Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe (Authentic Neapolitan Style)

The best homemade pizza dough recipe is in your hands. If you’ve ever been to Southern Italy (the home of pizza), this will take you back to the pizza you ate there. Trust me on this; you’ll be thanking me later!

My original pizza dough recipe was published May 4, 2012.

Homemade pizza dough isn’t a difficult thing to make at all. Like any other kitchen creation, the end result will depend on which recipe and which ingredients you choose to use. 

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This is the single most important decision you will always make when cooking or baking. My site isn’t a huge collection of my own recipes, but a collection of others’ recipes that have worked marvelously for me, and I pass them on to you! Although I’ve been making pizza almost all my life, I would never consider myself worthy of sharing a fabulous homemade Neapolitan pizza recipe. 

So allow me to introduce you to the recipe’s author (who learned from his father, who was also a master pizza maker in Italy), Maestro Pizzaiolo Vito Iacopelli. His is the best pizza dough recipe you will ever find.

Maestro means “teacher” in Italian, and a “pizzaiolo” is a pizza maker from Southern Italy, so why on earth would you use any other homemade pizza dough recipe? Just like you’d want a recipe for jambalaya from a source in Louisiana, why would you want your pizza recipe from anywhere but the best Italian source?

I have had the pleasure of meeting Vito several times here in Los Angeles, I’ve watched his video tutorials, and even purchased his Masterclass on pizza-making. He is the best teacher and absolutely a riot to watch! He’s so passionate about pizza, you won’t believe it, and that’s why I want to tell you all about him and share his recipe.

Honestly, this pizza dough recipe will change your life (Vito says this, and it’s true)! Pair it with this pizza sauce recipe (which is the same as Vito and all other pizza chefs use in Southern Italy) and your homemade pizza-making skill will improve exponentially! Vito gives all the secrets to what makes authentic Italian pizza so much healthier than American-style pizza.

Last September I had a pizza-making lesson at medeaterranea Accademia Enogastromica in Naples, Italy. Master Pizzaiolo Mimmo Onze gave our press trip participants a class on making authentic Neapolitan pizza. Vito’s recipe is practically identical to the one Mimmo had us use because pizza-making has been perfected in Naples.

Guess what? You probably won’t be surprised to hear that using the best quality ingredients is key in this recipe, too. What makes the pizza so different? Besides the quality of ingredients, the way that the dough is made will make the pizza so much more easily digestible. 

What is Poolish?

A pre-fermented dough called poolish is what is used to make this Neapolitan style homemade pizza dough. It’s not difficult to make at all, and takes only a minute or two to prepare. What you do need to do is plan ahead to make this pizza dough, that’s all. Once you have the poolish ready, it’s just a matter of following Vito’s step by step directions for the perfect pizza dough!

I need to remake my potato pizza using Vito’s homemade pizza dough recipe!

I encourage you to watch the video for this recipe (I’ve linked to it below) and subscribe to Vito’s YouTube channel. He has so many pizza-making videos so you can keep learning and improving.

If you need an easier recipe, look no further than this no knead pizza dough recipe.

My pizza is far from perfect, but I can’t tell you how much better it is than before I started using Vito’s homemade pizza dough recipe! 

If you don’t like a super thin Neapolitan style pizza, just keep the center of the dough a wee bit more thick, and you’ll have a more Roman-style pizza (thicker bottom crust).

IMPORTANT: I have already received several email requests to add the ingredients in cups. I usually do this with almost all of my recipes, but if it means the recipe will fail, I refuse (like my doughnut recipe and this pizza dough). You will NEVER find a pizza chef in Italy measuring their ingredients with cups, just as you will never find a French pastry chef using them. THEY ARE IMMENSELY INACCURATE. Please spend what it costs for a couple of coffees to invest in a scale. I promise, they are easier to use than cups!

The Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe 

Very slightly adapted from Maestro Pizzaiolo Vito Iacopelli                Makes Five 12″ pizzas

FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW

PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO CONVERT TO CUPS, PLEASE BUY A SCALE INSTEAD SO THE RECIPE WORKS. Vito (and all other chefs) does/do not use cups for a reason: they are inaccurate.

Poolish

• water
• 00 Italian flour (double zero flour is the best for pizza-making, and I highly recommend it) or organic, non-bleached/bromated all-purpose or bread flour, but this won’t be as good as Italian flour
• dry yeast
• honey

Dough

• water
• poolish (after 24 hours)
• 00 Italian flour
• Kosher or sea salt

I recommend starting the poolish a few hours before the time you want to enjoy your pizza the next day. For example, start it on Friday afternoon if you want to have pizza for dinner on Saturday.

Make the Poolish

Mix all the poolish ingredients together in a small glass or plastic container until it has a uniform consistency. Leave at room temperature for one hour, then place in the fridge for 24 hours. After a day, it will look like this.

THE NEXT DAY: Make the Dough

Put the water for the dough into a large bowl then add all of the poolish. Mix together until the poolish loosens and mixes into the water.

Next, add half of the flour and mix well (I like to use a Danish whisk).

Add the salt.

Then add the remaining flour.

Mix just for a few seconds, then turn out onto a board or counter to mix by hand. After it all comes together (it will be very sticky) turn the bowl upside down over it and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Prepping the Dough and the First Rise.

After 15 minutes, put some oil on your hands and take the dough up with both hands underneath and allow the two ends to fall, creating an air pocket inside. Continue to pick up the dough and repeat this process, turning a quarter turn each time (Vito’s video below will help with this step). Oil the original bowl and place the dough in the bowl, always keeping the top side up. Allow to rise for an hour. 

Making Balls of Homemade Pizza Dough and Second Rise.

Next, cut into 5 equal sized pieces.

Fold and roll the pieces into balls, being sure to keep the top facing upwards when you are finished.

Place them on a tray sprinkled with fine semolina flour, or flour so that it doesn’t stick.

Top each ball with a little olive oil, cover with plastic wrap. 

Alternatively, place in the oven (without turning it on) and place a jug of boiling water inside with the tray. Allow to rise for two more hours.

If using a pizza stone, put it in the oven and turn on the oven to  an hour before the pizza is ready. This will ensure the pizza stone is super hot. If using a countertop pizza oven, there’s no need to heat it up this early.

Shaping the Pizza Dough

After two hours, take one ball of homemade pizza dough and put in on some semolina flour, top and bottom, always keep it right side up when you finish. Start pushing the dough in the center towards the edges.

If you have an indoor countertop pizza oven (this one is similar to the one I have) you want to have the dough on the pizza peel at this point. 

Top and Bake the Homemade Pizza Dough

I strongly suggest using this pizza sauce recipe. This is how Vito makes his sauce, too. He also suggest oiling the edge. Check out my Italian tomato factory tour to understand why Italian canned tomatoes are the best quality you can buy.

I use a counter-top pizza oven, but you can use a pizza stone as Vito does in his video tutorial.

Add the toppings you desire and bake according to your pizza oven, oven with stone or counter top oven directions. This mushroom, truffle, brie and arugula pizza is one of my favorite ways to top pizza that doesn’t include tomato sauce.

Finishing and serving the pizza.

Cutting pizza with kitchen shears works really well. See the holes in the pizza crust? Again, my pizza is nothing like Vito’s yet, but I’m working on getting there and you can, too!

Let me know what you think if you try this recipe. Also be sure to subscribe to Vito’s YouTube channel and give him a thumbs up!

Watch Vito’s video on how to make perfect pizza dough at home. Printable recipe below.

 

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