Brief Summary
In this video, Dan Souza and Lon Loun from America's Test Kitchen share a detailed guide to making Neapolitan pizza at home. They discuss the key elements of Neapolitan pizza, including dough preparation, fermentation, shaping, topping, and baking. They provide tips and tricks for achieving the best results with home ovens, including using a baking steel, employing the tangzhong technique for a more hydrated dough, and pre-shaping the dough for easier stretching. They also cover traditional toppings and offer a variation with pepperoni and banana peppers.
- The video covers every aspect of making Neapolitan pizza, from dough to baking.
- It provides solutions for adapting the recipe to home ovens.
- It includes tips on equipment, such as pizza peels and baking steels.
Intro
Dan Souza and Lon Loun introduce the video, focusing on Neapolitan pizza. They plan to discuss dough preparation, ingredients, kneading, resting, shaping, topping, and baking. Lon spent weeks developing the recipe, and Dan will ask questions and share his knowledge. Neapolitan pizza has strict guidelines set by the AVPN, covering flour, yeast, water, mixing, resting, stretching, cooking, and size. While these rules are important, especially in the US, they might be less strict in Naples itself.
Neapolitan Dough
One key element of Neapolitan pizza is a very hot oven, up to 900°F, typically wood-fired. Home ovens, which reach only about 550°F, require adjustments to the dough, mainly increasing water content to prevent drying out during the longer cooking time. However, more water makes the dough slack and harder to handle. To solve this, they use a technique called tangzhong, where some of the water is pre-mixed with flour and cooked to gelatinise the starch, trapping the water and making the dough less sticky and more manageable. They use Doppio Zero flour, an Italian flour with a fine grind size, which contributes to a softer dough. If Doppio Zero flour is unavailable, bread flour is a suitable alternative, but all-purpose flour is not recommended.
Fermentation & Pre-Shaping
Before refrigerating the dough, Lon pre-shapes it to make stretching easier later. She divides the dough into four equal pieces, aiming for around 260-270 grams each. She then takes each piece and brings the sticky edges towards the centre, stretching the gluten around the surface to help the dough keep its round shape. After pinching the seams, she flips the dough ball over and uses both hands to cup and tighten it, creating a smooth, round shape. The pre-shaped dough balls are then placed on a greased baking sheet and put into the fridge for further fermentation.
Stretching & Topping
Lon prepares the launching peel with semolina to prevent sticking. She takes a dough ball and gently places it on the semolina, using a bench scraper to push the semolina underneath, freeing it from the pan while maintaining its round shape. Starting in the middle, she pushes down to create a small raft-like shape, then flips it over and repeats. This process ensures the centre is well-worked without overworking it. She then picks up the dough, slides her fingers underneath to avoid squishing the rim, and drapes it over her fists, slowly working around to stretch it to a 10-11 inch round.
Launching & Cooking
The oven is preheated to 550°F with a baking steel positioned 8 inches from the broiler element. The pizza is placed in the oven, and the broiler is turned on. The pizza should cook for about 4-5 minutes, allowing the broiler to heat the top and bottom evenly. Once the pizza is out of the oven, oregano, pepper, fresh basil, and a little oil are added.
Dan's Neapolitan Pizza
Dan makes a pepperoni pizza, stretching the dough and using semolina to prevent sticking. He adds pecorino cheese and hand-cut pepperoni, aiming for cupping. The pizza is baked on a preheated steel at 550°F under the broiler until the pepperoni cups and the crust is golden. After baking, spicy banana peppers are added for acidity and crunch.
