AVPN professional pizza course 25. - 29. January 2021

Learn how to prepare the world cultural heritage, the real pizza Neapolitana.

A Neapolitana pizza wants to be baked in very high temperatures in special ovens and demands a real feat from its cook. It is not for nothing that UNESCO has declared the original Napoletan pizza a World Heritage Site. The preparation is a craft that Pizzaioli has to learn with difficulty.

The Pizzaioli of the Associatione Vera Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) have set themselves the task of passing on this extraordinary craft. In special courses over five days, restaurateurs get to know the high art of Neapolitan pizza under the expert guidance of Italian pizza makers. The dough may only be made from water, flour, salt and yeast and must rest for at least 8 hours. At 480 degrees the Pizza Napoletana only wants to be in the wood oven for a very short time, just 60 to 90 seconds. The aroma is unique and the possibilities of the topping are as varied as the chef's imagination. The most important thing is that a real Napoletana pizza may only be made with selected ingredients and flours. The products must preferably come from Campania.

Their use and preparation is described in detail:

The peeled tomatoes, which are chopped by hand, must not be thick and with pieces still present.
Fresh tomatoes should be cut into pieces.
The mozzarella di bufala (sliced) or the fior di latte (sliced) should be evenly distributed.
Grated cheese (if used) should be spread over the pizza with a rotating and even movement.
The leaves of fresh basil are placed on the spices
Extra virgin olive oil is added with a spiral movement.In addition to Margherita and Marinara, Vera Pizza Napoletana also offers other types of pizzas with ingredients from the Italian gastronomic tradition.

The handling of the dough also plays a central role. The dough balls may only be worked with the hands from the center outwards. This displaces the air outwards and forms the characteristic border with the air bubbles and the leopard color. The pizza must be baked directly on the firebrick in the wood oven, not on a tray. The quality of the finished pizza is strictly assessed. It has to be easily folded onto itself, it needs 1-2 cm crust and a golden color with few burns, the underside must also be golden and without burns. The pizza must be round with a maximum of 35cm diameter and 4mm thickness in the middle. The focus of the pizza is the red color of the tomatoes in contrast to the white of the mozzarella and the green of the basil.

The olfactory aromas of the Original Pizza Napoletana are the intense scent of fresh bread, the sour note of tomatoes and mozzarella, the fruity-spicy taste of oil and garlic and the herbaceous taste of fresh basil and oregano. The ingredients together create a harmony in taste. The nutritional value of the original Margherita is around 800 kcal at 250 g and around 550 k cal for the Marinara at 250 g. This is what the AVPN states.

The course consists of three parts:

1. Theory (6 hours):

The history of Neapolitan pizza

• Different ways of dough guidance
• About the ingredients water, flour, yeast, salt, tomatoes, mozzarella and olive oil
• Important about wood and gas stoves

2. Practice (34 hours):

Making the pizza dough by hand and in the kneading machine

• Shaping the pizza
• The handling of the pizza dough and the seasoning
• Oven functions: cheering, inserting the pizza in the oven, various baking techniques
• Find the right baking temperature
• Analysis of different baking results due to temperature
• Cleaning and care of the oven and utensils

3. Test and certificate

At the end of each AVPN course there is a theoretical and a practical test. During the practical test, participants must bake two original Neapolitan pizzas, the Margherita and the Marinara. Each participant receives a certificate of participation in the course.

Useful information:

Hotel and Transfer: Upon request, you will receive a list of hotels in the vicinity after booking. If there is sufficient demand, we will arrange a shuttle from the hotel to the pizza school.

Flyer: See the PDF of the AVPN with the exact course content: Italian Flyer, Flyer in English

Allergies / Incompatibilities: If you have allergies or adverse reactions to certain foods, please inform us in the free text field in the registration form.

More Infos