Napoletano Pizza Dough (DOC designation*)

Several weeks ago my group, the Amateur Breadbaking Guild, took a field trip to a very special Italian restaurant in Virginia Beach to learn from the master how he prepares and cooks his pizza.  I have been to the restaurant (which will go unnamed) many times and have had lots of conversations about how they make their sauce and their dough.  As a budding breadmaker, I asked if he would mind teaching us his secret.  The owner and his wife were very gracious and very open to having our whole entourage participate (4 of us).

*This pizza would fall under the category of Napoletano pizza dough and would carry the DOC designation.  DOC stands for Demoninazione di Origine Controllata, which is an Italian governmental system that regulates the standards for Italian foods and beverages.  In this case it means that the dough adheres to the strict guidelines established by the Associazione della Vera Pizza Napoletana.  That's a lot of words that basically mean that the dough cannot contain sugar or oil.

Now you might find this strange, but sugar and oil are no-no's to authentic Italians.  I happened to have known this before, only because I asked if the owner used sugar in his dough...big mistake.  Lets just say he was gracious and allowed me to finish my meal.  Nevertheless, I warned the rest of the posse in Amateur Breadbaking Guild before we visited.

This simple dough makes a nice, thin crusted pizza with a good crunch to the bottom and a bite to the crust.  You will be proud to serve this to your guests/family.  Angelo cooks his pizza at 550 degrees for 3-4 minutes.  When you calculate the costs of this AND the quality of making this, you will consider never going out for pizza again.

Napoletano Pizza Dough Recipe

Makes five 10" Pizzas

28 oz High Gluten Flour (always weigh)
19 oz Cold Water
1 Tbsp Salt (Kosher)
1 Tsp Instant Yeast

Dry Ingredients

• Using the paddle attachment, on low, mix the flour and the salt together in your mixer.  I just let it keep running while I work on the wet ingredients.

Wet Ingredients

• Pour the yeast into the water and whisk until completely blended.

Pour the Wet Ingredients into the mixer, while it is running.  When it is completely incorporated (meaning that it is ALL stuck to the paddle), turn off your mixer, wet your hands under a faucet, and remove the dough from the paddle and put back into the bowl.  Replace the paddle with the dough hook and mix on low or medium low for 15 minutes.

How do you know whether its working?  First, after a minute or two, the dough should stick ONLY to the bottom of the bowl.   It kind of looks like a dough tornado.

If it is NOT sticking at all, add water, 1 tablespoon at at time (and 1 minute apart) until it looks like it will start sticking.  At first it will be all slimy on the outside, but after 30 seconds you should see the stick.

If it IS sticking to the sides AND the bottom, add flour, 1 heaping teaspoon at a time (and 1 minute apart) until it starts peeling from the sides.  At first it will be all dry and powdery on the outside, but after 30 seconds it will begin to get more absorbed.

After 15 minutes, turn the mixer off.  Cover your hands in flour and remove dough from hook and place on a generously floured surface.  Using a dough cutter, cut the dough into five 8-9 oz portions.

 As you weigh pieces, cut off smaller pieces to add or subract.  (As an aside, I covered my scale with some plastic wrap and dusted it with flour so that the scale did not become a stick mess.)

Pick up a dough ball and begin to knead it by turning the edges into the center.  Rotate and repeat until the outside of the dough ball is very smooth and the dusted flour is worked into the dough.  It is as if you are turning the dough inside out, over and over.

When the dough is ready, there should be a small seam on one side of the ball.  Place the ball, seam side down, on a part of your counter (no flour). Begin to roll it around your hands using the friction from the counter to push the dough underneath the ball towards the seam.  Make sure that the seam stays counter side down as you are doing this.  Basically, you are working the sides under the ball and into the seam, almost to the point where you can no longer see the seam.  (Angelo, can make the seam disappear...I could not.)

Heavily flour a container that you can fit all the balls into, or put them on a tray.  Make sure there is room for growth. (Please ignore my photo, because I took 2 of them out, and individually bagged them.)  Cover them and let them rise for about 3 hours.  Then, either freeze in ziplock bags (with more flour in them) or use.

They can be refrigerated for several days. 

One the day before you plan to use them, take them out of the freezer and place them in the fridge. 

On the day you plan to use them, pull them out of the fridge 3 hours to let them acclamate to room temperature and begin rising again.

Disclaimer:  What surprised me about this dough, was that my kids preferred this over all others that I have made.  I would have guessed that the sugar and the oil would have been welcome ingredients to their tastebuds.  However, my kids say now that they prefer homemade pizza to delivery, which to me is the greatest feeling.  When my daughter told a friend of hers (that was spending the night) that she likes her dad's pizza better than the local place, it was all worth it.  It is WAY less expensive and I enjoy making it.  I hope you, too, will have a similar story to tell one day.