Quick Homemade Pizza Napoletana Dough
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If you know me, you know I love my pizza nights! While I’ve never actually been to Italy to actually get some hands-on experience making pizza (though trust me, that would be a dream come true!), I have had a ton of experience over the past 7 years by making probably hundreds of pizzas at the time of writing this. For quite a few months on end I used to make a pizza every single Saturday night, and I also had a phase where I would make a focaccia flatbread every Monday. Yeah!! I would experiment with many different doughs, sauces and toppings! Pizza is probably the world’s most amazing blank canvas. You can let your imagination run truly wild!
Probably one of the best recipe books I have in my collection is The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani. This book seriously is a bible to pizza lovers, and I always love looking at it for reference! I give the utmost credit to everything I’ve learned about refining my own homemade pizzas. I’ve learned how to make focaccia flatbread, square pizza, Napoletana pizza, Chicago deep dish pizza. But in fact, not just pizzas! I’ve also made some fantastic meatballs in marinara sauce, calzones, garlic knots, and sausage rolls! This book really has it all!
When I was on my Pizza Saturday trend, my mission was to go cover to cover making the different types of pizza doughs. Um, so that didn’t quite work out because I still have some others yet to try! I always thought my favourite kind of pizza was a classic pizza with a thick crust, similar to Pizza Hut, using the Master Dough recipe from the book. If I ever had the choice of a thin crust pizza on a menu… eh, no thanks!
But then I tried the Napoletana pizza dough recipe from the book. Oh goodness it changed my opinion on pizza forever! I actually ended up loving the taste of the crust, and I love how quick it is to bake in the oven! It cooks in 90 seconds and that’s crazy! The results are awesome! Plus, if you’re looking for a lighter pizza, then technically you’ve got less bread compared to a more traditional thicker crust pizza, so it’ll have less calories and feel less dense!
Why Make Quick Homemade Napoletana Pizza Dough?
Homemade pizza is so much fun, and I love the Napoletana dough recipe! However, I understand deciding you want a pizza last minute. I’m the master of last-minute dinner decisions. The traditional Napoletana recipe uses a starter called a “Poolish”, which is a mixture with dry active yeast and water that rests for 18 hours, and then you add this to your pizza dough.
Afterward, it requires another 24 hours to 36 hours to rise. Let me tell you that it sure is worth the wait, and I recommend you try it, but if you decided on a relaxing Saturday afternoon that you wanted to make some Neapolitan pizza, you don’t have to toss the idea out the window or decide to have take-out instead! No!
Let’s have fun in the kitchen with this shortcut Quick Homemade Neapolitan Pizza Dough recipe! You’ll have an awesome dough ready in an hour, and it’ll be ready for you to top it with whatever your heart desires, such as the Classic Margherita Pizza! Let’s get to it!
Equipment for Making Quick Napoletana DoUgh
For making this pizza dough, I recommend a KitchenAid mixer. This will help tremendously mixing your dough! I didn’t always have a KitchenAid, and while I would mix it by hand, it was quite a workout! With a stand mixer, you can also make a larger quantity of dough. I like to make dough for more than one pizza at a time so I can freeze the others and have some pizza doughs on hand for when I’ve got a craving!
Another handy tool is a bench scraper. If you bake a lot, you probably already have this tool. If not, let me tell you how useful this is. Its great to portion the dough in one clean stroke and easily “scrape” your work station to remove any residual dough. Plus, for cooking in general, it is useful to pick up and add various ingredients to your dish, without moving your cutting board over your pan.
What flour should I use to make Pizza dough?
I recommend using 00 flour for your pizza dough. The “00” simply describes the grade of fineness of flour and it’s considered the “gold standard” for pasta and pizza. The major difference between 00 flour and all-purpose is the activation of the gluten, which will result in a crust that’s chewy and crispy! For more information about 00 flour, check out this article by The Kitchn.
Of course, if you can’t find 00 flour, you can certainly use all-purpose flour. I used it for quite some time! But I have definitely noticed a difference when I use 00 flour, so I really recommend you give it a try!
Tips for the Best Napoletana Pizza Dough
Lukewarm water is colder than you might think, I only realize this when I actually measured the temperature. Anything between 60-70F is good.
Make sure not to use water which is too hot or you will risk killing the yeast.
If the yeast doesn’t dissolve after mixing, the yeast is likely dead. You might need to start-over with fresh dough.
Let the dough rest in a warm place, free of wind drafts. If your kitchen is cold, you may place the dough near the oven as it preheats.
Be careful not to degas the dough too much as you are folding the individual portions onto itself. If you work the dough to much, it will start to resist as you start to stretch the dough for the pizza.
Ingredients for Quick Homemade Napoletana Dough
Here’s what you’ll need to make our 1 Hour - Napoletana dough:
00 flour
Quick rise yeast
salt
lukewarm water
How to Make Quick Napoletana Pizza Dough
Add yeast and 1/4 Cup of lukewarm water to a bowl and whisk until water is bubbly. Mix until you see no granules of yeast floating on the water. If the yeast doesn't dissolve, the yeast is likely dead and you will have to start over with fresh yeast.
Add flour to the bowl of your kitchen aid mixer and add all of the yeast-water mixture. Then, slowly add the rest of the lukewarm water while continuing to knead with the dough hook.
Knead until the dough comes together and you have a soft, pliable dough which is not sticky to touch. Add more flour/water as required to reach this consistency.
Stop the mixer and add the salt. knead on low speed for 1 minute.
Then, transfer the dough to your countertop and continue kneading, stretch and fold the dough for 1-2 minutes. Or until, the dough is soft, and has no creases or lines.
Form the dough into a ball and set aside on the countertop/bowl (lined with olive oil) and let rest for 40-45 minutes or until the dough is at least 1.5x times the size.
Then, portion the dough into 3 equal parts and for each portion fold the dough onto itself to create a tight surface tension as you seal/pinch the folds. Be careful not to de-gas the dough too much. The portions should resemble a ball of fresh mozzarella. This is a great time to freeze any dough you are not planning to use right away.
Let the dough portions rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. You are ready to bake your favourite pizza!
How to Freeze Napoletana Pizza Dough
As soon as you have let the dough complete the first bulk rise and portioned the individual portions, you can place any extra boules/dough portions on a baking sheet and wrap with 2-3 layers of plastic wrap and set it in the freezer. You may also individually pack the portions in zip-loc bags once they have been frozen on the baking sheet for easy access.
Thawing Pizza Dough
Let the dough thaw naturally in the fridge overnight or about 8 or so hours. Then proceed with the pizza recipe as instructed.
WATCH HOW TO Make Quick Homemade Neapolitan Pizza Dough HERE:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!