Pizza Today - March 2017 - 54

politan pizza and its tradition, but their
communities don't want it."
The biggest problem customers have
with Neapolitan pizza is a direct result of
the style's strict rules. Pizzas are required
to bake at a high temperature (905 F) for
an extremely short amount of time (60 to
90 seconds), so pizzas are often slightly
wet in the center. This isn't an issue in
Naples, where each pizza is served uncut
to a single person. The problems occur
when these personal pies are cut into
slices, which have trouble holding the
weight and moisture of their toppings.
There's one thing Neapolitan pizza lacks
that Americans love: stability.
Enter the NEOpolitan pizza.
Customers "want (their pizza) to look

Another method is baking pizzas for
a longer time at a lower temperature
than their Neapolitan counterparts.
David Sheridan taught himself to bake
pizza in a wood-fired oven he built in
his Brooklyn backyard, but opted for an
electric oven when he opened Wheated in
2012. "The texture I get from a three- to
four-minute bake at 700 degrees is more
dependable than the super-fast bake I
was getting from the wood-fired oven,"
says Sheridan, who prefers "not feeling
chained by any tradition."
Sales of medium-temp ovens indicate
that America's penchant for NEOpolitan
pizza is clearly on the rise. Anthony Pilla,
head of business development for oven
company Marra Forni, says that gas-fired
ovens accounted for 75 percent of the
company's sales last year. Lower temperature and easier operation make gas-fired a
great tool for this user-friendly version of
the Italian original.
Wood Stone, an open-hearth oven
producer, began as a wood-fired oven
company but now sells far more gas-fired
ovens. Wood Stone's corporate chef, Michael Brockman, has personally witnessed
pizzerias' conversion from strict Neapolitan to the sturdier NEOpolitan. "A lot of
our clients started making Neapolitan but

ditched the sub two-minute bake because
their customers wanted crunch."
"It can still be good, but it's not Neapolitan," says APN Americas president
Roberto Caporuscio, of pizzas baked at
temperatures lower than the Neapolitan
requirements. The AVPN, on the other
hand, recently added a special provision
for gas-fired ovens to their certification
options. Caporuscio also points out that
the texture of a pizza's base is not only
dependent on the time and temperature
of the bake, but also on how the dough
was handled. "Neapolitan pizza requires
a soft and gentle stretch" to maintain
gas retention in the dough. Aggressive
methods like hand tossing and rolling
pins result in a denser product, which may
be preferable to some customers.
The terms NEOpolitan, neo-Neapolitan, American Artisan and neo Classica
do not identify an intentional style, but
describe a larger genre that's distinct
from Neapolitan pizza. In a sense, they
employ the same adaptations that took
place when pizza first came to the United
States. n

Neapolitan, but they're American, so they
want crunch," says Anthony Falco, former
pizza czar at Roberta's Pizza in Brooklyn.
Their individual 12-inch pies are baked in
a wood-fired oven with carefully selected
toppings, but they do not conform to the
demands of the Neapolitan playbook.
"Everyone wants higher-quality products
and better food experiences, but NeaSCOTT WIENER is the founder of Scott's
politan pizza doesn't make sense to (all)
Pizza Tours in New York City and
Americans." Falco describes the pizza
SliceOutHunger.org.
at Roberta's as "American pizza using
Italian techniques."
If Neapolitan pizza
The Official Journal of the European Union requires an extremely strict set of standards for Pizza Napoletana
is the springboard,
STG. This chart demonstrates the level of necessity for Neapolitan pizza as compared to the common characteristics
NEOpolitan pizza is
of NEOpolitan pizza based on the STG guidelines.
the landing pad.
NEOpolitan pizza
Neapolitan
NEOpolitan
makers use several
Diameter
13.8 inches max
~12 inches
methods to achieve
Thickness
Raised rim
Raised or flat rim
a sturdier base, each
of which violates the
Dough Weight
180 - 250 g
~275 g
Neapolitan pizza
May include add. ingredients
Dough Ingredients
ONLY flour, salt, water, yeast
code. One is blendOven
Requires wood-fired oven
Any oven
ing traditional soft
Temperature
Oven floor ~905 F
Oven floor 700 to 800 F
Italian flour with
strong American
Tomatoes
Whole peeled plum tomatoes
Any tomato product
flour. Roberta's blends
Sauce Preparation
Salted, uncooked
Any preparation
Caputo's "00" PizFresh cows' milk or buffalo mozz
Any cheese
Cheese
zeria flour with King
Bake Time
60 to 90 seconds
Usually over 120 seconds
Arthur's Sir Galahad
to achieve a crust that
Stretch Method
Gentle extension
Any method
doesn't flop.

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Pizza Today - March 2017

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