Neapolitan vs Roman pizza: dough, oven and bake compared
Neapolitan pizza is soft and foldable with a puffy 1–2 cm crust: flour, water, salt and yeast, no oil, stretched by hand and baked for 60–90 seconds at 430–480 °C. Roman pizza (the round "tonda") is thin and crisp with almost no crust, has oil in the dough, sits around 55% hydration, can be rolled with a pin and bakes for 2–3 minutes at 300–400 °C.
Neapolitan vs Roman at a glance
| Neapolitan | Roman (tonda) | |
|---|---|---|
| Dough | Flour, water, salt, yeast | The same plus 2–4% oil |
| Hydration | 58–65% | 50–58% |
| Fermentation | 8–24 h (AVPN), often longer in practice | 24–72 h cold |
| Dough ball | 200–280 g | 160–200 g |
| Shaping | Hands only | Rolling pin or hands |
| Diameter | Up to 35 cm | 30–35 cm |
| Centre thickness | 0.25–0.4 cm | About 0.2 cm |
| Crust (cornicione) | 1–2 cm, risen | Almost none |
| Oven | Wood, gas or high-heat electric, 430 °C+ | Electric deck or wood, 300–400 °C |
| Bake | 60–90 s | 2–3 min (3–4 min at 300 °C) |
| Texture | Soft, folds "a portafoglio" | Crisp, almost cracker-like |
AVPN specification, EU Regulation 97/2010 and common Roman practice.
Neapolitan: a specification, not just a style
There are two reference texts and they do not quite agree. The AVPN (the Naples association behind most "certified" pizzerias) sets the centre at 0.25 cm; the EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed specification (Regulation 97/2010) says 0.4 cm ±10% and a bake at around 485 °C. Both agree on what matters: no oil in the dough, no rolling pin, and a pizza you can fold into four.
In the EU, "Pizza Napoletana" has been a reserved name since 18 December 2022. That reservation was adopted after Brexit, so it does not bind Great Britain — a British menu is not policed the way an Italian or French one can be. Even so, if you write "Neapolitan" over a pizza baked for four minutes in a 300 °C deck, anyone who has eaten at Franco Manca or Pizza Pilgrims will notice. UNESCO listed the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo as intangible heritage in 2017.
The full Neapolitan dough proportions
Roman pizza is three different things
- Tonda: round, very thin, "scrocchiarella" — it crackles. This is what Roman pizzerias serve at dinner and what people mean in a Neapolitan vs Roman comparison.
- Teglia (al taglio): a high-hydration dough baked in a rectangular tray, cut and sold by weight. A different trade altogether.
- Pala: an elongated pizza baked straight on the deck and served on a long wooden peel.
For tonda, use 2–4% oil on flour weight (olive or a neutral seed oil), hydration around 55% and a 24–72 hour cold ferment. The rolling pin, heresy to a Neapolitan, is fine here: you want the gas out for a flat, even disc. A professional batch that circulates on pizza forums — 1 litre water, 1.8 kg flour, 50 g salt, 50 g oil, 10–15 g fresh yeast, 48 hours in the fridge — is effectively Roman dough whether or not anyone calls it that.
Pizza al taglio: the Roman tray pizza
Which oven for which style?
This is the real decision. Neapolitan needs a floor at 430–485 °C: wood, gas or a dedicated high-temperature electric oven. A standard electric deck running at 300–350 °C makes a good Roman or "classic" pizza, not a Neapolitan one; the bake stretches to 3–4 minutes and the dough dries before the crust can rise. The reverse fails too: oiled, low-hydration Roman dough burns underneath at 480 °C before it crisps.
Wood-fired or electric: what actually changes
Which style suits your business?
Throughput
At 90 seconds a bake the oven is never the bottleneck; the bench is. Stretching Neapolitan cleanly takes months to learn. Tonda, with a pin, is quicker to shape and far more forgiving of a Saturday-night stand-in.
Takeaway and delivery
A Neapolitan pizza shut in a box goes limp within ten minutes: the wet centre steams. A crisp Roman base is still decent after fifteen. Neapolitan places that deliver tend to cap their radius or use vented boxes. If most of your takings leave by moped, this outweighs your personal taste.
The style you choose is also your positioning, and delivery apps flatten it — every pizza gets the same thumbnail. "Wood-fired Neapolitan" or "crisp Roman" should be obvious on your own site, with your own photos.
Can you offer both?
Only if the oven allows it: two decks, one at 300 °C and one at 450 °C, or two ovens. On a single floor, choose. Two doughs also mean two mixes, two sets of dough trays and two techniques to train. For most sites one style done properly beats two done approximately.
FAQ
Is there oil in Neapolitan pizza dough?
No. The AVPN specification allows only flour, water, salt and yeast; olive oil goes on top. Roman dough does contain oil, which is part of what makes it crisp.
Can I make Neapolitan pizza in an electric oven?
Only if the floor reaches 430 °C or more. A standard electric deck at 300–350 °C makes a good pizza, but not a Neapolitan one, and the bake takes 3–4 minutes.
Is pizza al taglio Roman pizza?
Yes, but a different product: high-hydration dough baked in a tray and sold by weight. The round, thin Roman pizza is the tonda.