my neapolitan pizza

[Pizzella Pizzerria]

I can't believe I've survived on the internet without finding this forum!!

I'm 19 and in college.  I've been making pizza for about 5 years, since my parents got me a restaurant size wooden pizza peel, aluminum peel, pizza stone, and cutter.  I started with a recipe from 'Pizza Any Way You Slice It' and ended up changing it completely so it is unique, after years of trial and error.

Anyway, I was just posting to see how my recipe compared with all the others.  I am now using molino di borgo san dalmazzo 00 flour from my local italian market.  They used to have delverde, but this seems a lot softer and fresher.  I also use fresh yeast...i'm reading a lot about other alternatives but have no idea how they work or what they are.  I use Acqua Panna water and Sicilian sea salt.

Here is my recipe:

500g 00 flour
10 fl. oz. water
10g fresh yeast
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

I warm the water, dissolve the yeast, then add flour salt and oil.  I use the kitchenaid...it's so easy; let it kneed for about 10 mins, till smooth texture.  I then divide into balls and let rise for about an hour or two then either put into the fridge, freeze, or make. 

Here is a pic of a pie I made about a year ago, not my current recipe, but close, and still mine

(http://drycleancarpets.com/CIMG1171.JPG)

This pie has sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto di parma with fresh mozzarella, homemade sauce and basil. 

Thanks for having such a great forum!! 

-Joe

[Pete-zza]

Joe,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your recipe with us. You should be rightfully proud of your accomplishments at such a young age. Your pizza looks great.

I have taken the liberty of converting your recipe to ounces and baker's percents. It's easier for me to understand your recipe better when I view it in light of what I know about Neapolitan doughs, ingredient quantities, baker's percents, etc.  Maybe you have already done the conversions yourself before, so please feel free to confirm my math. This is what I come up with:

100%, 00 flour, 17.64 oz.
54.2%, Water, 9.55 oz.
2%, Fresh Yeast, 0.35 oz.
2.2%, Sea salt, 0.39 oz.
5.6%, Extra-virgin Olive Oil. 0.99 oz.
Total dough weight = approx. 29 oz.

You didn't indicate the weight of each dough ball, but looking at the total dough ball weight, I estimate that you may be making 3-4 pizzas out of that amount of dough, depending on the pizza size you are making (10-12 inches?).

Looking now at your recipe, the amount of water you are using is in line with what is usually recommended by the millers of 00 flour. I am not familiar with your particular brand of 00 flour (I couldn't find anything on it in a Google search), but many of our members are using closer to 58% water (by weight of flour) for a 00 dough that is to be baked in a standard home oven. Your amount of yeast is high by most Neapolitan standards, but if you are making your dough to be used within a few hours, the amount of yeast you are using is logical. In Naples, doughs are allowed to ferment (rise) as long as 12 hours (and, in some cases, longer) before using. Consequently, less yeast is needed. Your salt level is in line for the dough you are making. The oil is quite a bit greater than used by most of our members in their Neapolitan doughs that are to be baked in home ovens. At 5.6%, you will certainly get a soft and tender crust and crumb. Classical Neapolitan doughs use no oil, but the pizzas are baked in wood-fired ovens that can get to over 800 degrees F.

If you wander around the forum and read the posts concerning Neapolitan style doughs, you will see that such doughs can be made in less than an hour, up to many hours, and that there are versions that can be made to ferment in the refrigerator, and versions that can be made using starters rather than commercial yeast. The rules for making each version will be different from the others. I suspect that you will read and learn things that you will want to apply to your own recipes. You should feel free to ask questions.

Peter

[Pizzella Pizzerria]

Pete-zza,

Thanks for the reply.  I have since swithed to caputo 00 and with my current proportions and have had very good results.  The dough was bubbling as I was tossing it though...meaning i think I could use less yeast, especially since it's fresh, and I do like to use it within a few hours of making it, but I also like to put it in the fridge for use tomorrow, you know what I mean?  And I dont use that much oil anymore...I would maybe use 1 oz, if that, for 3x that recipe you formulated with my initial post.  And maybe the water is too much too because the dough was very sticky and didnt seem to have enough flour or too much water.  Thanks man, any help is appreciated.

Peace.

Joe 

[Wazatron]

Hi all - I'm really interested in trying this recipe, but I don't have access to any fresh yeast. How would one go about converting this recipe to using instant yeast - or even ADY for that matter.
Thanks!

[Pete-zza]

Wazatron,

The usual approach is to divide the weight of fresh yeast by one-half to get the corresponding amount of ADY, and by one-third to get the corresponding amount of IDY. So, 0.35 ounces of fresh yeast converts to about 0.17 ounces of ADY (about 1 1/3 teaspoons by volume) and about 0.12 ounces of IDY (or a little over 1 teaspoon by volume). Remember that ADY has to be hydrated in a small amount of warm water at around 100 degrees F (the rest of the water in the recipe can be cool). The IDY can be mixed directly in with the flour. It needs no hydration.

Peter

[Lido]

That photo link isn't working, can you post the photo here?  Just curious how the crust comes out with a rise before putting the dough in the fridge (that didn't work out so well for me when I tried it).  Thanks.

I can't believe I've survived on the internet without finding this forum!!

I'm 19 and in college.  I've been making pizza for about 5 years, since my parents got me a restaurant size wooden pizza peel, aluminum peel, pizza stone, and cutter.  I started with a recipe from 'Pizza Any Way You Slice It' and ended up changing it completely so it is unique, after years of trial and error.

Anyway, I was just posting to see how my recipe compared with all the others.  I am now using molino di borgo san dalmazzo 00 flour from my local italian market.  They used to have delverde, but this seems a lot softer and fresher.  I also use fresh yeast...i'm reading a lot about other alternatives but have no idea how they work or what they are.  I use Acqua Panna water and Sicilian sea salt.

Here is my recipe:

500g 00 flour
10 fl. oz. water
10g fresh yeast
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

I warm the water, dissolve the yeast, then add flour salt and oil.  I use the kitchenaid...it's so easy; let it kneed for about 10 mins, till smooth texture.  I then divide into balls and let rise for about an hour or two then either put into the fridge, freeze, or make. 

Here is a pic of a pie I made about a year ago, not my current recipe, but close, and still mine

(http://drycleancarpets.com/CIMG1171.JPG)

This pie has sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto di parma with fresh mozzarella, homemade sauce and basil. 

Thanks for having such a great forum!! 

-Joe

[Brian83]

Pizzella, at what temperatures are you cooking your pies at? I'm assuming that since you're in college you're using a standard home oven. I've shied away from Neapolitan pizzas because I assumed my home oven (which can hit 550) and BBQ (which can hit 600) were not hot enough to give proper results.