Happy Wednesday! When we first started this blog, I talked about exploring Italian cooking and I know that I got off track from that goal for a bit. However tonight we are having Neapolitan Style Pizza and we are back with some Italian goodies (and of course other posts of food we are making as well).

Back when we lived in Malden, there was this amazing restaurant called Wood Fire in Melrose. The dough was chewy and the toppings weren’t that complex. It has been a while since we have gone and we definetly missed that style pizza. Of course we didn’t let distance or closures stop us and we have been able to make Wood Fire inspired pizza in our home. One piece to note is we did get the Ooni Pizza Oven which is how we cooked the pizza. The recipe below can also be made in a conventional oven too!

I really enjoyed our dinner tonight and hope you enjoyed reading about it!

INGREDIENTS

Dough

• 12.8oz (364g) cold water
• 4 tsp (18g) salt
• 20g fresh yeast (or 9.2g active dried yeast, or 7g instant dried yeast) 
• 21.4oz (607g) “00” flour, plus extra for dusting

Maranira Sauce

• 1 can Sam Marzano
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Pinch of Salt

toppings

• 1 mozzarella ball
• 1/4-1/2 cup of grated mozzarella
• 8-10 sprigs of basil
• Parmesan
• Jovial Olive Oil

INSTRUCTIONS

making the Dough

Place two-thirds of the water in a large bowl. In a saucepan or microwave, bring the other third of water to boil, then add it to the cold water in the bowl. This creates the correct temperature for activating yeast. Whisk the salt and yeast into the warm water.
If mixing by hand: Place the flour in a large bowl and pour the yeast mixture into it. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form. Continue mixing by hand until the pizza dough comes together in a ball. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead with both hands for about 10 minutes, until it is firm and stretchy. Return the dough to the bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until doubled in size.
If using a mixer: Fit the mixer with the dough hook and place the flour in the mixer bowl. Turn the machine on at a low speed and gradually add the yeast mixture to the flour. Once combined, leave the dough to keep mixing to at the same speed for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is firm and stretchy. Cover the dough with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. 

When the dough has roughly doubled in size, divide it into 3 or 4 equal pieces, depending on what size you want your pizzas to be (either 12 inches or 16 inches wide). Place each piece of dough in a separate bowl or tray, cover with cling film and leave to rise for another 30 – 60 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Making the sauce

1. Take the tomatoes out of the can and place into food processor, leaving the liquid in the can. Add garlic cloves, salt and process until fully combined. Let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Making the Pizza

Turn on oven to 500 degrees. If using Ooni Pizza oven, light the Firestarter and pellets.

Place the ball on a lightly floured surface, flour your hands and use your fingertips to press the dough into a small, flat disc. Working from the center, push the dough outwards while spreading your fingers, making the disc slightly bigger.

Pick up the pizza dough and gently pinch it all around the edge, allowing gravity to pull it downwards into a circle. Neapolitan-style pizza bases are very thin, so you should be able to see through the base when you hold it up to the light. Take care when doing this – you don’t want it to tear.

Once the pizza dough is fully stretched, lightly flour your pizza peel and lay the base on it. If at this point you see any small holes in the dough, take a pinch of dough from the crust and fill in the by patting it in.

At this stage you can apply your toppings. Put about 2-3 spoonful’s of tomato sauce in the middle of the base and spread it out to the edges. Grate parmesan cheese until lightly coated. Then tear the mozzarella and scatter with 5-7 basil leaves. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper. For second pizza add the tomato sauce and parmesan. Then add the grated mozzarella to cover the whole base, remaining basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake in a Ooni pizza oven or conventional oven.

1. Conventional Oven: Cook the pizzas on a piece of granite in your conventional oven – if not, cook them one by one on pieces of tin foil directly on the bars of the oven shelf, towards the bottom of the oven. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the pizzas are golden and crispy.
2. Ooni: Cook pizza for 30 seconds and take out of oven onto a plate. Rotate 90 degrees and place pizza back in oven for about 30 seconds. Repeat with remaining pizzas.

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We hope you enjoyed our latest blog post. Please leave comments and likes! We would love to hear if you tried any of the recipes and anything you learned along the away.

K&M