Enjoy Delicious Italian Style Pizza Following This Recipe

Being one of the most delicious street foods in Italy, pizza has been around for centuries! It wasn’t until back in 1889 when the famous pizza maker Raffaele Esposito from Naples made a Margherita pizza that these authentic pizzas first became popular in Italy. 

There are two types of pizzas in Italy: the traditional pizzas that most of us have tried and the Naples-style pizza, also known as Neapolitan or Margherita pizza. We’ve got you a delicious recipe for the latter. So grab your diary and pen, sit back and start noting it down! Here’s to making thin, crispy and delicious Italian pizzas.

What Are the Key Features of an Italian Pizza?

Dough

When it comes to a Neapolitan pizza, the dough is thin yet crispy. It’s made from yeast, salt, water and flour. Experts suggest using 00 flour as it helps make a fine, thin base. You shouldn’t be going for any artificial flavors at this point if you’re planning to keep it authentic.

If you do not have 00 flour, we’d suggest that you buy a pizza crust mix and use the instructions on the box to prepare the dough. Most pizza crust mixes already have 00 flour and yeast. Make sure you’re going for a mix that doesn’t include any artificial flavors.

Toppings

The original Neapolitan pizza only has three items for topping: white mozzarella cheese, red tomato sauce and fresh basil leaves. Raffaele Esposito chose these flavors as a metaphor for the Italian flag when Queen Margherita and King Umberto I of Savoy first visited Italy. 

Sauce

Authentic Italian-style restaurants only use San Marzano tomatoes to prepare the sauce. So if you have access to these tomatoes, great. If you don’t, you can use any red tomatoes.

Ingredients You’ll Need:

The current Naples-style pizza includes a few more classic Italian ingredients in addition to the original ones. Here’s everything you’re going to need:

For pizza dough

• 4 cups flour (or pizza crust mix)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp yeast 
• Cold water
• ½ tsp salt

For toppings

• 2 tbsp black olives
• 1 tbsp anchovies
• Provolone (as desired)
• Italian sausage (as desired)
• Salami (as desired)
• Mozzarella cheese (as desired)

For tomato sauce

• Tomato sauce 
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves
• ½ tsp salt

Step-by-Step Guide To Preparing Naples-Style Pizza

A Naples-style Italian pizza has minimal toppings and its taste grows on top of the crispy, thin crust. Once you’ve got all the ingredients, here’s what you need to do:

Get the dough ready

1. Get an empty bowl for the dough and pour some cold water into it.
2. Add salt (half to one teaspoon would do for 4 cups of 00 flour).
3. Add half of the flour (2 cups) into the bowl.
4. Make sure you add yeast after flour because yeast itself doesn’t mix in the salt.
5. Mix everything gently and prepare the dough.
6. Let your dough sit out for 10 to 24 hours before you decide to bake it.

Prepare the sauce

1. Get San Marzano tomatoes, wash them and make small cuts on each side of every tomato.
2. Put them in a pan, add water and start boiling them.
3. After a few minutes, take them out and peel them once they’re cool.
4. Blend the tomatoes and add salt, chili flakes, fresh basil and olive oil.
5. Cook for a few minutes and stir well until the sauce is ready.

Time for toppings

1. Time to sprinkle the toppings! Add anchovies, black olives, Italian sausage, salami, provolone and mozzarella cheese.
2. Lastly, preheat your wood-fired oven to 905 degrees Fahrenheit and place your pizza in the oven. Neapolitan pizza is baked at higher temperatures and will only take about 90 to 120 seconds to completely cook. 

The Bottom Line

Time to devour your delicious pizza in all its cheesy and crispy might. Make sure you’ve got a pizza cutter so all the slices are oozing and even.