5 Types of Pizza Crust to Elevate Your Pie

Ask consumers to name a preferred type of pizza, and chances are the crust comes into play. More than a base, the crust defines pizza by its ingredients, such as the type of flour (high-protein or gluten-free), leavening (sourdough or yeast), thickness (pan pizza or cracker crust) and style (Neapolitan, New York, Detroit and others).

While 51% of operators stick to one type of crust, offering more could increase sales, according to the Datassential 2024 pizza survey. Partially baked and premade crust can take a load off labor, but chefs say it’s best to consider all the components first. Great toppings, says the Datassential survey, are the most important factor in determining a great pizza, followed by crust and then sauce. When the crust component is great, there’s less waste – and plates return to the kitchen clean.

Sourdough/Neo-Neapolitan

Chewy and crispy
Achieving the “right chew and crisp balance” is worth the three-day dough process, says Tyler Fenton, chef and restaurateur at Reilly Craft Pizza & Drink in Tucson, Arizona. He uses a blend of five flours, including local whole grain, white Sonoran, wheat, red fife and other stone-ground and organic flours.

“The blend of flours was developed to give the dough enough strength for our extended fermentation, and to have the right chew and crisp balance,” he says. Fenton begins with a 24-hour yeast pre-ferment as the base, followed by a cold bulk fermentation. After it’s portioned and gets a 24-hour chilled rest, the dough comes to room temperature at least five hours before service.

Fenton sees the dough as neo-Neapolitan. “We have a longer bake time than classic Neapolitan, giving the dough more structure with a crisp yet tender crumb, a pleasant chew and nice acidity from the extended fermentation,” he says.

Executive Chef Kyle Stamps also makes a sourdough pizza at Mother Pizzeria in Newport, Rhode Island, with stone-ground flour from a local mill. He considers his pizza a cross between Neapolitan and New York style. “We try to bring the best of both worlds—a crispy bottom that stays crispy and also is light and chewy.”

Stamps fires his pizza at 650 degrees to create that ideal texture. “We shoot for a final dough temperature of 74 degrees. This lets the fermentation get going, but not too quickly. Let the dough guide you. Does it need a little more mixing or a few more folds for strength? The more you practice and work with it, the better and easier it gets, and you can start to recognize the signs.”

Sicilian

Light and airy
Chef Steven Chiappetti is after a focaccia-like crust that’s associated with the less common Sicilian-style pizza. “The crust is fermented overnight to let the yeast wake up and grow, producing that airiness on the inside and a nice crunch to the outside,” says Chiappetti of the Albert in Chicago. Cheese for a Sicilian-style pizza also varies from traditional pizza styles. Goat’s milk or an aged cow's milk—like provolone or scamorza—are more likely. Sicilian pizzas are also topped with fresh crushed tomato or white sauce, rather than the thicker and smoother varieties. “It's not too dense, and it’s not a dairy overload either,” he says.

Using the right flour is important with Sicilian pizza, and Chiappetti recommends a strong wheat flour. “The dough should feel soft and a little tacky,” he says. He rests the dough in a tightly covered container for 24 hours before it’s ready to fold and spread into a sheet pan for toppings.

Roman

Less edge, cracker-like texture
Executive Chef Wyatt Keith uses the same dough for Neapolitan and Roman-style pizzas at Hotel Healdsburg’s PizZando. But the dough balls for Roman-style pizzas are only two-thirds as big as for Neapolitan—200 grams versus 300 grams. “How you stretch the pizza is really important,” he says. “Neapolitan is the classic hand-tossed pizza style, with a large, puffy crust that has lots of caramelization. For those that want as little crust as possible, I recommend the Roman style, rolled very thin with toppings placed almost to the edge of the pizza. The dough is loosely poked with holes before baking, to prevent steam from building up and creating large pockets of air, and the result is a thin, cracker-like pizza with very little crust around the edge.”

Detroit

Carries loads of toppings
This rectangular pan pizza has a thick chewy crust traditionally topped with caramelized cheese, and at Kobo in Seattle, Chef/owner Shota Nakajima uses semolina flour and popcorn butter in his dough, and tops it with shredded mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses. “When I make grilled cheese sandwiches, the cheese chip that melts and solidifies on the side of the pan is my favorite part, and we focus on making sure there is a nice crunch by using Monterey Jack cheese around the edge,” he says. Nakajima loves carb-heavy Detroit pizza because the dough retains a nice moisture level, and can hold up well to a boatload of toppings.

Gluten-Free

Evolved and improved
At Mother Pizzeria, Stamps also offers yeasted gluten-free crust made with Caputo Fioreglut flour. “Caputo Fioreglut is gluten-removed, so it still contains some wheat,” he explains. “We make almost like a focaccia with it, using a good amount of olive oil and baked in a pan to prevent cross-contamination.” Stamps has seen a demand from customers for gluten-free, and was inspired to make a tastier homemade one with the help of a team member who eschews gluten. “The taste is different from our traditional sourdough, but we can make a light, crispy and airy option that I am proud of.”