Pizza might be fast and relatively easy to cook but making one from scratch takes skill and time.
So here, I will share with you how to knead Neapolitan pizza dough yourself.
Neapolitan pizza is the standard of authentic pizzas.
It is crispy, thin, light, and healthy, which means that you can eat a lot of it without having to worry about your weight or your health.
You can make the best pizza by ensuring that you have the right ingredients and know-how to process them properly.
It is quite simple once you know all the things you need to do.
However, that is the trick, you need to make sure that you know all the things, ingredients, and skills to make the pizza.
This takes some practice but you will become better at it every time.
The most important part of the pizza is the crust as it holds the rest of the ingredients.
You can also mess up the whole pizza with a bad crust as you can do little to fix a soggy and wet crust.
So for you to make the best pizza at home, we will be talking about the dough you use, the process, and how to knead and shape it properly to create the best Neapolitan pizza.
Table of Contents
How Do You Knead Dough By Hand?
Pizza dough is quite sticky compared to other types of dough made for other baked goods.
That is why there is a specific way to knead and process it to rise and become good.
When you are making Neapolitan pizza dough, you of course need to mix the ingredients first.
There are different types of pizza dough and kneading pizza dough depends on the specific type. So, How long do I knead Neapolitan pizza dough? You might have to do that for long.
You will also need to learn how do you need Neapolitan pizza dough to get the right consistency.
There are only a few ingredients used for pizza dough as you will need to make it simple yet crispy.
So mix your Caputo flour, yeast, salt, and water in a bowl. You can also use a stand mixer to do the job easier, but make sure you use just the right speed so the dough is not over-kneaded.
If you want to mix all the ingredients by hand, we have the perfect guide for you.
There are two processes needed to knead the pizza dough before you can use or cook it.
The best way to mix and knead the pizza dough by hand is to put the flour on the work surface.
That way, you will not need to add more flour when kneading as it may affect the consistency of the dough.
Once you put the flour on the work surface, create a well in the middle and activate the yeast.
Put the yeast in warm water and mix it well with a spoon before resting for 5 minutes.
Mix the salt with the flour before you put the water and yeast into the mix.
Mix them all with your hands by slowly incorporating the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Once all the ingredients form a homogeneous ball, start kneading the dough with your hands. This is the best way to knead pizza dough but the easiest way to knead pizza dough is with a mixer.
Place one hand on the edge of the dough and then pull the dough with the other hand’s heel away from you.
This is a very simple kneading technique that you should know about.
Roll or fold the dough with your hands and repeat the process. Kneading the dough can be done by hand or with a stand mixer, but I personally prefer kneading the dough by hand.
The best way to knead pizza dough is a tiring process so you need to stretch your arms before kneading the dough as it will take some time.
If you choose to knead the pizza dough in the best way to need the pizza dough or by hand, then make sure that you do it for at least 10 minutes.
To know whether the dough is good enough, grab a little piece of dough and then stretch it.
The dough should extend a lot to allow light to pass through but it should not easily rip apart.
Place the kneaded dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp cloth, and then allow it to rise.
After letting it rise, repeat the kneading process a few more times and then shape it to the desired size.
You need to knead pizza dough before and after rising to help you get to the right consistency. If you knead pizza dough before and after rising, you will have better results when stretching it.
Do You Have To Knead Pizza Dough?
Pizza dough is important to make the pizza have a great crust. It is absolutely necessary to knead pizza dough before and after rising to get to the right stretchiness and strength.
You have to knead pizza dough to activate the protein inside the flour and expand further in the process.
The gluten inside the pizza dough needs to be activated for you to shape the pizza dough easily. This can be attained no matter what kneading technique you choose to use.
Gluten is an elastic network that forms when the protein inside the flour is further activated by kneading and rising.
The important thing is not overwork the dough or the gluten will exhaust all its energy making the dough less elastic.
The dough will easily rip apart if you overwork the dough by kneading the dough.
By kneading the dough, you will be making it more manageable. This depends on how long to knead pizza in mixer.
It will be easier for you to shape the dough into the size of pizza that you want plus it will also become crispier when baked. The kneading technique you use will affect this process.
If you use the kneading technique where you use your hands, the pizza dough will be a bit easier to stretch as you get to more evenly distribute the ingredients within it.
So yes, you do need to knead the pizza dough, or else it will not rise as much as you want it to.
Just be careful not to overwork or under-knead the dough during the kneading process.
How Long Do You Knead Pizza Dough By Hand?
While some would suggest that you knead the dough for only 6 minutes, I recommend going longer.
Remember, kneading the dough is supposed to be tiring to make the gluten work.
Kneading the dough using a stand mixer or a machine would take only around 4-6 minutes especially if the speed of the mixer is fast.
However, you need to knead longer if you use your hands. How long do I knead Neapolitan pizza dough also depends on the flour that you use.
If you are kneading the dough by hand, you will have to knead it for at least 10 minutes.
By this time, your hands will start to cramp up, but that is a good sign that you are kneading properly. This will also happen when you experience how do you knead Neapolitan pizza dough.
By this time, your hands will start to cramp up, but that is a good sign that you are kneading properly.
You can even go for 15 minutes but make sure not to knead any longer than that or else, the dough will become overworked.
Use the windowpane test after 12 minutes of kneading. How long to knead pizza dough in mixer also takes around this time or sometimes less.
If you follow the proper way of kneading pizza dough by hand, then the process of kneading should not take longer than 12 minutes
How Do You Know When You’ve Kneaded The Dough Enough?
Aside from the time you have kneaded the dough, there are other ways to tell if the dough is kneaded enough.
You can perform tests to see if you kneaded the dough right.
This is important for how do you knead a Neapolitan pizza dough since it needs to be thin and crispy when cooked.
Starting with the timer, you will most likely have kneaded the dough enough after 12 minutes.
This is a lousy way to know that but more often than not, this method works just as well.
If you think you have kneaded the dough enough, grab a small piece of the dough and then stretch it out using your thumbs and index fingers to perform the windowpane test.
The windowpane test is a way to determine whether the dough is kneaded enough or not.
The stretched-out dough should be a little translucent and allow light to pass through without it tearing.
If it tears apart, then the dough needs to be kneaded more.
You can also create a ball with the dough and test it by pressing the center with your finger and see if the dent comes back.
If the dent you made on the dough returns to its original shape, then the dough is good to go.
If you feel tired of kneading the dough, that is also a way of saying that the dough is kneaded enough.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below and I would be happy to help.
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