Characterized by its risen dough, its very fast preparation and its filling that does not overflow, the Neapolitan pizza today celebrates its 5th anniversary as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
As the name suggests, Neapolitan pizza originated in the city of Naples, located in southern Italy. It is now widely used and its real know-how entered Unesco’s Intangible Heritage on 7 December 2017.
In Belgium we also have enough to make the best Italian pizza makers jealous, as 4 Belgian establishments are included in the top 50 of the best pizzerias in Europe. However, you can also choose the homemade recipe that we offer below.
pizza dough recipe
ingredients
- 350 g pastry flour
- 150 g Manitoba flour (so-called “strength” flour, richer in gluten, if you can’t find any, take a simple flour, preferably “Italian” called flour 00)
- 10 g dry yeast (real yeast, but dry, not to be confused with baking powder)
- 10 g of salt
- 250 g of water
Preparation
- Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water.
- Whisk until completely dissolved.
- Make a well in the flour and add the water-yeast mixture.
- Mix it all vigorously.
- Add the salt and mix again. The dough should be smooth.
- Place the dough into a ball in a large floured bowl.
- Cover with cling film and leave to rest at room temperature until the dough has doubled in size. It will last at least three hours.
- Degas (knead to allow the fermentation gas to escape), “fold” (fold the dough on itself several times) and continue to rise, ideally in a cool place overnight.
- In the morning, degas and fold down, leave to rise for another three hours.
- Degas and fold down, divide the dough into balls of approx. 300 g