There are few countries in the world that haven’t adopted some form of pizza, and fewer still where people wouldn’t appreciate a good pizza. In it’s origins, everyone knows a real pizza is from Italy, Naples to be exact. When it comes to Verace Pizza Napoletana, or certified Neapolitan pizza, there are some rules you should know about. First of all, there are only 3 official varieties to choose from: the Marinara, the Margherita and the Margherita extra. Pizza Marinara is the most simple and is made with tomato, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and oregano… that’s right, no cheese. Pizza Margherita brings in juicy slices of mozzarella atop a base of fresh tomato and extra virgin olive oil, replacing the oregano of pizza Marinara in favor of basil. As for pizza Margherita extra, it’s a pizza Margherita but the cheese used must be Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, made from the milk of water buffalo.
Rules also dictate dough ingredients, the weight of a dough ball, that the pizza must be shaped by hand, how thick it can be, cooking temperature, cooking time (50-80 seconds), and that it MUST be cooked in a traditional wood-burning oven. Even if all of the regulations for making a pizza are followed, the final product still has standards to meet in order to be certified by the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana. Although extreme, these rules do an excellent job of preserving tradition, maintaining standards of quality and, above all, ensuring that you get a fresh pizza, literally made to order and baked on the spot.