Get the secrets to making Chef John’s Roman-Style Pizza in this video! This recipe features a light, crispy crust topped with a simple yet flavorful combination of high-quality ingredients that capture the spirit of authentic Roman pizza. Perfect for any pizza night, this easy-to-follow method delivers a rustic, delicious pie.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Roman Style Pizza.
00:09That's right, I'm going to show you how to make my favorite non-thin crust pizza, which
00:13I can confirm is absolutely amazing, although I can't confirm it's absolutely authentic.
00:19But I'm pretty sure it's close, and I'm very sure you're going to love it.
00:22And to get started, we'll begin our pizza dough like we do almost all of them, by combining
00:27flour, yeast, and water, which we will then stir together with a wooden spoon.
00:31Oh, and because we're going to do such a long, slow ferment, this time we don't need to start
00:36the yeast and the water first.
00:37Okay, we can just mix everything together at once.
00:41And what we'll do is stir that until almost all the flour is incorporated, and we form
00:44sort of a shaggy dough, at which point we'll stop and add the last two ingredients, which
00:49is some salt, as well as a generous splash of olive oil, and then we'll continue stirring
00:54for at least two or three more minutes, or until we've formed a very smooth, extremely
00:59soft and wet and sticky dough.
01:01Okay, one of the secrets to Roman-style pizza is a high hydration dough, which simply means
01:06we're using a lot of water, as in like 80% compared to the weight of the flour.
01:11And that's it.
01:12Once we feel like we've stirred that long enough, we will clean off our spoon with a
01:15spatula and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
01:19And then what we'll do is cover this and set our timer for 15 minutes, at which point we'll
01:24perform the first of three foldings, which, yes, is going to be very similar to the technique
01:29we use for sourdough.
01:31And of course, we're going to want to wet our fingers first to prevent the dough from
01:34sticking too much.
01:36And what we'll do is grab the dough at the edge of the bowl and sort of pull it and stretch
01:40it over the top, and then we will rotate the bowl a few inches and do the exact same thing.
01:45And we'll repeat that about 10 or 12 times.
01:48And if possible, after the last fold, if we can sort of gather that dough together and
01:52fold it over and end up with some sort of smooth skin over the top, that's considered
01:57an advantage.
01:59But don't stress if you can't do that, especially on this first fold, since it does take a little
02:03bit of time for that elastic texture to develop.
02:06And then what we'll do is cover that back up and set our timer for another 15 minutes.
02:11And like I said, we're going to do that three times total, which I'm not going to show you.
02:15I'm just going to skip to me finishing the last fold.
02:17And by the time you finish this process, you're really going to notice the change texturally
02:22in the dough.
02:23Okay, it's going to be much smoother and much more elastic and easier to work with.
02:28And then what we'll do once our three folds have been completed is transfer this into
02:31some kind of airtight container that we've greased with a little bit of olive oil.
02:36And once we transfer our dough in, we'll drizzle a few drops of oil on the top and then give
02:41it a quick rub down.
02:43After which, we're going to transfer this into the fridge and we're going to let it
02:46for 24 hours or until it's about doubled in size.
02:51And a day later, this is what mine look like.
02:54Oh, and one tip I can give you.
02:56If you use a smaller container, it's a little easier to see if your dough has doubled.
03:01Although having said that, after 24 hours, you should be in good shape.
03:04And I could tell my dough is ready for the next step, which is to transfer it onto the
03:08work surface.
03:09And then what we'll do, using some damp hands, is sort of press and stretch that dough out
03:14into something hopefully resembling a square.
03:17Since before we shape this back into a ball, we want to do some kind of fold, which I find
03:23myself doing differently every time for some reason.
03:25Okay, this time I folded it in half and then back over in half the other way before I finish
03:32with a tri-fold, which I think gave me 12 layers, but don't quote me on it.
03:38And then once that's been completed, we will dampen our hands again and we'll use this
03:43kind of circular motion to shape that back into a ball of dough, ideally with some kind
03:47of relatively smooth skin over the top.
03:50And if you want, feel free to use a bench scraper to help you with this step, since
03:54we're going to use that to pick up our dough anyway.
03:56Speaking of which, we could if we want just transfer this back into the original container,
04:01and that would work fine.
04:03But I'm actually going to take my own advice and transfer this into an olive oil greased
04:07baking dish, just so it's a little bit easier to see what's happening to the dough.
04:12And once we have that transferred in, we will again brush a little bit of olive oil
04:16over the top, just so the surface doesn't dry out.
04:19Although with a dough this wet, that's probably not going to happen.
04:23But anyway, after that we're going to cover this back up, and we're going to pop it back
04:26in the fridge for another 24 hours, or until yes, you guessed it, it's just about doubled
04:31in size.
04:33And I know, you wanted pizza like two days ago, but trust me, it's going to be so worth
04:37it.
04:38And at this point we can start shaping our pizza if we want.
