Grandma-Style Pizza How-To
Also: UK pizza recs?
Hello Pizza Friends,
Last Thursday evening I taught a virtual Sicilian- and grandma-style pizza class through Milkstreet. I hadn’t made pan pizza in a while, and the whole exercise reminded me of my love for it, grandma pizza in particular.
If you are unfamiliar, grandma pizza is sheet pan pizza, similar to Sicilian-style pizza but thinner. I love pan pizza in general for many reasons, namely its large size, which feeds more people, and the process, which allows so much to be done ahead of time.
And while I love the various styles of pan pizzas for different reasons — Detroit-style for its irresistible frico crust, Sicilian for it's pillowy airiness — for me, grandma is the best: it’s the thinnest of the three styles, and I love the ratio of toppings to crust as well as its texture: light and airy, like focaccia, but crispy, too.
The process of making grandma-style pizza is very similar to Sicilian — you use the same size pan but half the amount of dough — but it’s simpler because there’s no parbake. A Lloyd steel pan makes for an especially crispy crust, but a standard half sheet pan works well, too. Find a how-to video and a recipe below.
Friends, tomorrow morning I’m headed to England with my family and my sister’s family. Some of you know that my father, who was from England, died in April… I wrote a little bit about that here. His brother as well as some of his first cousins are still alive living in various spots across the UK, and so the 12 of us are headed on a Great British adventure to see them. Of course, I’d love to eat some good pizza along the way. Let me know if you have any ideas. I’ll see you in two weeks 👋
PS: Thanks to all who came to last Thursday’s class! I had hoped to pop in here last Friday to say thanks, but I had to drive to CT after class, and then we headed out for the weekend shortly thereafter. Anway, I hope your pizzas and salad turned out well. 🍕🥗
Video: Grandma-Style Pizza How-To
Grandma-Style Pizza: Overview
You’ll find a link a Google doc below that outlines the process, but in short, this recipe starts with a very high-hydration focaccia-like dough. This is the same dough I use for Sicilian-style, Detroit-style, and cast iron-skillet pizza.
After you deflate the dough, you ball it up and transfer it to the fridge ideally for 2 days but for as long as a week.
On pizza night, remove your dough from the fridge three to four hours before baking.
After 3 to 4 fours, the dough will easily stretch to fit the pan.
Top it as you wish.
Bake it at 450ºF for 22-25 minutes.
Cut and serve (and fight over the corner slices).
Love pizza and salad? Find recipes, tips, and tricks in Pizza Night 🍕🍕🥗🥗
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I love that you call this 'grandma style pizza'. I posted a video of Paola (an Italian nonna) making pizza the other day in Umbria ( https://www.instagram.com/p/C-afybzN1K8/ ) and the most common question I got was why I wasn't calling this focaccia.
I had problems with the dough getting holey as I gently tried to spread it in the buttered and oiled Lloyd 12x16 pan….should I have used all the dough instead of half the dough? Would a half sheet pan been a better choice?