Authentic Neapolitan Pizza

Recipe source: Salt, Wine, Friends Blog

One of my gastro-dreams was to bake a pizza at home with those wonderful air bubbles in the crust... I always thought that it's not too easy or almost impossible cause in a normal pizza furnace there is almost 500 °C, so with a simple oven no way to create this hellish heat, which is the key to success if you wanna bake a perfect pizza.

When Évi Bóta, from Salt, Wine Friends blog mentioned, that she has a good pizza recipe based on the official document of the preparation of the Neapolitan pizza I told her immediately, that I wanna do a new recipe test once she finishes her blog post. Probably you remember our first collaboration when I've tested her heavenly Avocado pie and she tested my Kladdkaka recipe. Since then we talk almost every day, and fortunately, we have a lot in common, so I can say we became friends! If you wanna see Évi's choice from my recipes, click here!

As a part of our recipe exchange, I wanted to introduce you to Évi a bit more than an average 'in general' part of this post, so I've asked some questions about her blog and her adventures...

What is the story behind your blog’s name, Salt Wine Friends?

Actually, it all started with a Christmas cracker. There was a conversation starter inside: What do you need to cook the perfect dinner? My friends and I came up with three necessary ingredients, and those were salt, wine and friends. It had such a good sound, so I couldn't let it go.

You travelled around the world and lived in different countries too. How have these years influenced your cooking style?

I would say these years formed my cooking style because I did not have one before at all. I got to know so many new ingredients and recipes, started to experiment, became more creative and open-minded in the kitchen. Cooking became a big joyful journey.

You’re creating your own recipes. What creation are you most proud of?

The Avocado pie. However, it was a hard one, did worth all the effort. I've made it three times when the fourth one was finally perfect in taste and consistency as well.

I’m so glad to try your authentic pizza dough. What’s the story behind this recipe?

For some reason, I feel an unconditional love about everything Italian, especially pizza. When I visited L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples, where they literally sell the world's best pizza, it was like Heaven for me. I took pictures with the cooks, even picked up a napkin as a relic. Ever since I haven't eaten such a good pizza, I tried to make it at home, following the rules, set by the True Neapolitan Pizza Association-Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, AVPN-. They take pizza very seriously. With all my heart and knowledge, this is the best I was able to make at home.

You have excellent photography skills -was it something you'd studied before, or something you picked up as you started blogging?

I've never studied photography. It was a great hobby, maybe a bit more. Then I started to work as a photographer on a cruise ship, which was an amazing experience, and school. I took like 400 portraits every single evening, so I've learned a lot from amazingly talented photographers, about lighting, posing, and in general about people. I had models with different bodies, ages, skin tones, and cultural backgrounds. Seriously I could not imagine better training than that. Of course, food is a different thing, but it's such a joy, and pleasure to shoot it. It doesn't have any crazy requests, and does what I want, hahah. :D

I booked a week long holiday before the last busy period of the Christmas countdown. This week I take part in a special 'kitchen therapy' and enjoy the feeling of creating, testing, inventing and decorating. After my visit to Borough Market, I got home super excited with premium ingredients for this project. It isn't something to rush, you should take your time to create a good pizza!

First of all, I created the dough with '00' grade flour for pizzas. This is the finest grade of flour milled. After the kneading I let the dough rise.

In the meantime, I've created the tomato sauce and a creamy Parmesan sauce too: a simple bèchamel sauce with nutmeg and Parmesan. I had enough time for preparing the toppings too. I've listed all ingredients I've used on my pizzas below:

Toppings

Pizza Margherita

Tomato sauce according to the recipe of Évi
Speck Alto Adige PGI - Exquisite Deli
Italian smoked mozzarella di bufala - Varley & Crouch
Porcini mushrooms, sautèed - Turnips
Italian wild rocket - Elsey & Bent

Pizza pala

Creamy Parmesan sauce
Wild boar prosciutto - Exquisite Deli
King prawns
Italian smoked mozzarella di bufala - Varley & Crouch
Porcini mushrooms, sautèed- Turnips
Black olives - Borough Olives
Fresh thyme leaves
Garlic infused olive oil

When the quantity of the pizza dough was over double its size of the original, I've used a bit more than half of it to create the Pizza Margherita and the leftover was used for a Pizza pala -which is originally flatter and longer than mine but I like this weirdo anyways-.

To get a nice, airy crust I've used my fingers to push the air bubbles from the middle to the edge. After that, I covered the surface with the sauces on each pizza then added a pinch of salt and a little olive oil and finally the smoked mozzarella slices. To the Pizza pala, I've added thyme leaves and brushed the edge with the garlic-infused olive oil. I've baked them in the oven on full heat, for 7 minutes.

For the first time, I've served the Pizza Margherita with wild rockets only, because originally pizza is simple food. But sorry... on my pizza there must be some meat: my choice was Speck from South Tyrol. I love mushrooms on pizza too, and I think porcini is a good choice because of its unique taste and shape. I've finished the pizza with some Italian wild rocket. I think together with the extra toppings this is a gorgeous Italian style pizza with a tomato base!

Authentic Neapolitan Pizza - Photo by © Reka Csulak

Nowadays I prefer pizza with a creamy base, so this is why I've used creamy Parmesan sauce on my Pizza pala. It got wild boar prosciutto, king prawns, porcini mushrooms and black olive slices as toppings. Before serving I've brushed the freshly baked crust for the second time with the garlic-infused olive oil.

I'm so happy with the result... finally I've baked a truly Italian pizza AT HOME! This recipe definitely goes to the 'all-time favourites' list!

Thank you Évi! ♥