 15 minutes to hydrate and allow the yeast to begin to bloom. Then add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer followed by the yeast mixture. Add the ice water as well as the poolish. Once the dough starts to come together, add the salt and olive oil and continue to mix until the dough starts to form a ball around the dough hook (about 5-10 minutes of mixing).
- Turn the dough out to a clean flat work surface without flour, knead briefly with your hands to form a ball then transfer the dough ball to a clean, oiled large bowl to proof for 30 minutes at room temperature covered with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap.
- After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the bowl to a clean flat work surface, divide into 8 even pieces and shape into dough balls. We shape the pizza dough by folding the sides into the center, flipping it over, then using cupped hands, roll the dough ball in small circles against the flat surface seam-side down.
- Place the dough balls on an oiled baking sheet making sure that the tops of the dough balls are lightly coated with some oil, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
Step 3: Cold Proofing
- The dough balls proof for at least an hour in the refrigerator, although the dough improves in flavor and texture with at least 12 hours in the fridge. The dough should be brought to room temperature before shaping and cooking.
Step 4: Preheat the Oven and Shape Your Pizza
- Preheat a pizza stone in your oven at the hottest setting (usually 550°F) on convection if you have that setting, for at least 30 minutes. Then turn the broiler on for 5 minutes to get the stone even hotter. Turn it back to 550° right before putting the pizza in the oven.
- To make the pizza crust, begin by preparing a bowl of flour (all purpose is fine here) and a bowl of semolina flour (or just use regular flour if you don't have semolina). Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place it in the bowl of all purpose flour and coat with flour on all sides.
- Lightly dust a pizza peel or board that you can easily slide the pizza off of with a small amount of semolina flour (or just use regular flour). Next, sprinkle semolina onto your pizza peel and place the floured dough onto the peel.
- Begin by pressing dough on the center of the dough, working towards the outer edges. This will push the air to the crust to give you a nice fluffy crust around the outside of your pizza. The dough will bubble about 3-4 times the thickness of the outer edges, so push out as much of the bubbles as desired. Pick up the dough and use your knuckles while turning the dough to stretch it out to the desired size and thickness. We generally stretch these to make 10-12” pizzas. Do not use a rolling pin to roll out the dough or you will smash all the lovely bubbles and end up with a flat crust.
Step 5: Cook Your Pizza
- Once the dough is shaped and the pizza is topped with what you want, it goes into the oven straight on the pizza stone for about 5-6 minutes or until the crust is nice and bubbled and golden brown, then broil the pizza for another 45-60 seconds.
- Once done, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack for a few minutes, then transfer to a cutting board to slice and serve!
Different Ways to Cook Neapolitan Style Pizza
Although these instructions are for a regular oven (since nearly everyone has one) this dough obviously works in any pizza oven, from a wood-fired oven to a countertop pizza oven appliance. Additionally, if you want to grill your pizza, you can certainly do that by placing it directly on the grates (lightly oiled) and grilling it with the lid closed. Every grill is different, so a little care should be taken using direct and indirect heat during the cook time.
Variations
Although the dough is delicious making it just like this, you can tinker with it using moderation
- Add fresh or dried herbs to the dough. A little goes a long way, but oregano, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, and sage are good additions.
- Black pepper can be added to the dough as well to give it some character.
- Infused olive oils, such as garlic or herb infused oils can be used as well in place of the olive oil in the recipe.
Storage
Uncooked pizza dough can be stored in the fridge, oiled, and covered in plastic wrap for up to 3 days for best results. After that the dough will overproof and become “tired” or saggy, losing the characteristics that make the dough special.
How to freeze pizza dough: Simply take the dough balls from the refrigerator and wrap in several layers of plastic wrap to avoid freezer burn. The dough can then be frozen in individual balls for up to 3 months. When ready to use, transfer your frozen dough balls to the fridge to defrost slowly to use within 3 days, or let them sit at room temperature until fully defrosted if using them that day.
Troubleshooting
Here are some common issues and troubleshooting tips:
- Is your pizza soggy? If your pizza dough is soggy in the middle after it is done cooking, this is likely due to too much moisture in your sauce or mozzarella. To fix a liquid-y sauce, strain any extra liquid from your sauce using a fine sieve. For the mozzarella, pat excess moisture from the cheese using paper towels prior to adding it to your pizza.
- Oven not hot enough? Neapolitan pizza is generally cooked at a very high temperature (800°-1000°F). If you are cooking the pizza in your home oven rather than a wood-fired pizza oven or countertop pizza oven appliance, then you will need to get it as hot as possible for best results. We recommend buying a Pizza Stone to cook your pizza in your oven, heating your oven to the highest temp it goes (ours is 550°F convection) for at least 30 minutes, then switching the settings to broil for 5 minutes, then switching it back to convection before putting your pizza into the oven. This method cooks our pizza perfectly in about 5-6 minutes. We often switch back to broil for a minute or less to really blaze the top of the pizza as well.
