Ingredients:

Dough:

3 cups flour

1+1/4 cups Water

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon dry yeast

Sauce:

2 cups (450 grams) whole peeled can tomatoes

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1.5 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoon oregano

a few basil leaves

Toppings:

a few basil leaves

1/2 cup fresh mozzarella

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Parmigiano-Reggiano

3 tablespoons tomato sauce

Hello, my foodie friends! Today, I was thinking; I haven't had pizza for a while; You know, I’ve got a craving for a good pizza! Well, who doesn't want a slice of pizza with loads of cheese on top? When it comes to pizza, we have so many options, New York pizza, Roman, Chicago deep-dish, I don't know Sicilian, and the list goes on. Today I decided to take you to Napoli to make the king of pizza. The Neapolitan pizza.

Yes, the Neapolitan pizza is the most classic pizza of all time. It’s even one of the UNESCO cultural heritage. Just imagine! So it's not just food; it’s art, culture, and lifestyle! So today, we’re not only making a mega food, we’re making a piece of art! I know for some of you, making pizza at home from scratch might sound a bit intimidating but if you use some techniques and practice them, I’m sure you can make it. So without further ado, let’s make it together!

First things first, add the salt to the room temperature water and mix them well. You don't need to be worried about the measures. I mention all the details and recipes in the description.

I prefer to use bread flour which has more gluten content, but all-purpose flour also works fine.

I add half of the flour and mix them thoroughly. Then you can add the dry yeast. Please add the rest of the flour little by little. For the Neapolitan dough, we don't add any oil so you should add flour up to the point that you can knead it on the counter easily. It's the best rule of thumbs for the water and flour ratio. The dough is still super sticky, so if you don't want to use your hands, you can use a plastic scraper.

It's a pretty useful tool. you can knead the dough with the scraper for a few minutes.

If it’s sticky, add more flour—just a little at a time. Eventually, you have to transfer it to the countertop and knead the dough with your hands! For a start, it's easier if you use your fingers for kneading the dough. As it shapes like an actual, you can use your hands to continue kneading. Don't rush it too much. Take your time and enjoy the process. Please don't tell me you cannot make the dough because it's one of the easiest tasks in the world.

You mix the flour with water and knead it! That's it! It's also fun, who doesn't want to deal with something soft and fluffy. Anyways. Let's go back to the dough! You have to knead the dough for 15 minutes to develop enough gluten; otherwise, the dough might tear when you stretch it. As you knead it more, it looks more like an actual dough ball. Now gluten has developed somehow, so if you rest it for 15 to 20 minutes, it gets easier to work with.

In the meantime, we can make the sauce. Add the main ingredient, which is tomato.

I used whole peeled tomatoes, preferably Italian coz it's sweet and juicy and you don't need to add sugar. I crush them with a potato masher. Well, I usually mash them with my hand coz I like to see tomato chunks on my pizza but I didn't want to hear comments like, eeeeewww I don't eat it! did you wash your hands! Well, I have already kneaded the dough with my hands so don't worry about it. Anyways. Just add the salt, oregano, extra virgin olive oil, and basil leaves. It’s an easy but perfect sauce for Neapolitan pizza, which doesn't have garlic, and you don't need to cook it.

Let's go back to the dough. It might be a bit sticky as we didn't add flour or oil but no worries we can use a bench scraper. After the 15 to 30 minutes of resting time, the gluten is more relaxed, and The dough is much softer and smoother. You can add a bit more flour if it's still too sticky and knead it for a few minutes. Then shape it like a ball and divide it into four smaller pieces of dough. Ok, let's practice an easy method for shaping the smaller dough into an actual pizza dough. Just look at my hands to see how I shape it. Fold the sides into the middle and pinch the top. Flip it and roll it in circles then you have a gorgeous ball! I do it one more time for another dough portion. Make sure to pinch the dough. Otherwise, the air would come out of the hole while it's resting and your pizza wont be airy and puffy. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil into a container and make sure all the surface is coated with oil, then transfer the dough into the container. The surface of the dough also needs to be coated with oil. Cover it with plastic and let it rest.

After resting the dough at room temperature for a couple of hours, it’s doubled in size.

Add a generous amount of flour to the counter and gently take the dough out of the container!

You can keep the dough in the fridge if you don't want to use it in the same day.

The slow fermentation process in the fridge is also intensifying the flavor but make sure to take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before using it. There we go! Please always be very gentle with dough coz we don't want to lose the air. Flip it over a few times gently to make sure the surface is coated with flour and it won't stick. Use your fingers to spread the dough and Always start from the center. Please do me a favor and never EVER use the rolling pin because we want an airy crust for a Neapolitan pizza.

don't be shy with flour we can get rid of extra flour later. Flip it over a couple of times and keep using your fingers to spread the dough. There are more techniques for stretching the dough.

You can stretch the sides with your fingers or you can grab one side of the dough and use gravity to stretch the dough. Be patient with the process and don't stretch it fast; otherwise, you might end up tearing the dough. The other technique is using your hands to rotate and stretch the dough. By using this technique, you don't touch the crust so it stays puffy.

If you stretch the dough with your fingers, you have more control over the shape of your dough and you can spread it into a nice round circle. Last but not least, you can stretch the dough by using your knuckles. It's an advanced technique but it helps you to get rid of excess flour. If there is a small tear you can fix it easily. used a bench scraper to clean my counter for assembling the pizza.

Ok, let's go to the fun part, which is adding the topping! don't even think about pineapple or ananas! Add some of that special sauce to the base and spread it with a spoon except for the crust. You can see tomato chunks and basil leaves. Oh, man! it's amazing! I’d like to use the fresh mozzarella for Neapolitan pizza because it won't dry out in the oven. I don't recommend low moisture mozzarella because to me it's more like a NY pizza. But you’re the boss of your pizza so add whatever you like or you have. Then grate a bit of parmesan, I use parmesan Reggiano, which is the Lamborghini of the cheese. It's a bit pricy when you buy a stick but it lasts long in your fridge. I guess I grated 10-20 cents worth of parmesan Reggiano so still fairly cheap!

I drizzle some olive oil and add a few basil leaves. I heard some channels like babish are saying don't add the basil before putting it into the oven! Shut up! No! I add the basil before and after cooking because we want all profiles of flavor. Anyways! Grab the pizza peel, coat it with flour and gently transfer the pizza into the peel. If you don't have a peel you can use parchment paper under the base before assembling the pizza. Then use a cutting board to transfer the pizza into the oven. Use the pizza stone, steel, or flip the oven tray like me. Set your oven to top heat or use the broiler. Use the highest possible rack and Preheat the oven to the maximum temperature then slide the pizza into the oven and wait until the crust is brown and crispy.

Alright! I think my pizza wasn't too bad for an amateur cook! But I have to tell you that two years ago, I didn't know anything about making pizza! Yes, I learned how to cook during the pandemic. That means you can do it if you want! There’s only one little secret! DON'T BE SCARED TO COOK. You can cook anything if you believe in yourself and more importantly, see your mistakes as an opportunity for learning. If you check my Instagram, you will see how I’ve improved my techniques by learning from my mistakes. That's the key!

Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you liked my pizza and try that out in your kitchen sometime soon.

Head over to my Patreon if you would like to see the extended version of food tasting. Please give me a thumbs up and comment down below your feedback or questions, I’d be more than happy to coach you! If you would like to watch more videos like this, subscribe to my channel and turn on the notification bell. See you in the next one!