Neapolitan pizza dough: the AVPN proportions
The AVPN standard is written per litre of water, not per kilo of flour: one litre of water, 40–60 g of salt, 1.6–1.8 kg of flour and 0.1–3 g of fresh yeast. That works out at roughly 55–62% hydration. Everything else — the long ferment, the 250 g ball, the 60–90 seconds in the oven — follows from those four numbers.
The specification
| Specification | |
|---|---|
| Water | 1 litre |
| Salt | 40 – 60 g |
| Flour | 1,600 – 1,800 g, depending on absorption |
| Fresh yeast | 0.1 – 3 g |
| Dried yeast | One third of the fresh weight |
| Sourdough starter | 5 – 20% of the flour |
| Total fermentation | 8 hours minimum, 24 hours maximum |
| Dough ball | 200 – 280 g |
| Finished diameter | 22 – 35 cm |
| Oven | 430 – 480 °C |
| Bake | 60 – 90 seconds |
Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, official recipe. The same specification is registered as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed in EU law.
Expressed the way most bakers think — as a percentage of flour — 1 litre of water to 1.7 kg of flour is about 59% hydration, with salt at roughly 2.9%. That is drier than most modern pizzeria doughs, and it is deliberate: a 60-second bake at 450 °C does not have time to drive off much water.
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.
Bulk, then ball
Rest the mass covered with a damp cloth — a couple of hours is usual — then divide and ball. The balls go into proving boxes for the rest of the time, which is where most of the 8 to 24 hours is spent.
Shaping
By hand, from the centre outwards, 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 flattens it and there is no recovering that in the oven.
Leave 1–2 cm 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
430–480 °C, 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 domestic oven at 250 °C comes out pale and biscuity 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, not air temperature, is what cooks the base.
Direct, poolish or biga covers what changes if you want more flavour out of the same flour.