Grandma pie is not Sicilian and it is not a slice. It is a thin, focaccia-adjacent sheet, heavy on the oil, often sauce-over-cheese, baked in a well-seasoned pan until the bottom fries. It came out of Long Island kitchens and shops — Umberto’s in New Hyde Park is the name people point to — and it tastes like Sunday if Sunday was a rectangle.
Do not overthink the dough. The pan does the work. The sauce should taste like tomatoes, not a simmered ragu.
Ingredients
Pick one dough — homemade or a store-bought ball.
Homemade dough
- 400 g bread flour
- 280 ml water
- 10 g salt
- 4 g instant yeast
- Olive oil
Premade dough
- 450–500 g store-bought pizza dough, pressed thin in the sheet
Sauce and toppings
- Crushed tomatoes, salt, a pinch of oregano
- Low-moisture mozzarella
- Pecorino
- Basil
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
Check Amazon.com
Ooni Koda 16 Pizza OvenCheck Amazon.comPizza Oven
Ooni Pizza Oven GlovesCheck Amazon.comHeat Gloves
Check Amazon.com
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
- 300
- Protein
- 14 g
- Carbohydrates
- 38 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Sodium
- 760 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 400 g bread flour, 280 ml water, 10 g salt, 4 g yeast, and 20 g oil.
- 02Rest 30 minutes.
- 03Fold once.
- 04Cold-proof overnight or proof 3 hours.
- 05Oil a sheet pan.
- 06Press the dough into a thin rectangle.
- 07Rest and press again if it snaps back.
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
- 01Cheese first, then crushed tomatoes over the top.
- 02Oregano, garlic, oil.
Cook
Oven
- 01Heat to 260°C (500°F).
- 02Bake 14–16 minutes until the bottom is fried in the oil and the tomato looks jammy.
- 03Rest.
- 04Squares.
Gas pizza oven
- 01Only if the pan fits.
- 02Medium flame, 8–10 minutes, turning.
- 03The sheet will scorch if you leave it on high.
- 04Rest.
- 05Squares.
Wood-fired oven
- 01Cooler floor, about 315°C (600°F). 8–10 minutes, turning the pan.
- 02Pull when the bottom fries.
- 03Rest.
- 04Cut into squares.
