Pizza napoletana
A soft round of long-risen dough, topped simply — tomato, mozzarella, basil, oil — and baked for about a minute in a wood-fired oven until blistered at the rim.
What makes it pizza napoletana
- A soft dough of flour, water, salt and yeast, risen long and stretched by hand.
- A raised, puffy, spotted rim — the cornicione.
- Baked very hot and very fast, soft and a little soupy in the middle.
Where it comes from
Flatbreads with toppings were sold on the streets of Naples by the eighteenth century, cheap food for a crowded city, and tomato joined them once Naples had taken to it. The margherita is famously said to be named for Queen Margherita, who visited in 1889 — its red, white and green the colours of the new flag — though historians doubt how much of the story is true.
The art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo is on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage, and the rules are strict: dough stretched by hand, never rolled, and an oven far hotter than any at home.
How it varies
- Marinara
- The older one: tomato, garlic, oregano and oil — no cheese.
- Margherita
- Tomato, mozzarella or fior di latte, basil and oil.
- Pizza fritta
- Folded around a filling and deep-fried — Naples street food.
Be the first here
Start your own pizza napoletanaNo one here has made pizza napoletana yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
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ItalianAranciniBalls or cones of cooked rice around a filling of ragù or ham and cheese, breadcrumbed and fried until crisp.No one here has made it yet