Tomato and mozzarella for Neapolitan pizza

The short answer

For Neapolitan pizza the sauce is raw: peeled tomatoes crushed by hand and salted at 1 % of their weight. The base cheese is fior di latte, cut and drained in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours, which bakes on the pizza. More delicate or wetter cheeses, such as bufala, burrata, stracciatella and bocconcini, are better added once the pizza leaves the oven.

Tomato sauce

Peeled tomatoes, nothing else

The base of a pizza rossa is canned peeled tomatoes. They give a better result than most sauces on the market, whether pulp or ready-made pizza sauce.

Two varieties set the standard:

• San Marzano, grown in the Naples area under a protected designation (DOP). Its taste is far more intense than an ordinary peeled tomato. It is the tomato for simple pizzas where it plays the lead, such as the margherita or the marinara. It is expensive and less worthwhile on heavily topped pizzas.
• Datterini, small tomatoes elongated like dates, red or yellow. The yellow ones make a margherita with an unexpected colour.

A good ordinary peeled tomato remains an excellent choice, especially for a classic pizza.

Raw and crushed by hand

1. Crush the tomatoes by hand in a bowl. A blender bursts the tomato; at most, give them a very light pass through a food mill.
2. Remove any remaining skins.
3. Salt, then taste.
4. If you like, add 2 or 3 basil leaves.

Salt at 1 %

Salt is calculated on the total weight of sauce: 1 g per 100 g, so 10 g per kilo or 25 g for a 2.5 kg can. If you prefer a milder sauce, go down to 0.8 g per 100 g, the amount I like best.

The tomato sauce salt calculator works it out for any weight.

Mozzarella and stretched-curd cheeses

Mozzarella quality is first a matter of freshness: its effect on taste is huge. Real mozzarella keeps only a short time, and it is also a frequently counterfeited product; check where it comes from and what labels it carries.

Fior di latte

This is the mozzarella of Neapolitan pizza and the base of most of my pizzas, baked on the pizza. The name means cow's milk mozzarella, as opposed to the original mozzarella made from buffalo milk. Its advantage: it releases relatively little water and milk, so the pizza does not come out soggy. Cut it 2 to 3 hours before service and leave it in a colander in the fridge: it sheds a little milk and is perfect for baking.

Mozzarella di bufala

Made from buffalo milk, full of flavour and more expensive. Its drawback: it releases a great deal of liquid. So I prefer it after baking. If you bake it, cut it in advance and drain it in the fridge for at least 2 to 3 hours; for a really dry bufala, allow about twelve hours, pressing it gently in a cloth. For authenticity, look for the DOP label.

Provola and scamorza

Provola is smoked fior di latte. It seasons the pizza naturally and pairs very well with vegetarian toppings. It is usually baked; in Naples it is also served fresh, when its heart is still very creamy.

Scamorza, aged from two weeks to a month, is drier than provola and, in its smoked version, smokier. It releases no liquid and has a strong taste, which makes it a very good base for a white pizza.

Burrata, stracciatella, bocconcini

Burrata is not technically a mozzarella: it is a pouch of cow's milk mozzarella filled with cream. Too rich for the oven, it goes on after baking, often opened into four. A whole 125 g piece is a lot for one pizza: go for 60 to 100 g formats. Stracciatella, its creamy heart, lets you portion more precisely. Bocconcini, mini mozzarellas, also go on after baking.

Pecorino romano and parmesan

A grated cheese seasons the pizza and deepens its flavour. Pecorino romano is finer in texture and taste than parmesan, and it is the one Italians use most often. On a margherita it goes on before baking; on a pizza such as the cosacca, tomato and pecorino, it is added afterwards.

Mozzarella as a heat shield

Some ingredients cannot take the oven: basil burns. Others do not have time to cook, such as onions or minced meat, which need precooking. For delicate ingredients that do not need cooking, I use the mozzarella as protection:

1. spread the tomato sauce over the base;
2. lay on the basil leaves, or the sensitive ingredients (ham, mushrooms);
3. cover them with fior di latte, then a layer of pecorino.

The mozzarella melts over the top, warms what it covers and shields it from burning. When you eat it, the basil keeps all its fragrance. The same principle works for salad leaves. For the bake itself, see baking Neapolitan pizza.