- Moin and guten Tag.
In this video I'll be showing you
three different techniques to make amazing
Neapolitan pizza at home,
using a cast iron like this.
I was surprised.
Have a look at how
incredible this turned out.
(Italian opera music)
Delicious, right?
Now let me show you step
by step how I got there.
Some background on this video.
In the previous video, I was
showing how to make pizza
on a steel, a stone, and
then a custom pizza oven.
I'm going to be linking
that video right here,
and also in the description.
Now, then one of you suggested
that I should also try
making Neapolitan pizza
using a cast iron.
And the idea sounded very promising.
Using a steel and a stone,
you don't get that proper
charring from the bottom.
Plus the edge was also
a little bit too crispy.
The idea with the cast
iron is to cook the pizza
a little bit on the stove,
and then transfer it to the oven.
So yes, I had to try this right away,
and oh boy, the pizza was
really really really good.
I did three iterations in
total and improved my technique
step by step, and I will
show you exactly what I did
in this video.
Now I'm not going to show
you how to make the dough
in this video.
I made a full tutorial on this before
which I'll be linking right here.
This video will just focus
on the actual baking process.
Let's get started with iteration one.
So my idea was to place
the pizza in the cast iron,
char it on the stove
until I have a nice color
from the bottom, and then
take that whole cast iron
and transfer it into the pre-heated oven,
as close to the broiler grid as possible.
I will then remove the pizza from the oven
the moment that I see
that the edge of the pizza
has a nice dark color.
I started by making the pizza balls.
I made them weigh a little less.
Normally I would go for
250 grams overall weight,
but in this case, I opted
for around 200 grams
per pizza ball.
A common problem when
cooking with a cast iron
is that things are just sticking to it.
I did some research,
and what works very well
is a little bit of olive
oil, paired with some
semolina flour.
Place the olive oil and
then the semolina flour,
and make sure to spread that
evenly across the cast iron.
I took the measurements of the cast iron
because I wanted to enjoy
this very satisfying moment
of my pizza pie fitting perfectly well
into the cast iron.
Then I just started shaping my pizza pie
the way I always do it.
This method is very easy
and you can do it at home.
It's probably not the fastest,
but this one always gives great results.
I don't wanna waste your time too much,
that's why I'm not showing it completely,
but feel free to check out the full video
that I linked before.
I took measurements on the way,
making sure that my pizza
pie isn't too large.
I then proceeded and placed the pizza pie
in the oiled and semolina flour cast iron.
Just like with a peel, you
can adjust the final pie
a little bit, just be very gentle.
I made sure that the pie
covered all the edges
of the cast iron.
It was a little bit of
work, but it was okay.
Also, I did not preheat the cast iron,
so that also made it a little bit easier.
On my next iteration I
would already make sure
that I made the center of the
dough a little bit thicker,
because yeah, I just overdid
it a little bit too much.
You can see right through the dough here.
And I also had to stitch it at some point.
I added my tomato sauce,
spread it out in a spiraling movement.
Then I added my mozzarella,
in this case no buffalo mozzarella,
regular mozzarella, fior di latte.
I proceeded and added the basil.
I always add a little bit
of basil before the bake
and a little bit of basil after the bake.
This gives you this mix
of different tastes,
a little bit charred basil,
and then the fresh basil.
Excellent.
And then I covered this
up with some olive oil,
applying it in a spiraling movement.
I preheated my stove to the maximum,
and placed the cast iron on top of it.
I made sure to rotate the
cast iron every 30 seconds.
This way you will get that
delicious charred bottom.
After around three minutes,
but this depends on your stove,
you have to experiment on
this value for yourself,
I took the full pizza and transferred it
to my pre-heated oven.
In this case, I'm having a stone,
but you could just definitely
also be using a tray.
I made sure that the broiler
function was activated.
When the crust had the desired color,
I removed the pizza from the oven,
and look at it still sizzling!
(chuckles)
Now comes the epic test.
Is this going to come
out of the cast iron?
That's always so tricky.
