Traditional or contemporary Neapolitan pizza

Two pizzas, one family

Traditional Neapolitan pizza follows a strict specification that pins down everything: the flour, the diameter, how the protocol unfolds. Contemporary Neapolitan pizza came out of Naples pizzerias that changed the way the dough is made. The chemistry is the same; what differs is how the dough is built and, above all, a much higher hydration.

In short: traditional is a direct dough at 60 % hydration, baked in 60 to 90 seconds at 430–480 °C (806–896 °F). Contemporary goes up to 65–75 %, uses stronger flour and bakes in 90 to 110 seconds, for a more developed cornicione.

The comparison at a glance

Flour: more strength for the contemporary style

Traditional dough is happy with a medium-strength flour, W 250 to 290, in Tipo 00 or 0 (or their French equivalents T45, T55, even T65). Contemporary dough goes up to W 270 to 330, with a balanced P/L of 0.5 to 0.6. The reason is mechanical: a wetter dough and longer rests need gluten that can hold more water and more gas.

For contemporary pizza I stay with white flour, Tipo 00 or Tipo 0, which gives the best balance between strength and extensibility. A share of semi-wholemeal flour is possible, but its extra flavour is hard to detect on a pizza this thin and this quickly baked. Flavour comes first from fermentation and the bake. The indicators are explained in flour: W, P/L and ash.

Hydration, the real dividing line

At 60 %, traditional dough takes up its water without difficulty: any 00 flour absorbs that much straight away. It is also what makes such a short bake possible. In the oven, the water in the dough evaporates on contact with the floor: the more water there is, the more time the pizza needs to bake.

Contemporary dough accepts that trade-off to get a puffier, airier rim. It sits at 65–70 % direct and 70–75 % indirect. No higher: with a bake of under two minutes, excessive hydration becomes a risk for the bake rather than an advantage. To see how a preferment fits into these numbers, read direct or indirect.

Salt, yeast, oil, malt

Salt stays in the same zone: 2.5 % in both my protocols, with a range of 2 to 3 % for contemporary dough. My advice is to stay between 2 and 2.5 %. Fresh yeast is 0.3 % for traditional dough and 0.2 to 0.3 % for contemporary.

Neither style uses oil. Malt appears only in indirect contemporary dough: the biga’s long fermentation uses up some of the sugars, and malt puts them back at the final mix.

Dough ball and diameter

For a traditional pizza of 30 to 33 cm, I recommend a 200 to 220 g dough ball. Contemporary pizza needs more dough for a similar diameter: 240 to 265 g for a direct dough at 28 to 33 cm, and with biga 250–255 g for 30 cm, 260–265 g for 33 cm. Getting the diameter-to-weight pairing right optimises the bake and keeps the pizza light. The dough ball weight calculator will help you find it.

The bake

Traditional pizza bakes in a wood, gas or electric oven at 430–480 °C (806–896 °F) for 60 to 90 seconds. Contemporary pizza bakes a little cooler and longer: 400–450 °C (752–842 °F) for 90 to 110 seconds, and around 400 °C (752 °F) for 100 to 110 seconds for a wetter biga dough. Every type of oven works, and most of the heat comes from the dome.

Oven settings are covered in baking Neapolitan pizza.

Cornicione and structure

The contemporary style is defined by a balanced rise of the rim, for a light, airy texture. That takes gluten with two sides to it:

• extensible enough to open quickly and easily;
• strong enough for the cornicione to develop.

Too strong, and the dough fights back when stretched, stays dense at the rim and lacks lightness. Too extensible, and it stretches too easily, tears while opening or in the oven, and fails to rise. Higher hydration and, where used, biga, which favours gas development, are the two levers that give the contemporary style its more pronounced cornicione.

The fridge debate in traditional pizza

The regulations for traditional Neapolitan pizza cite a fermentation temperature of 23 °C (73 °F). Yet the same text recommends fermentation chambers with controlled temperature and humidity to keep the product consistent across the seasons, without saying what temperature to set them to.

My position is clear: today, especially in a professional setting, working without cold is unthinkable. Temperature is above all a dough-management parameter. My traditional protocol is therefore a 24-hour direct dough: a short bulk fermentation of 30 to 60 minutes at 20–24 °C (68–75 °F), then a 24-hour final proof in the fridge at 5–6 °C (41–43 °F), and 30 minutes to 2 hours to come back up to temperature before stretching. Managing it in the cold in no way stops you getting a correct, authentic pizza.