Olive oil for pizza – in the dough, on the pizza or afterwards
AVPN specifies 6–8 grams of olive oil per pizza, and never in the dough. Why that is, what the oil does in the oven and when to add it for the most flavour.
Quick answer: AVPN specifies 6–8 grams of olive oil per pizza – and it must never go in the dough. Fat breaks down the gluten network and is explicitly forbidden in Neapolitan dough; the oil belongs on top, before or straight after baking.
Why not in the dough
Fat molecules settle around the gluten strands and stop them forming a continuous network – exactly what the AVPN disciplinare wants to avoid in a dough that has to hold its shape through a long fermentation. See Neapolitan pizza dough for the full list of what is and isn’t allowed.
Where the oil actually earns its place
A splash of extra virgin olive oil before baking adds flavour and helps the crust brown lightly; a splash straight after baking lifts the aroma without it being burnt off by the heat. Some recipes, such as marinara and mastunicola, build almost their entire flavour around a good olive oil, because there is no cheese to soften it.
Read more about the order of toppings in topping order.
