How to spot a good Neapolitan pizza: 7 signs

You can tell a good Neapolitan pizza by its risen, light rim full of large air bubbles, the dark spots from a very hot oven, a soft centre and a few good ingredients. That is the pizza we bake at Bottegas in Warsaw, at ul. Oboźna 9 and ul. Francuska 24: the dough matures for 48 hours, and the pizza spends a little over a minute in an oven at 485°C.

1. The rim: risen, light, full of air

The rim of a Neapolitan pizza has its own name: the cornicione. It should be well risen and light, and when you break it open it should show large air pockets. A good rim is springy and soft inside, not dry like yesterday's bread roll.

On a pizza contemporanea the rim is even taller than on the Neapolitan classic. That comes from the dough: wetter, and matured for longer. Ours is at 80% hydration and matures for 48 hours. We explain the difference in our piece on pizza contemporanea.

2. Spots from the oven, not burnt patches

On the rim of a good Neapolitan pizza you'll see small dark spots. Italians call them “leopardatura”, after a leopard's spots.

They show that the pizza had a short bake in a very hot oven. Spots are one thing; a black, bitter base is another. Charred patches shouldn't cover the whole pizza.

3. A soft centre

The centre of a Neapolitan pizza is thin, soft and moist. It doesn't snap like a cracker or break in your fingers. Nobody in Naples minds: you eat it with a knife and fork, and in the street you fold it in four, “like a wallet”. There's more on that in our piece on pizza a portafoglio.

Soft is not the same as wet. If there's water pooling in the middle and the cheese is swimming, something went wrong: too many wet toppings, or an oven that wasn't hot enough.

4. A short bake in a very hot oven

Neapolitan pizza bakes very quickly. Under the rules of the Neapolitan association Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the bake takes 60 to 90 seconds.

At Bottegas the oven runs at 485°C and the pizza spends a little over a minute inside. The base chars, the rim rises and the centre stays soft. A longer bake in a cooler oven gives you a different pizza: drier and harder.

5. A few ingredients, all good ones

A Neapolitan pizza has few ingredients, so you can see every one of them: tomatoes, good mozzarella, basil, olive oil. With a list that short, there's nowhere to hide.

We buy what we'd buy in Italy: San Marzano DOP tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala campana DOP, Prosciutto di Parma DOP aged 24 months. How bufala differs from fior di latte, and why it sometimes goes on only after baking, is explained in our piece on mozzarella di bufala vs fior di latte.

6. You feel light afterwards

You can also judge the dough after dinner. Long maturation breaks down part of the starch and gluten, so the pizza is lighter and easier to digest. A pizza made from rushed dough often leaves you feeling heavy, even with the same toppings.

7. From the oven straight to the table

Neapolitan pizza doesn't wait. A few minutes on the counter and the rim loses its lightness while the centre goes too soft. That's why our pizza goes from the oven straight to the table.

The simplest test? Order a Margherita. It has only San Marzano DOP tomatoes, mozzarella, grana padano and basil, so it shows the dough best. Ours costs 39 zł.

Where to eat Neapolitan pizza in Warsaw

Bottegas is two Italian restaurants in Warsaw: Bottegas Śródmieście at ul. Oboźna 9 in Powiśle and Bottegas Saska Kępa at ul. Francuska 24. Both bake the same pizza at the same prices: from 39 zł for a Margherita to 69 zł for the seasonal Fichi e Crudo.

In 2024 Bottegas was named Best Pizza by Warsaw Insider in its Best of Warsaw awards. The full pizza menu, with every ingredient, is on our page about Neapolitan pizza in Warsaw.

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