Pizza Diavola Recipe
This fiery Diavola pizza combines spicy salame, nduja & Calabrian chilies on a perfect Neapolitan crust. The devil's pizza, done authentically.
Equipment
- Pizza steel ya pizza stone
- Wooden pizza peel
- Metal pizza peel
- Kitchen scale
- Oiled proofing containers with lids
- Dough scraper
- Pizza cutter ya kitchen shears
- Small offset spatula
- Infrared thermometer
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 500 grams Caputo 00 flour 325 grams water at room temperature 10 grams fine sea salt 0.3 grams instant dry yeast about an eighth of a teaspoon
For the Sauce
- 400 gram can whole San Marzano tomatoes ideally DOP 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 small drizzle extra virgin olive oil Pinch of dried Calabrian oregano (optional but recommended)
For the Toppings (per pizza)
- 80 grams fior di latte torn and drained 20 minutes on paper towels 70 to 80 grams salame piccante, sliced 2 to 3 millimeters thick 6 to 8 Calabrian chili peppers, sliced (fresh, dried, or pickled in oil) 1 heaped teaspoon nduja (optional but strongly recommended) 1 teaspoon chili infused olive oil, for finishing Small pinch of finely grated pecorino romano, for finishing
Instructions
Prepare the Dough
- Combine flour and water in a large bowl. Stir with your hand until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes (autolyse).
- Add salt and yeast. Squeeze through the dough with your fingers until fully incorporated.
- Knead in the bowl using stretch and fold for 5 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky.
- Cover and bulk ferment at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Divide into 2 balls of roughly 420 grams each. Shape into tight smooth balls by tucking the edges underneath.
- Place each in a lightly oiled container with a lid. Refrigerate 24 to 72 hours.
- Remove from the fridge 2 hours before baking.
Make the Tomato Sauce
- Crush the San Marzano tomatoes by hand into a bowl until you have a textured purée.
- Add salt, olive oil, and dried oregano. Stir and taste. The sauce should be bright, salty, and slightly acidic.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Assemble the Pizza
- Tear the fior di latte into rough pieces. Drain on paper towels for 20 minutes. Pat dry if still wet.
- Flour the work surface. Press a dough ball flat from center outward with your fingertips. Lift and stretch over your knuckles, rotating gently, until you have a 12 to 14 inch round.
- Transfer to a well floured peel. Spread 3 tablespoons of sauce in a thin spiral, leaving a finger width border.
- Scatter the drained fior di latte across the sauce, leaving gaps.
- Lay salame piccante slices across the cheese.
- Scatter the Calabrian chili slices across the salami.
- Dot small amounts of nduja across the surface if using.
- Shake the peel to confirm the pizza is loose before launching.
Bake and Serve
- Home oven: preheat pizza steel at maximum temperature (500 to 550°F) for at least 45 to 60 minutes. Slide pizza onto the steel and bake 8 to 10 minutes until the cornicione is puffed and beginning to char, the cheese is fully melted and golden in spots, and the salami edges are slightly darkened.
- Wood fired oven: bake at 850°F on the floor for 60 to 90 seconds, rotating every 20 seconds with a turning peel.
- Pull the pizza and immediately drizzle with chili infused olive oil.
- Dust lightly with pecorino romano.
- Slice with a wheel or kitchen shears. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Drain the mozzarella for the full 20 minutes. Wet cheese is the most common cause of a soggy Diavola, and no oven temperature fixes it after the fact.
- Add the chili oil after the bake, not before. The aromatic compounds that make chili oil fragrant are volatile and burn off in the oven, leaving heat without aroma.
- If using fresh Calabrian chilies in a very hot oven, add them in the last 2 minutes of baking. Fresh chilies burn faster than pickled ones.
- The nduja is optional only in that the pizza is still great without it. Once you try it with nduja, you will not want to go without.
- A finishing drizzle of raw honey over a completed Diavola is not a gimmick. The sweetness amplifies the heat rather than suppressing it and adds a caramel note that pairs beautifully with the pork fat and tomato.