Neapolitan pizza dough: the AVPN recipe in ounces and °F
The AVPN standard is written around the water, not the flour. For every 10 lb of water: 6.4–9.6 oz of salt, 16–18 lb of flour and a tiny amount of fresh yeast, from a pinch to about half an ounce. That works out at roughly 55–62% hydration. Everything else — the long ferment, the 9 oz ball, the 60–90 seconds in an 850 °F oven — follows from those four numbers.
The specification
| Specification | |
|---|---|
| Water | 10 lb |
| Salt | 6.4 – 9.6 oz |
| Flour | 16 – 18 lb, depending on absorption |
| Fresh yeast | 0.02 – 0.5 oz |
| Active dry or instant yeast | About one third of the fresh weight |
| Sourdough starter | 5 – 20% of the flour |
| Total fermentation | 8 hours minimum, 24 hours maximum |
| Dough ball | About 7 – 10 oz |
| Finished diameter | About 9 – 14 inches |
| Oven floor | About 800 – 900 °F |
| Bake | 60 – 90 seconds |
Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, official recipe (metric in the original; converted and rounded). The same specification is registered in EU law as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed.
Expressed the way most bakers think — as a percentage of flour — 10 lb of water to 17 lb of flour is about 59% hydration, with salt at roughly 2.9%. That is drier than most American pizzeria doughs, and NY-style shops running 62–65% will find it stiff. It is deliberate: a 60-second bake at 850 °F does not have time to drive off much water.
The flour
The standard calls for soft wheat flour type “00”, which in the US means an imported Italian bag or a domestic flour sold as “00”. “00” describes how finely the flour is milled, not how strong it is, so read the protein figure on the spec sheet: the pizza versions sit much closer to American bread flour than to cake flour. Then read the ingredient list. Most American bread flour is malted, and malt browns the crust far faster — at 850 °F it scorches before the crumb is set. If your bag says “malted barley flour” in the ingredients, it is built for a 550 °F deck oven, not for this.
Mixing
Start from the water, not the flour. Dissolve the salt, add about 10% of the flour, then the yeast, then the rest of the flour gradually. The order matters for one specific reason the standard spells out: salt and yeast must not sit in direct contact for more than about five minutes, or the salt damages the yeast cells.
Mix until it comes together as one smooth mass. The dough should be tacky but not sticky, and it should clear the side of the bowl. In a spiral mixer that is a slow start and a short second speed; a planetary mixer with a dough hook needs longer and runs warmer, so start with cooler water.
Bulk, then ball
Rest the mass covered with a damp towel — a couple of hours is usual — then divide and ball. The balls go into dough boxes for the rest of the time, which is where most of the 8 to 24 hours is spent.
Shaping
By hand, from the center outward, pushing the gas into the rim rather than out of it. The cornicione is not decoration: it is the gas you spent 18 hours making. A rolling pin or a dough sheeter flattens it, and there is no recovering that in the oven.
Leave about half an inch to three quarters of an inch of untouched edge. Lift, do not drag — dragging across the bench tears the surface and the tear becomes a hole under the sauce.
The bake
Roughly 800–900 °F, 60–90 seconds, on the floor of the oven. At that temperature the leopard-spotting on the rim is the Maillard reaction happening faster than the crumb can dry out — which is the whole point, and why the same dough in a home oven at 500 °F comes out pale and crackery rather than soft.
What goes wrong, and why
- Tough, springy dough that fights back. Under-fermented, or too strong a flour for the time you gave it. Longer, or a weaker flour.
- Balls that spread flat in the box. Over-fermented — too much yeast for the temperature. Cut the dose, do not cut the time.
- No rim. Either the gas was pushed out during shaping, or the oven was not hot enough to spring it.
- Pale after 90 seconds. The floor is not up to temperature. Surface temperature, read with an infrared thermometer, not the dial on the oven, is what cooks the base.
- Black spots on the base before the top is done. Malted flour, or a floor that is hotter than the dome. Unmalted “00”, and let the floor recover a few degrees between pies.
Direct, poolish or biga covers what changes if you want more flavor out of the same flour.
Deciding between a wood-fired and a gas or electric oven? What actually changes between them.