Italy is the birthplace of pizza, and here they know how to cook it. Through experiments, the Italians managed to get the recipes of this dish, which won the hearts of gourmets around the world. One of these dishes is pizza “Neapolitano”. Her recipe has several variations, but they all have common features. First, the dough for Neapolitan pizza should be very thin. Secondly, two cheeses are commonly used: mozzarella and parmesan, as well as tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes. Thirdly, the classic Neapolitano pizza is baked in a wood-burning oven. True, in modern conditions, Neapolitans themselves do not always use such a furnace, so one can move away from this tradition. The main thing - to make a tasty dough and no less tasty sauce. It is also a good idea to include ham or anchovies in the filling, as is most often done in Naples.
Cooking Features
In order to cook delicious Neapolitano pizza at home, you need to know a few secrets.
- The pizza will be tastier if the dough is allowed to settle. It can be in the fridge for about 2 days, before rolling it only needs to be kneaded. However, you can cook pizza immediately after the dough has risen.
- The “Neapolitano” pizza sauce is best made using fresh tomato and olive oil. It is not forbidden to add a small amount of garlic and various seasonings.
- If the basis of the pizza is smeared with sour cream, and then the sauce, it will be softer.
- It is advisable not to roll out the pizza dough with a rolling pin, but stretch it with your hands.
- When collecting “Neapolitano” pizza, it is better to put cheese on the sauce, and then lay out all the other ingredients on it.
- It is necessary to bake pizza in the oven preheated to the maximum temperature for 7-10 minutes, not longer.
- After the pizza is ready, sprinkle it with basil, fresh or dried. It is not recommended to do it in advance.
The optimal diameter of Neapolitan pizza is 35 cm, thickness in the center is 5 mm, at the edges is 2 cm.
Neapolitano Pizza with Ham
Composition:
- flour - 0, 3 kg;
- dry yeast - 6 g;
- melted butter - 20 ml;
- salt - to taste;
- baked milk - 150 ml (you can use just water);
- tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
- olive oil - 40 ml;
- mozzarella - 150 g;
- Parmesan - 150 g (can be replaced by the same amount of Dutch);
- pineapples (optional) - 50-70 g;
- garlic (optional) - 1 clove;
- fresh basil - 10 g (or 3 g dried);
- ham - 100 g.
Preparation Method:
- Yeast mix with a pinch of salt, dissolve them in milk or water.
- Add melted butter to yeast, stir.
- Sift flour, make a well in it.
- Pour in the yeast, knead the dough. It should not be too soft. You need to knead until the dough stops sticking to your hands.
- Cover the dough with a napkin and place in a warm place for 2 hours to make it rise.
- While the dough fits, you can make the sauce. To do this, pour 0, 4 kg of tomatoes with boiling water, peel them off, cut them into 4 pieces and remove the seeds with a spoon. Pulp through a sieve or chop with a blender.
- Pour oil into tomato paste, add salt and pepper. Simmer until sauce is thick enough.
- Skip a clove of garlic through a press, add to the sauce and boil it, stirring, for another couple of minutes. Always make sure that the sauce is not burnt.
- Remove the sauce from heat, let it cool.
- Turn on the oven so that it warms up well.
- Take the dough and stretch it with your hands to form a circle with a diameter of 30-35 cm. If you cannot stretch the dough with your hands, you can roll it out with a rolling pin.
- Place the dough on a baking sheet. It would be better if it is preheated before it.
- Brush the dough with the sauce.
- Finely chop the mozzarella and place it on the sauce. Lightly apply your hands.
- Slice ham into thin slices, spread on cheese.
- Cut the remaining tomatoes into thin semi-circles, spread them on top of the ham.
- Pineapple, fresh or canned, cut into small cubes. Distribute them on a pizza base.
- Rub hard cheese, sprinkle pizza with it.
- Put the pan in the oven. Bake the pizza for 7-10 minutes. Periodically reach for it in order to pierce the dough in those places where it will be lifted up by bumps.
- Take the pizza out of the oven and sprinkle with basil. If it is fresh, finely chop it with a knife.
Cut the Neapolitano pizza into several pieces with a special knife before serving.
Neapolitano Pizza with Anchovies
Composition:
- pizza dough - 0, 45 kg;
- tomato sauce - 80 ml;
- anchovies (pickled or baked) - 70-80 g;
- green olives (pitted) - 50 g;
- mozzarella - 150 g;
- oregano - 3 g.
- hard cheese - 50 g.
Preparation Method:
- Roll out the dough, press down in the center so that the edges are slightly higher.
- Put on a baking sheet.
- Smear dough with sauce, departing from the edge of one and a half centimeters.
- Cut the mozzarella into cubes, spread out over the entire area of the dough.
- Peel the anchovies. Lay out the fillet on the dough.
- Cut olives into rings, sprinkle them with a layer of filling.
- Finely rub the cheese and sprinkle pizza with it.
- Preheat the oven to the maximum and place a pizza tray in it.
- Bake 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle ready-made pizza with oregano, cut and serve.
You can do without olives, but anchovies are an important ingredient. To get it is really easy - this is a well-known hamsa, but under a more elegant name.
Pizza "Neapolitano" can be prepared with other fillings: with mussels, smoked sausage. But the classic two will still be considered above.
