Cheese pizza is not a compromise. It is the test: is the dough good, is the tomato bright, did the cheese brown. New York shops live or die on a plain slice.
Use the NY dough. Sauce thin. Low-moisture mozzarella, not fresh — fresh weeps.
Ingredients
Pick one dough — homemade or a store-bought ball.
Homemade dough
- 500 g bread flour
- 325 ml cold water
- 12 g salt
- 4 g instant yeast
- 8 g olive oil
Premade dough
- 1 ball store-bought pizza dough (250–280 g), room temperature 1 hour
Sauce and toppings
- Crushed tomatoes, salted
- Low-moisture mozzarella, shredded
- Olive oil
- Pecorino or parmesan
Products & ingredients
What this pie actually wants. Flour, tomatoes, cheese, and tools — Amazon links, so this blog can keep going.
Store-Bought Pizza DoughCheck Amazon.comPremade Dough
Check Amazon.com
Check Amazon.com
Check Amazon.com
Low-Moisture MozzarellaCheck Amazon.comToppings
Locatelli Pecorino RomanoCheck Amazon.comHard Cheese
Ooni Koda 16 Pizza OvenCheck Amazon.comPizza Oven
Ooni Pizza Oven GlovesCheck Amazon.comHeat Gloves
Check Amazon.com
Ateco Bench ScraperCheck Amazon.comBench Scraper
As an Amazon Associate, The Slice Guy earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and stock live on Amazon.
Nutrition
If you buy the kit on this page
- Serving
- 1/4 pizza
- Calories
- 290
- Protein
- 13 g
- Carbohydrates
- 32 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Sodium
- 660 mg
Pack labels of those brands (or USDA where a brand does not print a panel), times the grams in this recipe. Drain the mozzarella, swap a tin, or skip the oil and they move.
Labels used: Caputo Pizzeria 00, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, Partanna extra-virgin olive oil, Low-moisture mozzarella, Locatelli Pecorino Romano.
How to make and cook it
Bought dough? Skip “Make the dough.” Let the ball sit out 1 hour, then start at “Cook the pie.”
Make the base
- 01Mix 500 g bread flour, 325 ml cold water, 12 g salt, 4 g yeast.
- 02Rest 20 minutes.
- 03Knead in 8 g oil.
- 04Bulk 1 hour.
- 05Two balls, refrigerate 24–72 hours.
- 06Temper 1–2 hours.
Or use premade dough
- 01Let a store-bought ball sit out for 1 hour until it is relaxed.
- 02Flour the bench.
- 03Stretch it to size — from here it is the same as homemade.
Add sauce and toppings
- 01Stretch 36–40 cm (14–16 in).
- 02Sauce almost to the edge.
- 03Even shredded low-moisture mozzarella.
- 04Optional pecorino.
Cook
Oven
- 01Steel on the top rack at 290°C (550°F) for 45 minutes.
- 02Launch.
- 03Bake 7–9 minutes until the cheese browns and the bottom spots.
- 04Rest 1 minute.
- 05Cut into six.
Gas pizza oven
- 01Preheat 15–20 minutes on high, stone 400–455°C (750–850°F).
- 02Launch. 60–90 seconds, turning every 20 seconds.
- 03Rest.
- 04Cut.
Wood-fired oven
- 01Floor 425–480°C (800–900°F).
- 02Launch. 60–90 seconds, turning.
- 03Cheese should blister, not burn to the dome.
- 04Rest.
- 05Cut.
- 06This is the pie people type “cheese pizza” for.
