Neapolitan pizza at home – the whole process from dough to plate
One joined-up guide through the whole process: dough, fermentation, sauce, stretching and baking, with a timeline for a wood-fired oven and a home oven.
Quick answer: Dough, fermentation, sauce, stretching and baking in one continuous process – with separate timelines for a wood-fired oven and an ordinary home oven. This page ties the whole process together; each step has its own deep dive if you want the details.
Steps 1–2: the dough and the fermentation
Start from the house recipe in Neapolitan pizza dough: 65 % hydration, 2.8 % salt, 48 hours of cold fermentation. If you don’t have time for that, see the shorter alternatives in room-temperature fermentation or quick pizza dough. The dough calculator works out exact quantities for your timeline.
Step 3: the sauce
Crushed tomatoes and salt, never cooked – the full method is in tomato sauce, with the ingredient guide in tomatoes for pizza.
Step 4: stretching
By hand, never with a rolling pin – press out from the centre towards the rim as described in stretching, then get it into the oven quickly as described in launching.
Step 5: baking – two tracks
Wood-fired or gas oven (450–485 °C / 840–905 °F): 60–90 seconds with turning as described in turning the pizza; see the full table in baking temperature. Ordinary home oven (250–300 °C / 480–570 °F): 4–12 minutes on a stone or steel as described in pizza in a home oven – plus a slightly adjusted dough from dough for 250 °C if you go that way.
Topping and finishing
Keep it classic the first time: margherita or marinara. Choosing cheese and how much: mozzarella. If you have never done this before, start instead with your first pizza for a simpler, more beginner-friendly walkthrough of the same steps.