The House of Spices

Who doesn’t love a good pizza? But with so many fast food chains around the world, the choice of pizza, in terms of crust and toppings remains endless. But sometimes, don't you wish to have an authentic Italian Neapolitan-style pizza at home with some garlic bread and a chilled glass of wine? Well guess what, I’m here to help you do that!

 

With the increased consumption of pizza every year, people have switched to supermarket bought pizza and ready made sauces. But, do you know how easy it is to make some authentic Italian pizza sauce at home? With a few basic ingredients, you can literally make the best pizza in the world at your home.

 

What is Neapolitan pizza?

Neapolitan pizza, also known as Napoletana, is a simple Naples-style pizza that’s topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. It has a thin crust at the base, with dough that puffs up around the sides. It’s light, crisp and airy! There’s three basic types of Neapolitan pizza: The Margherita topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. The Marinara which skips the mozzarella and uses oregano and garlic instead of basil. And lastly, The DOC which is made specifically with buffalo mozzarella. Although in this recipe I show you how to make the marinara version, you can simply add and substitute a number of ingredients to make the other two types. 

 

What pizza sauce do you use?

My pizza is made with my fresh tomato based pizza sauce. This pizza sauce is quite close to an authentic Italian pizza sauce with added sugar, as well as chillies to make it fiery! However, if you’re not fond of chillies, you can reduce the quantity by half! Neapolitan pizza is generally served with a tomato based sauce, hence I've kept it that way. However, if you want, you can use some pesto sauce too instead of a tomato based pizza sauce.

 

What toppings do you use for your pizza?

I love keeping the pizza simple, just like the classic Neapolitan pizza you find in Italy. Apart from some fresh tomato sauce, I love using mozzarella. You can either use fresh (low moisture) or processed. I also love to top it with fresh basil leaves. You can also use some olive oil, however that’s optional.

 

How long do you need to bake the pizza for?

This completely depends on your oven. You need to bake the pizza at the highest possible temperature. If you have a wood-fired pizza oven, use that. Otherwise, a regular kitchen oven should be fine too.

 

If you’re using a wood-fired pizza oven, the temperature can go up to 1000 degrees. Hence, your pizza will be ready within a few minutes. On the contrary, kitchen ovens have a maximum temperature of usually 230/240 degrees celsius (fan). If you are relying on a regular kitchen oven (like me), your pizza can take anywhere between 6 to 12 minutes to be ready!

 

Why do you need to store the pizza in the fridge for 2 days?

There is a lot of science behind cold fermentation. Without getting into the technical details, storing your pizza in the fridge helps in giving your pizza an airy crust, a more flavorful dough as well as making the pizza more digestible. I’ve tried making this pizza without fermenting it in the fridge for 2 days and I can vouch that it’s nowhere close to a pizza that has been fermented for 2 days. I know 2 days is a long time but if you can’t wait that long, I would suggest giving your pizza 24 hours at the least for it to ferment. If you are willing to wait, you can wait even longer (up to 5 days) for a more airy and flavourful pizza.

 

What is the difference between pizza and pasta (spaghetti) sauce?

Pizza sauce is different from pasta sauce. Pizza sauce is more runny in comparison to pasta sauce and you don’t need to simmer it either. This makes pizza sauce so much easier to make since you only need to blend all your ingredients together and you’re good to go! It’ll probably be faster for you to make pizza sauce at home rather than buying it from your nearest grocery store.

 

Why do I feel my pizza dough needs more water?

In the beginning when you mix everything together, you will certainly feel like your dough needs more water as the flour is not mixing well. However, if you keep mixing and massaging the dough, you will soon realise that you don’t need water. So just keep mixing everything together. In the case that you feel your dough really needs water, add 1 tablespoon (not more) of water to help you. Please do not add more water as this will give the dough more hydration which will make the dough stickier and more difficult for you to manage it. 

 

What type of flour do you need for the pizza?

You can use double zero (00) or bread flour to make Neapolitan pizza. Double zero (00) flour is a type of all-purpose flour that has been finely grounded. It’s so soft and works amazingly well for making pizzas. If you can’t find double zero (00) flour, I would suggest using bread flour to make the pizza. Having tried the recipe using both the flours, I'd say the pizza made with double zero (00) flour wins any day!

 

Why do you add sugar to the dough?

Sugar is an ingredient that is not usually added to pizza dough, however adding sugar will help brown your pizza crust when you bake it! The sugar has nothing to do with helping to activate the yeast in this case (when using instant dry yeast).

 

What type of yeast do you use?

For this recipe, I’ve used instant dry yeast. Instant dry yeast is a type of fast action yeast that doesn’t require to be dissolved in water. You can use it directly in your recipe. If you are using the traditional active dry yeast, you need to dissolve it in lukewarm water before adding it into the dough. You will need 5 grams instead of 4 grams when using active dry yeast.

 

Can I make the pizza sauce in advance and store it?

Yes, you certainly can! My pizza sauce recipe is enough for 8 medium pizzas. You can use how much ever you need and store the rest in the freezer for up to 3 months. Whenever you need the sauce, you can bring it back to room temperature and use it for your pizza.

 

Can I top the pizza with vegetables?

Yes, you can! However, keep the vegetables to a minimum. I would recommend not using more than 2 types of vegetables. Adding too much vegetables will result in your pizza becoming heavy and thus your dough will not be able to rise as much. Hence, add your vegetable toppings in moderation. 

 

Any substitute for the ingredients mentioned?

You can use bread flour instead of double zero (00) flour to make the pizza dough. For the pizza sauce, you can use fresh or dried parsley instead of the oregano. Apart from these, most of the ingredients cannot be substituted. However, you don’t have to worry as all the ingredients you need are essentials that you will probably already have at home or can find at your nearest grocery store.

 

Any cooking tips for this recipe?

1. Be patient! Giving the dough enough time to rest will result in an airy and delicious pizza. Don’t be tempted to make the pizza within the same day you make the dough.

2. Knead the dough enough. You want to knead the dough to help create gluten. The gluten will help in creating a stronger and elastic dough. The gluten will help increase the volume of the dough and enable it to retain gas.This will result in a more light and airy pizza.

3. Cook the pizza at the highest possible temperature. If you have a pizza oven, use that. Otherwise, a regular oven should do. Make sure to keep an eye on the pizza as it cooks really quickly.

4. Do not top the pizza with too much sauce. You won’t need more than 1 ½ -2 ladles for a medium/large pizza. If you add too much sauce, your pizza will become heavy and thus, will not be as light and airy as you want it to be.