Home Neapolitan Pizza Recipe

Get close-to-stone-oven Neapolitan pizza from your home oven. The keys are the dough, the preheat, and the right baking surface.

This recipe makes four 12-inch Neapolitan pizzas. Start to finish takes about three days, but actual hands-on time is under one hour — the rest is fermentation.

Ingredients

Dough (72-hour cold ferment)

• 600 g Italian 00 flour (Caputo Cuoco / blue bag recommended)
• 372 g cold water (62% hydration)
• 17 g fine sea salt
• 1 g active dry yeast (0.15–0.2% for 72-hour ferment)

Toppings (per pizza)

• 80 g San Marzano tomatoes (hand-crushed, pinch of salt)
• 75 g fior di latte mozzarella (drained, torn)
• 3–5 fresh basil leaves
• Extra-virgin olive oil

Equipment

• Domestic oven (250 °C minimum)
• Baking steel or pizza stone (steel strongly preferred)
• Pizza peel
• Kitchen scale (non-negotiable)

Method

Day 1: Mix the dough (15 minutes + waiting)

1. Dissolve yeast: stir 1 g yeast into 372 g cold water. Rest 5 minutes.
2. Mix in flour: add 600 g flour. Mix with your hand or a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 20 minutes (autolyse — lets the flour hydrate).
3. Salt and knead: add 17 g salt. Knead on the bench for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Alternatively use stretch-and-fold every 30 minutes, 4 times.
4. Room-temp ferment 2 hours: in a lightly oiled covered container.
5. Cold ferment 70 hours: move to fridge. This long cold ferment is what makes the recipe — flavour, digestibility, and rim puff all come from these 70 hours.

Day 4 morning: Ball up (10 minutes)

1. Pull dough: out of the fridge onto a lightly floured bench.
2. Divide into 250 g balls: weigh — four balls, 250 g each.
3. Round: tighten each into a smooth ball.
4. Warm up 2 hours: cover with a damp cloth and let them come up to ~25 °C.

Preheat (45 minutes)

1. Place steel/stone on the top rack, within 15 cm of the top element.
2. Maximum heat, both elements, at least 45 minutes.
3. Prep toppings: crush tomatoes by hand, tear and drain mozzarella, have basil ready.

Shape & bake (10 minutes per pizza)

1. Flour the bench lightly — semolina is best.
2. Open the ball: press from the centre outward with your fingertips, leaving a 2 cm rim untouched. Pick up and stretch with the back of your hands to about 30 cm. No rolling pin.
3. Transfer to peel: semolina on the peel to prevent sticking.
4. Top: 80 g tomato (spread in a spiral with the back of a spoon, leave 2 cm rim) → torn mozzarella → drizzle of olive oil.
5. Launch: slide onto the steel. Bake 5–7 minutes until the base is golden.
6. Broil the rim: switch to broiler for 60–90 seconds. The rim puffs and leopards — those dark spots are the Neapolitan signature.
7. Finish: out of the oven, basil on top, a final drizzle of olive oil.

FAQ

No steel or stone? You can use an inverted heavy baking tray. The result is worse, but workable — preheat longer.

Dough too sticky? Drop to 60% hydration (360 g water) for your first try.

No time for 72 hours? Use 0.4% yeast (2.4 g) and a 24-hour cold ferment. Less flavour, still good.

Related tools

Want to scale or change style? Use the dough calculator. Want flour theory? Read the flour guide. Want better gear? See the home oven guide.