Authentic Neapolitan Pizza Sauce
Authentic Neapolitan Pizza sauce recipes are generally defined by their simplicity with just a few ingredients and can be as humble as puréed tomatoes, salt and fresh herbs. Additionally, these sauces are not cooked since they will be heated as the pizza cooks in the oven.
Here is our version of a Quick and Easy No Cook Pizza Sauce Recipe that is perfect to enjoy on Neapolitan pizza!
More Pizza Sauce Recipes
Red Sauce for Pizza
If you have the time and want an Italian pizza sauce recipe that is full of flavor, then check out our recipe for The Best Homemade Pizza Sauce. This sauce recipe is slow cooked for several hours, concentrating the amazing flavors of the tomatoes, onions and herbs for an extra tasty sauce.
Pesto Sauce
We are also huge fans of adding pesto to pizza as the sauce base - even though cooking pesto is not traditional!. Try our Quick and Delicious Homemade Basil Pesto Recipe as the sauce with your next pizza!
White Pizza Sauce (Pizza Bianca)
Pizza bianca is one of our favorite ways to enjoy pizza when we want to change things up from the traditional margherita pizza with red sauce. This Garlic White Sauce is amazing with many different toppings from mushrooms to fresh green summer veggies.
Naked Pizza
Sometimes we skip the sauce altogether and finish the pizza off with a heavy drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil to let the flavor of the Neapolitan pizza dough shine through!
What Toppings to Add to Neapolitan Pizza
Of course the margherita pizza is iconic and one of the most common and loved versions when it comes to Neapolitan pizza. It is a tomato-based sauce, fresh (often buffalo milk) mozzarella, and fresh basil added when it comes out of the oven. Additionally, you can add a drizzle of high quality extra virgin olive oil, some fresh Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano, and/or a little crushed red pepper flakes.
You can add whatever toppings you desire, from sausage to salami, pepperoni, bell peppers, onions, olives or anchovies. You won’t find a ton of toppings on a Neapolitan pizza in Italy so the dough and small amount of sauce can shine through. But you can certainly do you here!
Looking for more pizza ideas? Here are a few recipes on the blog that we love!
- Goat Cheese Pesto and Asparagus Pizza
- Truffle Mushroom White Pizza
- Stuffed Squash Blossom and Zucchini White Pizza
What wines pair with Neapolitan Pizza?
Although in Italy, most Italians drink beer when eating pizza, we love a good glass of wine with our Neapolitan-style pizzas. Here are a few of our favorite wines to drink with pizza:
It’s hard to go wrong when pairing wine with pizza. Assuming you’re using a red sauce, we have two favorites, but that’s personal preference. We go for a Barolo or a Chianti Classico. We love primitivo (zinfandel) as well. And pinot noir (pizza & pinot!) is a great pick also.
If you’re using a white sauce or no sauce, you can certainly pair a white wine with some acidity, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. Rosé works well also as long as it isn’t too sweet. Italian rosé wines and those from Provence, France are perfect picks in our opinion.
Top tips
- Plan ahead! The quality of the dough increases with time. Once the dough is made, if you can let it cold-proof for 6-12 hours it will be better than letting it cold proof for just 1 hour. It will still be delicious after just an hour, but the flavors develop more as it cold proofs.
- When you finish cooking the pizza, place it on a wire rack for a couple minutes before transferring it to a board for slicing. This will let the steam from the very hot dough escape without dampening the crust, which will keep a slight crispness on the bottom of the pizza.
FAQ
It may seem like these are quite similar, but there are significant differences, in general, between the two. First, New York style pizza usually uses a shredded mozzarella and much more of it than Neapolitan style, which uses sliced or torn pieces of fresh mozzarella. New York style is often larger in size and has more sauce and toppings than the simplistic approach taken with Neapolitan pizzas. The dough is different, especially texturally, with the blistered chewy crust of a Neapolitan dough being its trademark.
Tipo “00” flour is the classic and best flour to use for Neapolitan pizza dough.
Neapolitan pizza is considered more thin crust than moderate, but it is definitely not a thick crust pizza. It is usually thin in the middle with big pillowy bubbles making up the outer crust.
Three days in the fridge or three months in the freezer is a good rule of thumb.