And, and, and ... please ...
Yes!
(chuckles)
Nice!
I'm finishing this up with
a little bit of fresh basil,
as you should always do,
and then it's ready to be eaten.
Delicious pizza.
And the bottom of the pizza, mmm.
Nice charring, maybe
a little bit too much.
And this brings us to iteration two.
I wanted to improve the
amount of tomato sauce
and olive oil I added.
It was definitely a little bit too much,
it was pretty much leaking already.
Also, the cheese melted
a little bit too much,
not typical for a Neapolitan style pizza.
So this time I'm going
to be adding the cheese
a little bit later.
I will char everything on the stove,
and when that is ready,
only then I will be adding the mozzarella.
Furthermore, I also overdid
the charring a little bit,
or at least I did not
rotate the cast iron enough.
So this time I will be
placing the cast iron
closer to the edge of the stove,
and rotate the cast iron more,
to make sure that I have more
spreaded charring everywhere.
So yes, a little bit less
tomato sauce this time.
Just like on iteration one,
I will be adding a little
bit of basil before the bake,
and a little bit of basil after the bake.
I'm being a little more careful about
the amount of olive oil
that I'm adding this time.
I'm placing the cast iron
closer to the edge of the stove,
making sure I have even
charring everywhere.
Then afterwards, I proceeded
with adding the mozzarella.
This way the mozzarella does not melt.
I only want the mozzarella
to melt in the oven.
This dough is already
looking so incredibly good,
perfect dough so far.
I'm just hoping this is
going to turn out amazing
in the oven.
Let's see.
Back to the preheated
oven, close to the broiler.
And are you ready for it?
Drum roll.
(gasps)
Beautiful!
(chuckles)
The cheese looks so much better.
Let's just finish this
off with a little bit of
fresh basil and then
it's ready to be eaten.
Perfect!
(Italian opera music)
For iteration three, there
wasn't really that much
to improve because iteration
two was already amazing.
However, I overdid
charring on iteration one,
but on iteration two,
I didn't do it as much,
it could have been 30
seconds or a minute more.
So that's what I'm going to fix.
Furthermore, I also still didn't have
that nice leopard pattern that's typical
for a Neapolitan style pizza.
So for that I have a small blowtorch
which I'm going to use to add
that leopard style branding.
Instead of three minutes
I opted for four minutes,
making sure that the
bottom is properly charred.
Then I used the blowtorch
to sear the edge of
the pizza a little bit,
hoping to create that leopard pattern.
(Italian opera music)
I was really surprised how
well this pizza turned out.
The cast iron method definitely won over
the pizza steel and the stone.
The bottom of the pizza was truly amazing.
The dough was very soft, exactly
the way how it should be.
I would say that iteration
two and iteration three
in this video have been equally as good.
The blowtorch added a little
bit of additional flavor.
But I personally couldn't
notice it that much.
Plus, you also have to buy another tool.
However, from a visual perspective,
it definitely came closer to
the original Neapolitan pizza.
Give it a shot yourself,
and let me know how
this works out for you.
Side note, sorry for
focusing so much on pizza
in my recent videos.
It's been my personal
passion for a long time.
Plus, I have really
exciting news to announce.
I will be going to Naples
soon, Naples in Italy,
and I will be interviewing
a famous pizzaiolo.
Pizzaiolo is the person that makes pizza
on a day to day basis.
I wanted to make sure that I
refreshed my pizza knowledge
a little bit so that I don't
look like a complete idiot.
Now, if you have questions
that you always wanted to ask
a pizzaiolo, now is
the moment to ask them.
Please drop a comment
in the comments section.
I will be asking the top questions.
Anyways, thank you very much for watching.
Thank you for all the amazing comments.
They challenge me all the time,
that's a great way to become better.
Thanks for answering
all the other comments
when I'm a little bit too
lazy and too late, and yeah.
Thanks for all the support.
You are all amazing.
Happy baking, and may
the gluten be with you.
This is quite-
(chuckles)
Quite heavy.
(chuckles)
