Neapolitan pizza is not supposed to be crispy. The soft centre is the point.

Neapolitan pizza is certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. The certification document specifies the flour, the water percentage, the fermentation time, the oven temperature, and the cooking time. What it does not specify — because it does not need to — is that the pizza should have a crispy base. A crispy Neapolitan pizza base indicates that something went wrong.

The centre of a correctly cooked Neapolitan pizza is soft and slightly wet — the tomato has steamed the dough from below, and the high-temperature bake (400–430°C for 60–90 seconds) has charred the cornicione while leaving the interior open, airy, and yielding. If the base crunches when you fold it, the pizza was either cooked too long or at too low a temperature.

Folding the pizza

In Naples, pizza is eaten folded — in four, making a shape called a portafoglio (wallet). This is only possible if the dough is soft and extensible. A crispy pizza cannot be folded without shattering. The fact that Neapolitan pizza is traditionally folded and eaten standing is, itself, proof that the texture is meant to be soft.

“A crispy pizza is a Roman pizza, a Venetian pizza, or an American pizza. All are fine things. None of them are Neapolitan. The soft centre is not a flaw. It is the entire point.”— FRANCO PEPE, PEPE IN GRANI, CAIAZZO

Roman pizza is different and that is fine

Pizza romana — thin, flat, crispy — is a completely legitimate and excellent pizza style. It is not Neapolitan. The two styles have different doughs, different hydrations, different fermentation times, and different cooking methods. Neither is better. They are different products with different characters. Calling Roman pizza bad because it is crispy is as wrong as calling Neapolitan pizza bad because it is soft.