Although it doesn’t “need” to rest overnight, a good 12 hour cold-proofing of the dough will give it the best flavor and texture. The poolish, however, needs to be made a day ahead of time, so the process for this recipe is a minimum of 11 hours anyway.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli Recipe
- Italian Herb Sautéed Zucchini Squash Recipe
- Garlic Herb Sautéed Italian Eggplant Recipe
- Pan Fried Risotto Cakes - Easy Leftover Risotto Recipe
Pairing
These are our favorite cocktails to serve with this recipe:
- Spiced Cranberry Old Fashioned Cocktail Recipe
- Shimmy Shimmy Coconut Basil Lime Gin Cocktail
- Spiced Apple Cider Moscow Mule Cocktail Recipe
- Fig Cardamom Gin Old Fashioned Cocktail
📖 Recipe
Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe for the Perfect Crust
Equipment
- sheet tray
Ingredients
For the Poolish:
- 120 g Cold water
- 0.5 g yeast
- 120 g Tipo “00” flour sifted
For the Dough:
- 5.5 g yeast
- 175 g warm water 85°F
- 1 g granulated sugar
- 1160 g Tipo “00” flour sifted
- 525 g ice-cold water
- Poolish from above
- 25 g kosher salt
- 12.5 g extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Make the Poolish:
- Put the yeast and cold water in a bowl and whisk for 30 seconds. Add the sifted flour to the bowl and use a spatula to combine. It will have the texture of a thick pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight (12-20 hours is ideal).
Make the Pizza Dough (10-15 hours later):
- Refrigerate the poolish for 30 minutes before adding it to the dough recipe.
- Add the yeast to a small bowl, then add the warm water and sugar. Whisk for 30 seconds and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. On low speed, add most of the ice-cold water, reserving about ½ of a cup. Next, add the yeast and water mixture. Use the reserved ice-cold water to get the rest of the yeast mixture from the bowl and add it to the flour. Mix for about a minute, then add the poolish. Mix for another minute, pulling the dough down off the hook as needed.
- Add the salt and mix for another minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl and pull the dough from the hook. Add the oil and mix for another couple of minutes until the dough forms a ball around the dough hook and no longer sticks to the walls of the bowl. The dough will be sticky to the touch but should develop enough gluten to form a ball around the hook. If your dough is still sticking to the walls add 1 tablespoon of flour and continue mixing.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and slide the dough hook from the dough. The dough will be sticky, but do not add flour at this point. Using a bench scraper or your hands, do several stretch and folds in the bowl. Do this by picking up one side of the dough, stretching it up then folding it over the dough. Do this on all sides of the dough a few times until the dough ball is a bit more cohesive.
- Using extra virgin olive oil, lightly oil a large enough bowl for the dough and transfer the dough to the new bowl. Once in the bowl, do a few more stretch and folds to completely coat in the oil. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Next, remove the dough from the bowl to a clean work surface (no floured surface necessary). Divide into eight pieces (about 8.5 oz or 235g each) and make pizza dough balls with each by folding the sides into the center of each piece of dough, flip the dough ball over, then using the work surface and cupped hands, roll the ball in circles against the work surface. Lightly oil each dough ball, and either proof in a pan covered tightly with plastic wrap or individually wrap in plastic wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least an hour (12 is optimal) before forming into pizzas and using for best results. Remove the dough from the refrigerator for about 15-30 minutes before using.
Make Pizza Crusts
- Preheat a pizza stone in your oven at the hottest setting (usually 550°F) on convection if you have that setting, for at least 30 minutes. Then turn the broiler on for 5 minutes to get the stone even hotter. Turn it back to 550° right before putting the pizza in the oven.
- To make the pizza crust, begin by preparing a bowl of flour (all purpose is fine here) and a bowl of semolina. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place it in the bowl of all purpose flour and coat with flour on all sides.
- Next, sprinkle semolina onto your pizza peel and place the floured dough onto the peel. Begin by pressing dough on the center of the dough, working towards the outer edges. This will push the air to the crust to give you a nice fluffy crust around the outside of your pizza. The dough will bubble about 3-4 times the thickness of the outer edges, so push out as much of the bubbles as desired. Pick up the dough and use your knuckles while turning the dough to stretch it out to the desired size and thickness. We generally stretch these to make 10-12” pizzas. Top your pizza with whatever toppings you want, but make sure it's not too heavy or it won't slide off the pizza peel onto the pizza stone.
Cook the Pizza
- Once the dough is shaped and the pizza is topped with what you want, it goes into the oven straight onto the pizza stone for about 5-6 minutes or until the crust is nice and bubbled and golden brown, then broil the pizza for another 45-60 seconds. Once done, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack for a few minutes, then transfer to a cutting board to slice and serve!
Nutrition
Food safety
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
Angela says
This pizza crust reminds me of the amazing pizza I’ve had in Italy! It has the best flavor, perfect chew, and that incredible light and bubbly crust!