Simple Neapolitan Pizza - in Our Fireplace!

We love pizza. In fact we have an ongoing joke in our family about pizza. I'm sure you've heard it.

I love pizza! Really? If you love it so much, why don't you marry it? I will, and I'll invite all of her relatives so I can eat them.

We have worked hard to make a pizza that is delicious, simple (we're busy, we work, we have kids, we love pizza and we want it often, even if we are tired...but we want it to be the best) and catered to everyone in our family.

We have fallen in love with the Neapolitan Pizza. Interested in knowing more about Neapolitan Pizza? Here is a simple link to learn more of the origins. Again, we often want pizza after a day of hard work, so we have searched good, simple, somewhat prepared ingredients that are found in our local grocery stores.

What makes this pizza the best? We bake it in minutes in our our fireplace! Yes, that's it! Wood fired, indoor, done in minutes. It is simply one of the best!

Supplies

Pizza Dough - yes, you can make your own, but we have found this dough to be great! One dough bag makes two!

Sauce - pick what suits you, we have a couple favorites and one is an organic one, found here.

Cheese - this is important!! You need a few! Fresh Mozzarella, Havarti and Smoked Gouda are our favorites

Toppings - The best part is you get to pick your own. This recipe makes individual pizzas, so everyone gets their own!

Olive Oil - We like ours soaked in flavor. For those of you who know Horrocks, we love infused olive oils from there!

Dried or Fresh Basil

and Flour or Corn Meal for surface preparation

Other Items: Pizza Peel, Pizza Cutter, Pizza Stone & an Enclosed Fire

Step 1: Prep Your Toppings!

Again, one of the many great things about this pizza is being able to individualize. It's easiest to prepare your toppings ahead of time. We particularly enjoy spinach, pepperoni, mushroom, bacon, and anchovies.

Slice your cheese ahead of time. We use a cheese knife and slice as thin as possible. This cooks quickly, bubbles up and has great flavor. The variety of cheeses really bring out the flavor of the entire pizza, so make sure you use them!

For those in our family who like sausage, we cook up a pound of mild natural sausage in a cast iron skillet. We allow for it to remain pink inside, as the pizza grilling will finish off the cooking process and leave some delicious flavorful oils on your pizza. We freeze the rest in individual containers and pull them out, ready to go for future pizzas.

Step 2: Prep Your Dough!

This took some mastering, and once we did (okay well, once Gregg did), it became a whole lot easier. No rolling pin necessary!

We've given you a time lapse video to help in the process.

It helps incredibly to use a pastry surface that is lightly floured.

Cut your dough (if using our recommended brand) in half, flour and then press out! Ensure it is room temperature, press into a small circle and slowly work it into the size you prefer (refer to video!).

Remember it doesn't have to be a perfect circle AND keep it personal. We press crust out for our pre-teen who doesn't like crust, and we make a slightly smaller pizza for the youngest in our family. The sizes we work to make are between 8x8 to 9x11.

This does take the longest to get used to! I remember pressing dough out pregnant with a rolling pin, flour every where. Since, the man of the house has mastered it!

Step 3: Make Your Pizza!

Spoon the sauce on, add your cheese and top with your yummy choices.

Sauce doesn't have to be thick.

Cheese is not loaded! Check the picture out, you can see sauce in between the cheese. We love cheese, but you are using flavorful, strong cheese, you need nothing more than you see!

Once complete, add basil and olive oil.

Step 4: Baking!

This is a wood fire place, rated as a stove. We have inserted a grill and bake our pizza on a pizza stone.

The fire is small but hot!

Just slide that pizza onto your peel and put it on the heated stone in the fire place. Let it bake for a couple of minutes or two, turn it a few times and take it out when crust is done and cheese is bubbly!

This is by far the easiest way to make a gourmet Neapolitan Pizza!