The 25th bread in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge is Pizza Napoletana. 

I love making pizza! I’ve been really psyched about trying this one.  I agree with Peter Reinhart’s contention that it is the crust, not the toppings, that make a good pizza.  For some time now, I’ve been on a quest to find Pizza Nirvana, and I do believe this pizza crust has earned a place on my list of favorites.

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Edited 10/15/2014: I revisited this pizza dough and adapted the formula to include 10% whole wheat and less salt and yeast.  Click here http://www.breadexperience.com/pizza-napoletana-style-pizza-dough/ to view the adapted formula. 

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Some of my other favorite pizzas are: Bread Machine Deep Dish Pizza prepared in a bread machine and baked in a La Cloche, No Knead Deep Dish Pizza made with a mixture of all-purpose and Semolina flours and baked in a 9″ x 13″ pan, and Brick Oven-Style Pizza made with a poolish and baked on a baking stone.

According to Peter Reinhart, “the single biggest flaw in most pizza dough recipes is the failure to instruct the maker to allow the dough to rest overnight in the refrigerator.  This gives the enzymes time to go to work, pulling out subtle flavor trapped in the starch.  The long rest also relaxes the gluten, allowing you to shape the dough easily, minimizing the elastic springiness that so often forces you to squeeze out all the gas.” 

This Pizza Napoletana, from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, is similar to brick oven pizza in that it utilizes a poolish but it seems to have a smoky flavor.  Or, maybe it’s because I rolled the dough too thin and it got a little burnt on the bottom. I don’t know, but it sure was good!   All I know is that pizzas made with a poolish are so much better that there really is no comparison. I really liked this pizza and so did my taste tester.

Thanks for joining us this week in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge!  And, a big thanks to Nicole at Pinch My Salt for getting us started on this journey.  We’re learning a lot and having loads of fun!

The next bread in Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, is Poolish Baguettes.