Readers frequently ask me: what is the best method to cook a Neapolitan pizza from home, in my oven, or on the grill in my backyard? The answer is simple: the pizza you bake at home or on your grill will not appear or taste like the Neapolitan pizza baked in the oven at 500 degrees. But you can get close when you know how temperatures and water content impact pizza dough. This is precisely what I’m trying to discuss in this article.
How do I choose what kind of pizza you like?
Initially, it is essential to consider the following: What pizza do you like to eat? What should it taste like, and what consistency would it need? A thin one that is foldable, as in Neapolitan pizza? Do I prefer that the pizza’s crust be crisp? However, the crumb should be soft, like pizza in Teglia pizza made in Teglia (Roman-style sheets of pizza). Do I want it to be thin and crisp?
Baking temperature and water content in the dough
Then, it’s essential to be aware that the amount of water in the dough and the oven’s temperature are connected, determining how pizza will be baked.
Example Neapolitan pizza The original recipe specifies a water content of 55.5 percent (1 1 liter of water per 1.8 kg flour). This is an incredibly “dry” dough. Because it is cooked at around 485°F, it takes approximately 60 to 90 seconds to cook. Pizzas will become flexible, soft, and easily foldable.
If you bake the dough in a traditional home oven at around 250 degrees, it will take longer because of the lower temperature. This is about 7 minutes, on average. In terms of taste, it’s pretty dry and crisp compared to the traditional Neapolitan pizza baked at 485°. What’s the reason? More moisture is absorbed from the dough within seven hours of baking at 250°F as opposed to 60 seconds of baking at 485°C. If the dough is left to sit for longer and is baked in the oven, more moisture is lost, which means it will dry out and crisper it will become.
Neapolitan-style pizza made in the home oven
To replicate the smooth and flexible consistency of the dough of a Neapolitan pizza made at home in your home’s oven, You should increase the amount of water in your dough, e.g., to 70 percent (700 ml water to one kilogram of flour). A higher proportion of liquid in your dough makes your pizza softer and less crisp when baked for 7 mins at 250 °. It is unlikely to taste as good as the authentic Neapolitan pizza. However, it will have a slightly crisper texture. However, it will possess a fantastic soft and air crumb compared to the dough with 55 percent water.
You only need to remember that dough with a high water content also requires the correct flour. You can find more details on the suitable pizza dough flour on this page.
Crispy base and thick pizza.
Suppose you want a thicker pizza with a crisp, crispy base and a soft crumb, like the pizza made in the teglia (Roman-style sheets of pizza) with a very water-based dough. In that case, it’s best to bake it at a lower temperature, like in a home oven, rather than in a high-temperature pizza oven. Lower temperatures in a home oven allow the wetter and thicker dough to bake for a long time without burning the crust.
Crispy and thin pizza
If you are looking for a paper-thin and crisp pizza (or similar to tarte flambee: pizza), you can make an ingredient with shallow water content (e.g., 60 percent), stretch it out thinly, and bake it around. 250 ° for 6 to 8 minutes.
Pizza on the grill
On a grill, it could also be different. The cooking chamber in the grill may attain at least 300 degrees, and the pizza stone can reach 350 degrees. When these temperatures are gone, you can bake a pizza in Neapolitan style for approximately 3.5 minutes.
Summary
The dough bakes quicker in ovens with higher temperatures (400 degrees or more). The water takes less time for vaporization, resulting in a more supple consistency of the pizza. The ovens with lower temperatures (household ovens with a maximum temperature of 250-270 degrees) cook the pizza dough slower. However, the water will have a longer time to evaporate, which results in a crisper-quality pizza. If you know how the amount of water in the pizza dough relates to the temperature at which it bakes, it is possible to tailor your pizzas to meet your requirements soon.