Pizza Hot From the Oven

Neapolitan pizza is the yardstick by which all other pizzas are measured–at least any pizzas worth their crust.

And speaking of crust, Christian Bowers, proprietor and head pizza-slinger of Bola Pizza Mobile Wood Fired Oven Catering in Austin, Texas, says the crust makes the pie.

He’s a huge fan of the iconic Southern Italian staple, and spent three years developing the dough  he uses in his catering business–feeding untold numbers of friends his pizza creations, and getting their feedback before he was satisfied he had something special.

Not that you will see his secret recipe here, of course. Sorry. Christian did, however, provide us with another dough recipe that’s simple and will still turn out a nice pie.

While the pizza pies Christian prepares using his dough recipe are inspired by the real McCoy, they’re not strictly Neapolitan.

Neapolitan pizza is serious business. In 2009, the European Union gave Pizza Napoletana a “Traditional Speciality Guaranteed” (TSG) designation, which means if you want to call your pizza Neapolitan, it must adhere to a strict ingredient list and preparation method.

The TSG designation even dictates the appropriate color and number of scorch marks created on the crust during cooking. I get it, but that’s just a little uptight for me.

You can still make a great Neapolitan style pie without all the pressure to adhere to rules and regulations by using the dough recipe below. And if you cover it with this San Marzano Tomato Sauce, a few hunks of mozzarella, and a few leaves of fresh basil, you’ve got the makings of a pizza party in your mouth.

Christian Bowers’ Quick Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur All-Purpose Unbleached Flour
• 1 packet Fleischmann’s RapidRise Highly Active Yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm filtered tap water
• 3 tsp fine sea salt

Preparation

1. Turn oven on to 550 (or as high as it will go) and hour or more before you want to make pizza.
2. Mix ingredients into a soft sticky ball and let it sit for 15 minutes to let the flour soak up the flour.
3. Then, knead for 5 minutes.
4. Divide into 2 to 4 balls (depending on how big you want your pizzas) and cover each for 1 hour. In that time, they should double in size. Roll out thin, or stretch by hand.
5. Put the stretched dough on a pizza screen and top with minimal ingredients.
6. Cook on a rack placed about two thirds of the way up in the oven for around 7 – 8 minutes.
7. Use a  pizza cutter to cut each pie into 6 to 8 slices and enjoy.