Neo-neapolitano recipes

[Q8Stone]

Hi there, I just got back from Italy after taking a pizzola course, as well as some VPN training, wow are they militant. I just have a few questions, as we start this new adventure of creating a reciepe that's for our clientele.

I fell in love with biga, and everything biga and as my instructor would do things with biga in Florence the pizza was amazing and light. And something you could eat and not feel heavy, but with my instructors in Naples, the pizza was heavy and dough and soupy and amazing as well.

I have read a lot about what you guys do and how you go about everything. I will be posting my neo-neapolitano recipe with picture of finished product in the next post.

My question is, what is the medium happy you have reached in your pizza that makes it stand out for you?

[Q8Stone]

Current recipe is based on not a traditional neapolitano but a small hybrid,

1 liter of water
1.36 kg 00 flour
340 grams WW flour
1 gram of dry yeast
35 grams of Evo
55 grams of salt
and around 255 grams of biga or 15% of total flour

I mix all flour then add water, then when it absorbs the flour, I add the biga and salt and yeast, one there incorporated I add the olive oil and as soon as the dough hits 25 Celsius I stop the mixer.

Food and let it rest for 30 minutes room temperature, then ball and let rest for anywhere between 48hrs and 72hrs.

Will post images later.

But I might be testing bulk cold fermentation and then ball and let rest an additional 24 hrs before I cook.

Balls are 275 grams a pop.

[Q8Stone]

Ok,

Pizza round 1

725 f floor, a but too high but beggars can't be choosers as oven currently being used for other things as well.
All picture taken same day 72 cold ferm, only difference is some dough was taken out 1 hr before cooking it and other 3 hrs.

Currently the dough is performing as expected, its tweaking the stefanos heat that I need to fix. I think cause of the biga I can push the dough to 120 hrs ferm, will test tomorrow 96 hr and then 120'hrs.

[Q8Stone]

Issues with round one, the cornicone is too big. And heat was not unified, I think I need to lower floor temperature to around 600 F to 650F.

And probably ball it smaller maybe around 225 instead of 275.

Pictures are round two the only difference was the same dough was used 72 hrs cold fermentation instead of 48 hrs. Currently I am using the store sauce, only cause we're testing and not really concerned about the current sauce. Will be using DOP sauce eventually that will only have salt added to it and no basil or oil.

Still looking for sweet spot in oven, but this oven cooks steaks and burgers so I am happy we're just testing on it, and eventually will be getting our own dedicated oven.

The floor is pretty beat up, even though it's only 2 years old, I am assuming cause of the cast iron pan being moved around on the floor.

[Q8Stone]

Round 3.

Made a new batch of dough,

Let it rest after done for 30 min.

Then

1/2 bulk cold fermentation for 48 hrs then will ball and stick in fridge for another 24 hrs
1/2 balled cold fermentation for 72 hrs

And then bake them and see the difference. Everything else is similar.

[TXCraig1]

Are you trying to make a dryer, crispier version of Neapolitan? 59% hydration is on the low side for most Neapolitan, but considering that you have WW flour in the formula, it's REALLY low. Maybe even lower depending on your biga.

What kind of bake time are you aiming for? 725F is VERY cool for a neapolitan oven. 600F is practically ice cold.

Keep in mind that the longer the fermentation, the more dough you need on hand. I see you mentioned 120 hours. That would require having 5 days worth of of on hand! Frankly 24 hours at room temp will probably make better pizza than 5 days in the fridge.

[Q8Stone]

Are you trying to make a dryer, crispier version of Neapolitan? 59% hydration is on the low side for most Neapolitan, but considering that you have WW flour in the formula, it's REALLY low. Maybe even lower depending on your biga.


What kind of bake time are you aiming for? 725F is VERY cool for a neapolitan oven. 600F is practically ice cold.

Keep in mind that the longer the fermentation, the more dough you need on hand. I see you mentioned 120 hours. That would require having 5 days worth of of on hand! Frankly 24 hours at room temp will probably make better pizza than 5 days in the fridge.

Hi Craig,

Yes we're making a bit dryer version, a little crisp and less soup in the middle, closer to robertas then di Michele. The bake temp were aiming for is 700 F close to the flame and 650 close to the wall as were also going to be banging out thin cracker pizza style, like a romana pala or pinza style. I have done napletano and it performs amazingly in the stefano at around 450c  or 820 f I think as we sear steak at that temp in the oven.

The problem with room temperature is, in dubai its frickin hot so will not be easy to calibrate everything the way I like and make it as consistent as we want.

As for dough, that's not a problem but our sweet spot currently with existing reciepe is 72 hrs. I just wanted to see how dough reacts past 72 hrs, at 120 it was so soft, that was almost like jelly.

We're currently experimenting with biga, but probably also test sourgh dough starters as we have a nice batch currently in the existing establishment being used.

I currently have around 6kg of dough sitting in cold room,
1/2 bulk
And 1/2 already balled. Will make pizza this Wednesday and will ball the bulk tomorrow, and compare both.

For flour we're testing Le 5 stagoni for both the WW and 00 Gold. It's a bit thirsty then what I was using in Italy, don't know if it's the batch or the local supplier storage. I might be forced to move to caputo as it's widely used here and the supplier has a continuous revolving stock.

After we get the flour down, then it's on to the cheese and such:) long process, think I am getting fatter so need to have testing:)

The biga is 50% hydrated.

But a lot of what I learned in Naples, was more to do with temperature, of flour/room/water. Plus a little secrets here and there, or superstitions.

How happy are you with your final product? Cause your stuff looks real nice.

And yes, I miss italian tap water:(

[Q8Stone]

This is the crisp we're going for

[Louismul19]

Hi , did you manage to get the dough mix to create desired effect?

I am looking at creating a crispy neopolitan style that delivers well, would love to see your product!