This pizza’s definitely worth the Dough

Dough Pizzeria Napoletana gets national praise

Ever since owners Doug and Lori Horn opened Dough Pizzeria Napoletana restaurant in 2007 inside a Castle Hills shopping center, it has been considered one of the premier pizza destinations in the city. Food Network personality Guy Fieri made a stop in 2011 for an episode of his popular show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” delivering praise that continues to trigger a surge in business after regular reruns.

A 2018 Express-News review found some serious problems at the original Blanco location after a second location opened downtown at Hemisfair. There were no issues there for this visit, though for now, everything is temporarily available only for curbside service.

The key to the Dough experience is based on two anchors: fresh mozzarella made on-site daily, and a pair of 2-ton ovens that were hand-built and imported from Naples, Italy. The ovens are equipped with lava stone and can hold 800- to 1,000-degree temperatures with ease, allowing the pizzas to be cooked in 90 seconds with fiery thin crusts dotted with the appropriate amounts of speckled char.

Dough is a pizza utopia worthy of a drive from any part of the city. It features a higher price point than most other area pizzerias (all pizzas are 12-inches), but patrons get what they pay for.

Best pizza: Any of the four pizzas sampled for this visit could take this honor, but we pick winners here, and that has to go to the Ezzo’s Cupping

Pepperoni ($18). Great pizzerias must nail the classics and this one came loaded with a mountain of delectable slices on top of the pie, that true to its name, cupped those spicy meat juices.

Other pizzas: The Famous Pork Love ($22) was Fieri’s favorite during the episode he filmed and is a proper lesson in cured meats with speck, pancetta and soppressata paired with the housemade sausage. The meats were distributed with care, with just enough to get a strong meat flavor throughout without being overpowering and too salty.

In a classic Margherita di Bufala ($17) , Dough allowed the flavor of the plum tomato sauce to shine with subtle hints of basil. After enjoying my one slice, this one was actually stolen by my 13-year-old daughter and consumed in its entirety within 30 minutes.

The New Fontina ($17) was the most surprising slice of this pizza pilgrimage. The creamy fontina cheese blended well with the roasted mushrooms and crunchy onions, but the balsamic glaze spiraled atop the pizza like the perfect doodle delivered an ultra-sweet finish that tasted like a four-star dessert.

Chuck Blount / Staff Ezzo’s Cupping Pepperoni is the Dough Pizzeria Napoletana take on the classic pizza, and it comes loaded with a mountain of meat.

The Famous Pork Love pizza is made with an assortment of cured meats and housemade sausage.