4 pizzas
Romana
- Hydration
- 65%
- Dough ball
- 250g
- Fermentation
- 49h
- Salt
- 2.8%
- Bake
- 60–90 sec
- Oven
- Wood-fired oven
- Makes
- 4pizzas
- Active time
- 30min
Ingredients
- Dough ball PizzaLovers house dough 65%, cold-fermented 48 h
- 250 g
- Peeled San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 75 g
- Fior di latte, diced and drained
- 80 g
- Anchovy fillets in oil
- 10 g
- Capers, rinsed
- 8.0 g
- Dried oregano
- 0.5 g
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 7.0 g
Total dough431 g
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Scale up or down — the yeast is recalculated automatically.
Method
- Take the dough balls out of the fridge 2–3 hours before baking and let them sit covered at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven well in advance: 45–60 minutes for a steel in a home oven, 20–30 minutes for a gas oven, longer for a wood oven. Measure the floor with an IR thermometer — you want around 450 °C (840 °F).
- Stretch the ball by hand from the centre outward on a semola-floured surface. Never touch the outer two centimetres.
- Scatter the cheese sparingly so the anchovies can lie directly on the sauce.
- Sprinkle the oregano over everything last; it should sit on top of the fat so it doesn't burn.
- Slide the pizza in and bake for 60–90 seconds. Turn it two or three times so the crust colours evenly.
- Let the pizza rest for a few seconds, add anything meant to go on after the oven, and serve straight away.
Romana is the pizza that Naples calls Napoletana, and vice versa. We explain the confusion and stick to what goes on it: tomato, cheese, anchovy, capers and oregano.
Neapolitan tradition – a classic menu pizza in Naples, not named in the AVPN disciplinare.
Topping order
- Tomato sauce
- Fior di latte
- Anchovy
- Capers
- Oregano
- Olive oil
Common mistakes
- Adding extra salt to the sauce.
- Brined capers that haven't been squeezed out, leaving sour liquid in the middle of the pizza.
Tips
- Remove the backbone if you buy whole anchovies – the flavour gets milder.
- A small splash of caper brine in the sauce adds acidity without extra salt.
Variations
- Napoletana – the same pizza under its other name.
- With black olives and a touch of chilli.
Recalculate the recipe
Want a different number of pizzas, a different ball weight or a different time in the fridge? The calculator is prefilled with this recipe’s values.
Open the calculator with the Romana settings
Read more
- Neapolitan pizza dough – the full recipe and the why behind it
- Napoletana
- Salumi on pizza – salsiccia, prosciutto, mortadella
- Topping order – what goes on when



