We’ve been doing Friday pizza nights since we got married, but I just recently started making this Neapolitan-style pizza crust recipe and I’ve got to say, it really brought the tradition up to a whole new level. 5 years ago we took the whole family (minus Finn- who wasn’t born yet) to Tuscany and while we were there we had the best Pizza of my life. I’ve been craving it since, and this recipe is the closest thing I’ve experienced to that pizza since we got back, it’s so, so good.
I have fallen in love with cooking for my family over the last year, and I feel like every day I feel less, and less inclined to want to “go out” to eat and more excited about what I’m going to make for my family for dinner instead. If homemaking is an art, the kitchen is my studio… And my best art comes off of my stove. My secret to joyfully cooking for my family is 100% meal planning. Meal planning has changed my life.
One of my secret weapons for making meal-planning easier and more fun is having “tradition” or “theme” nights. It makes coming up with new ideas a little easier each week, and it’s fun for everyone to look forward to. Plus I’m a big believer in small traditions; things that happen every day/week that create a really strong family culture. Think: regular family dinners, volleyball games in the backyard, nightly family prayers, Saturday morning pancakes, and Friday night pizzas.
If you want help making regular family dinners a reality, and learning how to meal plan so the process is as easy, stress-free and joyful as possible, click here for my “Meal Planning for Busy Moms” guide.
Okay, now let’s make some pizza!
What you need:
For this recipe I highly, you don’t need much, but you will want a few things for success. Honestly, you can get every thing you need for making amazing gourmet Neopolitan style pizza, for less than the cost of buying one mediocre one from the local pizza joint, and trust me, it’s worth it to get the right tools.
King Arthur ’00’ Neapolitan pizza flour:
First of all, I HIGHLY recommend using King Arthur ’00’ Pizza Neopolitan Style Pizza Flour. One of the things I’ve learned over the last few years as I’ve really dug into learning to cook well, is that good food is usually simple, but made from really high quality ingredients. I’ve been baking with King Arthur flour for years and the quality is always 100%. The best food starts with the best ingredients. This flour is literally made for this pizza and it’s going to give you the best results. I buy mine at Costco, but you can find it at most grocery stores, on Amazon or you can always order it directly from the King Arthur flour site.
Pizza Stone:
You 100% need a pizza stone if you want to make good pizza at home. I did not understand this until I started using my pizza stone correctly over the last couple years (I will teach you how to use a pizza stone further down!), and there is no comparison. It doesn’t need to be fancy, honestly a $20 or under stone will do the trick and it’s going to transform the kind of pizzas you can create.
Parchment Paper:
The parchment paper is for helping your pizza crust not stick to the hot stone, and trust me, you’ll want to use this.
Wooden Pizza Peel:
A pizza peel is such a good tool to have. Full disclosure, I had one of these for years before I realized that it wasn’t in fact, a cutting board… bahaha. These make transferring the rolled out pizza to the hot stone a breeze and honestly I don’t know how you would doing it without one. Highly recommend adding it to your kitchen arsenal.
Really good toppings!
In our house, we don’t believe in boring pizzas, so we have a lot of fun with toppings. You don’t have to just stick with the basics. There’s a whole world out there beyond pepperoni…
Our favorite pizza topping combinations:
We love having fun with our pizzas and trying different pizza topping combinations. Here are a few of our favorite:
Baked Potato Pizza:
Brush the top of your dough with a little olive oil, then top with thinly sliced baked potato, bacon, mozzarella cheese, and sour cream. So delicious!
Margherita Pizza:
Brush top of pizza with a little extra virgin olive oil, top with sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil, then drizzle with balsamic glaze.
BBQ chicken pizza:
Shred rotisserie chicken and toss with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. Spread thin layer of red pizza sauce over dough then top pizza with thinly sliced red onion, bbq shredded chicken, and grated mozzarella cheese. Drizzle top with Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce.
Veggie Pizza:
This is such a yummy option when the garden us popping in the summer: Spread red pizza sauce over the dough and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese, then top with onions, mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, bell peppers, chopped zucchini and squash!
Okay, let’s get to the Neapolitan style crust recipe!
Neapolitan-Style Pizza Crust recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups King Arthur “00” Pizza Flour
- 1/8 teaspoon dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cup lukewarm water, (105° to 115°F)
Directions
- In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then add the water. Stir until just combined, making a rough but even dough. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise at room temperature overnight, for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. (I make my dough on Thursday afternoon, it only takes about 5 minutes to put it together). The long rise time is the secret to this amazing crust.
- Preheat the oven to 500°F with your pizza stone inside on the center rack. Once the oven’s reached temperature, let the stone preheat in there for 30 minutes before baking.
- Divide the dough in half and transfer to a well floured surface.
- Stretch and fold the dough by: holding onto the dough at both ends, pull one end away from the other, then fold it back onto itself. Repeat on the other side. The dough will be sticky — don’t worry about that. Keep your hands floured as you work.
- Repeat the process until all four corners of the dough have been stretched and folded.
- Create a smooth round ball with the dough by pulling the ends of the dough to the middle and flipping it over.
- Cover the bowls and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes to an hour, while your oven preheats. In colder weather, place the bowls on the stove top (above the preheating oven) to stay warm.
- Cover a wooden pizza peel with parchment paper.
- Stretch and roll your dough into a 12″ circle on your pizza peel. Careful not to handle the edges.
- Add your toppings to the dough. (See our favorite combinations above.)
- Carefully transfer your pizza to the preheated stone in the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes. Watch it closely so it doesn’t burn. (After 4 minutes of baking, use tongs to lift the pizza and slide the parchment paper out from under it, then finish bake time)
- Using peel, remove pizza from oven and enjoy!
Find more of our family’s favorite recipes here!
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