Pizza styles
A consistent, structured profile for each major style — hydration, flour, ball weight, schedule, bake conditions, and what is actually specified versus what is merely convention people repeat.
Which style should you learn first? · Formula worksheet
In short
Every style page here uses the same field set, so styles can be compared directly. Where a governing specification exists we cite and link it and separate requirement from convention. Where no convention has ever been established, the field says so rather than carrying an invented range.
Who this is for
- Cooks who want to make a named style correctly rather than approximately
- Readers who want to know what actually distinguishes one style from another
- Anyone deciding which style their oven can realistically produce
When to use this
- Before you commit to learning a style, to check it suits your equipment
- When you want to know whether a rule you have been told is specified or inherited
- When you are eating a style for the first time and want to know what you are looking at
Start from your oven, not your ambition
A great many people attempt Neapolitan in an unmodified domestic oven, fail, and conclude they are bad at this. They have simply chosen a style their equipment cannot reach.
The decision guide works the other way round: it starts from what you own and tells you which styles are genuinely available to you. Pan styles in particular are excellent in a domestic oven and are routinely overlooked.
- Which pizza style should you learn first? A guide by oven type
- What your home oven can and cannot do
The style references
| Style | Shape and format | Realistic in a domestic oven? |
|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan | Round, soft, very fast bake | Not fully — the bake temperature is the limit |
| New York | Large round, foldable slice | Yes, and the best serious starting point |
| Detroit | Rectangular pan, cheese to the edge | Yes, and forgiving of a weak oven |
| Roman teglia | Long pan, high hydration, sold by weight | Yes, with a long bake |
| Roman tonda | Round, very thin, crisp | Partly |
| Chicago tavern | Round, thin, square-cut | Yes |
| Chicago deep dish | Deep pan, long bake | Yes |
| New Haven apizza | Oblong, thin, heavily charred | Partly — the coal oven is most of the style |
| Sicilian and sfincione | Rectangular pan, thick and open | Yes |
- Neapolitan pizza: structured style reference
- New York pizza: structured style reference
- Detroit style pizza: structured style reference
- Roman teglia vs tonda: two styles, one city
- Chicago deep dish vs Chicago tavern
- New Haven apizza: structured style reference
- Sicilian and sfincione: structured style reference
What is in a style profile
Every style page carries the same fields, so you can compare across them without translating.
- Hydration range, flour type and strength, and ball weight range
- Fermentation schedule and bake conditions
- Oven type and baking surface or pan
- Sauce and cheese convention
- Governing standard, where one exists, with the source linked and dated
- Region and period of origin, and close relatives with the distinguishing feature
Where a field has no established convention, it says so. We would rather show you an honest gap than a range we made up to fill the cell.
Specification versus convention
Some styles have written rules maintained by a trade body or protected by a designation. Most do not, and much of what circulates as a rule is inherited practice with no documented basis.
We separate the two on every page, because the difference matters: one is a document you can read, and the other is a custom that varies by neighbourhood and by decade.
- What the AVPN, DOC, and STG rules actually require
- Why "authentic" is the least useful word in pizza
Where to go next
- Formula worksheet
- Dough and fermentation
- Ovens and equipment
- History and culture
- Scenes and discovery
- Glossary
Frequently asked questions
Which style is easiest to start with?
New York style in a domestic oven with a steel or stone. It teaches you the variables, it is forgiving, and it does not depend on equipment most people do not have.
Can I make real Neapolitan at home?
You can make excellent pizza using Neapolitan technique. Reaching the bake conditions the style is built around needs an oven a domestic one cannot match, and we would rather say that than let you spend six months blaming your hands.
Why do some style fields say "formula-specific" or "none" instead of a number?
Because for many styles no authoritative figure has ever been published. Saying so tells you to use judgment and record your own result. A number we invented would look identical to a real one and mislead you completely.
Is deep dish what people in Chicago actually eat?
The everyday Chicago pizza is thin, crisp, and square-cut tavern style. Deep dish is real and worth understanding, but the two are separate styles and the confusion is widespread enough that we wrote a whole comparison about it.
Does a protected designation mean other versions are inferior?
No. It means a specific document defines a specific product. It is a useful reference and a legal instrument, not a quality ranking across styles.
What is the difference between Sicilian and sfincione?
They share ancestry and diverge in topping convention, crumb, and the American branch's development. They are close enough to be conflated constantly and different enough to deserve separate profiles.
Do you publish a formula for each style?
No. A formula is published only after a named person has baked and logged it, and the style references do not depend on one. Each profile gives the conventions and the variables to record, and the formula worksheet is where you record your own.
Match a style to your oven
The decision guide starts from the equipment you already own and works forward to the styles it can genuinely produce.