Ingredient Notes
This might be the easiest dough you’ll ever make. There’s only 4 ingredients, and no mixer or kneading required.
How to Make Neapolitan Style Pizza Crust
Step 1: Prepare Dough
You don’t even need to beat and knead it, just mix up flour, yeast, water, and salt gently with your hands until it comes to a ball and that’s it. This literally takes like 3 minutes to make.
Step 2: Rest Dough
The real secret ingredient here is this: Time. That ball you just made needs to sit out on the counter for 8-12 hours. I mix this together at night and then continue in the morning. Or make it in the morning, and continue at night. After it sits, separate it into 4 pieces and you’ll pop each into a ziplock bag or plastic container and toss it in the fridge for a couple days (2-4). If you don’t have a few days, I’ve made this overnight and it worked beautifully as well, you just get even better development if you can wait for the long rise. However in a pinch, I’ve mixed it up before I went to bed, formed it into a few balls mid morning, let it rise for 2 hours and then cooked it up for lunch.
Step 3: Prep Pizza
When pizza day arrives, grab the dough and let it sit out on the counter for a couple hours before you’re ready to make it. Then you’ll stretch it out with your hands. These dough balls will make 4 pizzas that are about 8-10 inches in diameter, which is really the size you want for this type of pizza. To feed my family of 6 we definitely use all 4 dough balls. Because these cook so fast you can whip them out back to back. If you don’t have a pizza peel, it makes homemade pizza so much easier. You just sprinkle the peel liberally with cornmeal or flour and then place your dough over it. When it’s time to transfer it to your hot cooking surface, it just rolls right off.
Step 4: Cook Pizza
I have 2 great cooking methods I use. One is with my backyard pizza oven. I may not have an authentic brick oven from Italy but I swear this is the next best thing! I’ve also had just as great success with this dough in my home oven. The secret in an oven is to do everything you can to mimic a pizza oven. Preheat to the highest possible temperature your oven will go. Place your pizza stone in the oven to preheat along with it. If you don’t have a pizza stone, I love this cast iron pizza pan. If all else fails, use a regular metal baking sheet. Place your rack on the very top. The pizza stone or cast iron pan will take care of getting the bottom side super hot, and placing it on the very top of the oven will give you reflective heat from the top.
