Ah, New York. The city that never sleeps, the land of yellow cabs, and, of course, the birthplace of the legendary New York-style pizza. If I had to choose one style of pizza to make for the rest of my life, it might be New York Style Pizza. I love the crust that has the crispy and chewy quality all in the same bite. Do you fold it or do you just take two gigantic bites from the center to cut the slice in half with one quick devouring motion?
I will let you decide that, but I can show you how to make an amazing pizza in your home kitchen with these detailed easy to follow instructions for an amazing NY style sauce, NY Style Dough, and how to bring it all together. We are going to dive deep into the techniques of crafting a truly amazing NY slice. Thin crust, wide slices, and a perfect balance of sauce, cheese, and toppings – truly a delicious treat in your own home.
Check out all My Pizza Recipes and Tips:
What Makes NY Style Pizza So Special?
Before we get cooking, let’s understand the magic. NY Pizza is all about simple quality ingredients coming together to create an incredible slice of pizza. Add toppings if you like, but it all comes down to the Dough, The sauce, The Cheese.
- The Dough and Crust: Thin, foldable, and slightly chewy, with a crisp edge.
- The Sauce: Simple, bright, and slightly sweet, made with high quality canned tomatoes.
- The Cheese: Typically a blend of mozzarella – I will show you my favorite blend of cheeses to create the perfect slice, without burning the cheese
The Size: Large, wide slices designed to be folded and devoured. But don’t worry, you can still make this large iconic pizza in a slightly smaller size if needed for your home oven.
Kitchen Tools Needed for Making NY Pizza at Home
Not much needed for this recipe, but I recommend a cheap baking scale. Making consistent pizza without one is very challenging for beginners. Pick one up for $10-15. I also recommend buying a high quality baking steel or baking stone, and a cheap dough scraper.
- 14″ – 16″ Baking Steel for Amazingly Crisp Crust
- Baking Scale for Predictable Pizza Dough Results every time!
- Dough Scraper for Handling Dough and Cleanup
A mixing stand is not required. I own one, but I actually find mixing by hand easier, and more fun.
NY Pizza Dough
There are tons of choices when it comes to how you make your dough and what types of flour you choose to make your dough. After a lot of experimentation, I have found a combination of 00 Flour and Bread Flour to be the easiest to work with. It is easy to press and stretch into a nicely formed pizza, while also giving amazingly crispy and chewy crusts.
NY Style Dough Recipe Ingredients
- 700 g Bread Flour – King Aurthur is widely available and makes a good product.
- 300 g 00 Flour – King Aurthur is widely available and makes a good product.
- ¾ teaspoon Instant Active Dry Yeast – Red Star Active Dry Yeast works well.
- 25 g Fine Sea Salt
- 670 g Luke Warm Water – about 90°F
Dough Ingredients in Volume – I would still prefer you use grams for great results!
- 5 + 1/3 Cups Bread Flour – King Aurthur is widely available and makes a good product.
- 2 + 1/3 Cups 00 Flour – King Aurthur is widely available and makes a good product.
- ¾ teaspoon Instant Active Dry Yeast – Red Star Active Dry Yeast works well.
- 4.5 teaspoons Fine Sea Salt
- 3 cups – minus 2 Tablespoons Luke Warm Water – about 90°F
Mixing and Forming the Dough
Measure your water and add the sea salt to the water. Stir until dissolved. Then add the yeast and stir the yeast into the water. Let it sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes you should see tiny bubbles at the surface of the water.
Measure the flower into a large bowl. Pour the water yeast mixture into the flour. Use a spatula to get any yeast at the bottom of the bowl into the flour bowl.
Use a spatula to roughly mix the flour and water together. Then work it with your hands to bring it together into a rough ball and turn it onto your countertop or a large wood cutting board. Work the dough for a minute into a ball (it will still be sticky and rough) and then place it back in the large bowl and cover it. Set a timer for 15 minutes.
Turn the dough back onto the counter and work the dough for a few minutes until it becomes smooth. You should not feel any texture in the dough at this point and the surface should be smooth. If it still feels a little grainy or rough, cover it for another 10 minutes and repeat the process.
When it becomes smooth, form it into a ball and place it in a large bowl and cover it. Rest at room temperature for 90 minutes. Then place it in the fridge for 2-3 days if you are making this dough in advance .
If you want to use the dough the next day, then place the covered bowl in your basement or another cool area of your house. The next morning, place the covered bowl back in the kitchen.
4 hours prior to using the dough, divide the dough into 320 g dough balls for 14” pizzas. Re-ball the new dough balls and place into individual containers. Cover until ready to use.
Dough Ball Size for Desired NY Pizza Size
12” – 250 g dough balls – 6 pizzas from this Recipe
14” – 320 g dough balls – 5 Pizzas from this Recipe
16” – 440 g dough balls – 3 Pizzas from this Recipe
If you are new to pizza making, start with the 12” or 14” sizes.
