Recipe258 kcal per 100 g

New York-Style Pepperoni Pizza

A large, thin pie that New Yorkers fold in half and eat on the go: crisp underneath yet flexible dough, a slow-cooked oregano sauce, low-moisture mozzarella, and pepperoni that curls into crispy little cups holding a drop of spiced oil. The recipe makes two 32 cm pizzas.

Recipe yield:
1,580 g
ingredients:
12
steps:
10
Download recipe:

Nutrition per 100 g

Calories
258.1kcal
Protein
11.5g
Fat
11.1g
Carbohydrates
26.3g
Fiber:
1.5 g
Sugars:
1.9 g

About the recipe

How New York pizza differs from Neapolitan

If the Neapolitan Margherita is about an airy rim and fresh tomato, the New York style grew out of very different conditions. Italian immigrants in the early 20th century baked in coal-fired and later gas ovens at around 300 °C, and pizza was sold by the slice. Everything else follows from that: dough with a little oil and sugar (they help the crust brown at what is, by Neapolitan standards, a low temperature), a thin base that holds its shape as a slice, and low-moisture mozzarella that gives a stretchy but not watery layer.

The good news: this style suits a home oven perfectly, because it was designed for 260–300 °C from the start.

The dough: sugar and oil are not for sweetness

2% sugar and 3% oil by weight of flour are technique, not seasoning. Sugar feeds the yeast and takes part in the Maillard reaction, so the bottom crust darkens in 10–12 minutes. Oil makes the crumb tender and the slice flexible: you can fold it lengthways without it cracking. A 63% hydration gives a dough that stretches easily into a large thin round.

As with any good pizza, time decides: one to three days in the fridge build flavour you will never get from two hours of warm proofing.

The sauce: this one is cooked

Unlike the Neapolitan tradition, New York sauce is reduced: tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and dried oregano simmer for 25–30 minutes until thick. A concentrated sauce does not soak the thin dough and delivers that recognisable pizzeria aroma. Dried oregano matters more here than fresh basil — it is what makes the flavour taste “American”.

The secret of pepperoni cups

The best pizzerias use natural-casing pepperoni cut 2–3 mm thick. As it heats, the casing and edge of each slice shrink faster than the centre, so the slice curls up, the edges char, and spiced paprika fat collects in the cup. Thinly pre-sliced supermarket pepperoni lies flat and can dry out, so slice the stick yourself. Put the pepperoni on top of the cheese, not under it, or you will not get crisp edges.

The cheese

Use low-moisture pizza mozzarella, coarsely grated. Fresh mozzarella in brine releases too much water for a thin base. A little parmesan on top boosts saltiness and umami.

Baking at home

A steel or stone preheated for at least 45 minutes at maximum temperature is essential for a crisp bottom. The pizza is large, so it is easiest to assemble it on baking paper and slide it into the oven with the paper; after 3–4 minutes you can pull the paper out.

Storage

Slices keep well in the fridge (up to 2 days) and reheat best in a cast-iron pan with a lid and a few drops of water at the edge: the base crisps again and the cheese melts.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1

    Dough (1–3 days ahead). Mix 315 g of warm water (about 30 °C), 3 g of dry yeast and 10 g of sugar. Add 500 g of flour and stir. After 15 minutes add 12 g of salt and 15 g of olive oil and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

  2. 2

    Divide the dough into 2 pieces of 420 g, shape into balls, place each in an oiled lidded container and refrigerate for 24–72 hours.

  3. 3

    Sauce. Warm 15 g of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add 8 g of finely grated garlic and cook for 30 seconds without letting it colour. Add 400 g of crushed canned tomatoes, 2 g of dried oregano and 2 g of salt.

  4. 4

    Simmer the sauce uncovered over low heat for 25–30 minutes, stirring, until thick enough to hold on a spoon. Cool completely — hot sauce will ruin the dough.

  5. 5

    Two hours before baking, take the dough out of the fridge and leave it covered at room temperature. One hour before baking, put the steel or stone on the middle rack and heat the oven to maximum (260–290 °C).

  6. 6

    Coarsely grate 400 g of pizza mozzarella. Slice 120 g of pepperoni into rounds 2–3 mm thick. Grate 20 g of parmesan.

  7. 7

    On a floured surface, stretch one dough ball with your fingers and over the backs of your fists into a 32 cm round, leaving a thin rim of about 1 cm. Transfer it to baking paper.

  8. 8

    Spread half the sauce thinly over the base, leaving the rim bare. Scatter over half the mozzarella, then lay half the pepperoni in a single layer on top of the cheese and sprinkle with half the parmesan.

  9. 9

    Slide the pizza with its paper onto the hot steel. After 3–4 minutes carefully pull out the paper. Bake for another 6–8 minutes, until the cheese is spotted with brown and the pepperoni edges have curled and darkened.

  10. 10

    Move the pizza to a wire rack for 2 minutes so the base does not steam, then cut into 8 slices. Repeat with the second pizza, letting the steel reheat for 5–7 minutes.

Serving sizes

  • 1 кусок (1/8 пиццы 32 см) — 99 g
  • 1 пицца (32 см) — 790 g