04:41But after coming out of the fridge, I do like to leave this covered, and let it sit on the
04:45counter for about an hour, just to warm up a little bit.
04:49So that's what I did, at which point my dough looked like this.
04:53And then to make the actual pizza, we will transfer our dough onto a well olive oiled
04:57baking sheet.
04:59And by the way, that dough is just supposed to flop out perfectly, and not stick to the
05:02dish like mine did.
05:04But anyway, it's fine.
05:06We're just making pizza, so everybody relax.
05:09And then to form this, we will take our fingertips, which are now coated in a little bit of olive
05:13oil, and we will give this the old polka polka, which is not only going to degas the dough,
05:20meaning knock out some of the air, but we're also at the same time stretching the dough
05:24out to mostly, but not quite fill the pan.
05:28And generally the Roman style pizzas have kind of a rectangular shape, with sort of
05:31rounded corners.
05:33So that's what I usually go with.
05:35But if you want a nice square pizza, that's a little thinner, by all means try to press
05:39that into the corners.
05:41And that's it.
05:42Once we're happy with our size and our shape, we will drizzle and brush a little more olive
05:45oil over the top, before we do the first of two different bakings.
05:51And this is another secret to the Roman style pizza.
05:53We must, we have to pre-bake the crust before we top it.
05:57All right, for the first one, we're going to transfer this into the center of a 500
06:01degree oven, for about 15 minutes, or until our crust is golden brown, and hopefully looks
06:07like this.
06:08And then after letting this rest for about a minute on the pan, we'll transfer it onto
06:12a cooling rack, where I like to let it cool all the way down to room temp, before we top
06:17it, and then pop it in for the final baking.
06:20And while we wait for that to cool, we'll have plenty of time to get our sauce together,
06:24and whatever toppings we're going to use.
06:26And no matter what those are, once we're ready to move into final production, we will transfer
06:31our crust onto a lightly olive oiled baking sheet, and we will apply our favorite pizza
06:35sauce, which may or may not be one of the pizza sauces we've posted, but I kind of
06:40hope it is.
06:42And after I did have that sauced almost all the way to the edge, I went ahead and applied
06:46my grated cheese, which this time was half mozzarella, and half Monterey Jack, which
06:51as you might know is my favorite blend to top a pizza with.
06:55And then as far as the other toppings, I went with some crumbled Italian sausage, as well
07:00as some sweet pepper and onion.
07:02And yes, that was all cooked ahead of time, which I think makes for a much better pizza
07:06topping.
07:07Okay, you can get away with putting raw sausage on the pizza, but sometimes that just makes
07:11it too greasy.
07:13And I am definitely not a fan of putting raw vegetables on a pizza, since they sometimes
07:17don't cook enough.
07:19And I do not want raw crunchy vegetables on a pizza, right, that stuff's for salad.
07:24But anyway, you go ahead and top that any which way you want.
07:27I mean, you are after all the Gabriel Bonci of what this Roman style pizza should be.
07:33But no matter what we use, I think we want to finish up with some freshly grated Parmesan
07:37cheese.
07:38Oh yeah, the real stuff, Parmigiano Reggiano.
07:42And that's it, once that's been parmed, it's ready to transfer back into our 500 degree
07:46oven for another 15 minutes or so.
07:49Or until the bottom and edges of our pizza are beautifully browned.
07:53And it hopefully looks like this.
07:55Oh yeah, that looks good, and way, way too hot to eat.
07:59So I think we should transfer that onto a cooling rack, and let it sit for at least
08:0310 or 15 minutes before we try to cut it.
08:05And by cut it, of course I mean scissor it.
08:09Oh yeah, no pizza cutters for a Roman style pizza.
08:12You got to use scissors, that is just what's done.
08:15So I'm going to go ahead and cut out this corner piece, and then turn this around for
08:18the big reveal.
08:20And as you can see, thanks to that high hydration, and that long, slow, slow cold ferment, we've
08:26achieved a beautifully open crumb, which means lots of big bubbles.
08:31And that produces an incredibly light, super airy texture, which is really what makes Roman
08:36style pizza so special.
08:38The contrast between that feather light inside, and those crispy edges and bottom crust, are
08:44just an irresistible combination.
08:46And hopefully by the time you're done with those two bakings, the bottom of your crust
08:49is going to be nicely browned.
08:51But if it's not, you know the trick.
08:53Just put the pan directly over the burner of your stove, and just sort of move it all
08:57around until the bottom toasts.
08:59And I think that's a great trick, to get a little more crunch on the bottom crust if
09:02you need to.
09:04But anyway, that's it.
09:06My sort of simplified, a little bit streamlined take on Roman style pizza.
09:11If you're in the mood for a little break from the thin crust, this is absolutely the way
09:15to go.
09:16And I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:19So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
09:24more info, as usual.
09:26And as always, enjoy!