The Sauce: NY Style
This sauce is pretty killer on any style of pizza. Bright, slightly sweet, slightly salty… great for NY Style Pizza, Meatball Subs, and as a cheese bread dipper. Make a jar of this and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Sauce Ingredients
Use this specific can of crushed tomatoes below – I have tried many, and this brand gives you the BEST pizza sauce. Out of the can, with out altering it all, it is better than most sauces you will try.
- 28 oz can premium crushed tomatoes – this is my preferred brand for all of my pizza sauces – SMT SAN MERICAN TOMATO
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper – add more to taste
- 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
Directions: Bring all ingredients to a simmer on the stovetop and blend with an immersion blender, just pulsing the blender enough to smooth out the larger chunks of tomato. Leave at a low simmer for 30 minutes to thicken a bit. Cool in the fridge prior to using.
The Cheese Selection and Size is Important
My preferred blend of cheeses for NY style pizza is Fresh Mozzarella (soft and packaged in a water solution), Whole Milk Mozzarella (typical harder cheese not packed in water), and Thinly Sliced Provolone.
I typically buy both mozzarella’s at Trader Joe’s and the thin sliced Provolone at any grocery store.
Prior to making the pizzas, dry the fresh mozzarella with a paper towel and rip the cheese into small pieces that are less than the size of a marble. Dice the harder whole milk mozzarella into little cubes that are about ⅜” x ⅜”. The size is important as it allows the cheese to melt more slowly, and not burn in a hot oven over a 5 minute bake.
Make sure to Preheat your Oven
Preheat your oven for over 1 hour at 500°F. This temperature is a good starting point, depending how hot your oven runs. The best way to make sure your pizza stone or pizza steel is at the right temperature is with a cheap Infrared Temperature Gun. Anywhere in the 500-600°F range is fine, but oven temperature can vary a lot from what you think they are set at.
Start with the stone / steel in the middle of the oven. Typically the thinner your crust is the hotter the oven can be. If your crust is thicker, then shoot towards 500 or even 450. You will have to experiment a little bit.
Stretching the Dough, Assembly, and Baking
Flour the countertop with a 50/50 mix of 00 Flour and Semolina Flour for stretching your dough. Or use only 00 flour. Adding semolina does help with the finished texture of the dough, in my opinion making it more crips. The 00 and Semolina also tends not to burn as much as other flours on the pizza steel.
Use your fingertips to press the balls into flat 8-10” discs. Flipping the dough as needed and using plenty of flour. Form and stretch all your dough discs first and let them sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes. This will make them easy to stretch as you go through the final process.
Stretch your dough to the desired size and place the dough on your lightly floured pizza peel.
Dough Stretching Techniques
Step 1: Hand pressed with fingertips into 8″ discs – rest for 10 minutes
Step 2: Hand press with finger tips as thin as possible
Step 3: Place dough on your knuckles and spread your hands apart, pulling your hands away from each other at the same time to stretch the dough into 12″, 14″, or 16″ pizzas.
Step 4: Hand press with fingertips and cycle back to stretching with your knuckles if needed.
Top the pizzas with the thinly sliced layer of provolone cheese. Then add a scattering of the Fresh Mozzarella and Whole Milk Mozzarella. I typically shoot for about 70% Fresh Mozz and 30% Whole Milk Mozz.
Having the cheese below the sauce may seem strange, but in a home oven it will allow you to bake the pizza longer, achieving a crisp crust without having a lot of burnt cheese. If you are baking multiple pizzas, give both ways a try and see what you like better.
After cheesing the pizza, top the pizzas with little dollops of sauce. Do not go too heavy your first time, as the sauce does spread out in the oven and even things out. Add a little parmesan and cracked black pepper on top for one more layer of flavor.
Bake your pizza on the baking steel or stone for at least 5 minutes. My pizzas typically take around 8 minutes depending on how hot the baking steel is. Typically your first pizza will bake the fastest and then the following pizzas will bake a little more slowly.
Slice and Serve
When you remove the pizza from the oven, place it on a wire cooling rack if you have one for several minutes before slicing. This will keep the bottom crisp. Then slice and serve immediately.
Fold or no fold… those pieces will disappear quickly!
Tips for Authentic NY Style:
- High Heat: A very hot oven is essential for a crispy crust. Get your pizza stone over 500°F and you will get great pizza.
- Don’t Overload the Toppings: Less is more with NY style. Let the quality of the ingredients shine.
- Stretch, Don’t Roll: Stretching the dough leaves the gluten structure of the dough more intact, creating that wonderful chewy crunchy exterior with a soft interior.
- Pizza stone or steel: Either one will create a way better pizza than a pizza pan. Invest in a quality pizza stone or steel and you will be doing yourself a favor. Check out this comparison on stone vs steel if you do not have one.
Related Pizza Recipes
If you are a pizza lover, you will want to check out my other favorite Pizza Recipes and Tips for homemade pizza:
Practice Makes Perfect
With this recipe and a little practice, you’ll be slinging authentic NY-style slices like a pro soon. Pizza does take some practice, so do not give up if the first few pizzas do not go as well as you want them to. The dough stretching is the most difficult part, but you will get there!
If you have any questions, leave me a comment below and I will get back to you.
Cheers, Keegan
