Transplanted recipe picks up new twists

Lacking a plane ticket to Naples, crisp up a neapolitan pizza.
By LEAH ESKIN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
At Chicago's Spacca Napoli Pizzeria, the thin, hot pie speeds through the wood-fired oven in 90 seconds flat. This pizza offers a broad, open crust, unfettered by cheese clog or stop-and-go pepperoni.
The soft dough is handmade in the tradition of Naples, cradle of pizza civilization, home each day to 1 million pizza aficionados and 7 million hot pizzas. Scientists, scholars and pizza fabricators concur: No more than flour, water, yeast and salt. No less than 6 hours' rise.
Here the toppings may stray from the Margherita's officially sanctioned flag of red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil. Prosciutto, say. Or summer's first arugula, pronounced, charmingly, arucola.
LIGHT BITE PIZZA NAPOLETANA
Corn meal
Pizza dough (recipe follows)
Olive oil
Smoked mozzarella, cubed
Prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced
Baby arugula
Parmesan, shaved into curls
Prep: If you have a pizza stone handy, set it on the bottom rack of the oven. If not, don't fret. Heat the oven to 500. Sprinkle some corn meal onto a wooden peel or rimless baking sheet. Set it aside.
Shape: Gently pat and stretch 1 dough ball into pizza shape, 8 inches across and 1/4 thick at the center.
Top: Set dough circle on the peel or baking sheet. Rub on 1-2 teaspoons oil. Top with a handful of smoked mozzarella.
Bake: Slide pizza onto the hot stone or baking sheet into the oven. Bake until crust is crisp and the cheese melted, 4-5 minutes.
Enhance: Top hot pizza with 2 or 3 strips of prosciutto, a handful of arugula and a few shavings of Parmesan. Drizzle with olive oil.
Serves four
Adapted from Spacca Napoli Pizzeria
PIZZA DOUGH
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 to 21/4 cups all-purpose flour
Knead: In a medium bowl, mix yeast and warm water. Add pastry flour and salt. Dust in all-purpose flour, stopping when dough is no longer sticky. Knead smooth, 10 minutes.
Rest: Settle dough ball in the mixing bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 3-4 hours.
Divide: Punch down dough. Cut and roll into 4 balls. Set balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 2 hours.
Makes 4 8-inch pizzas.
Adapted from "Pizza Napoletana!" by Pamela Sheldon Johns