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This rustic, cozy style of pizza - known as the Grandma pizza - needs to be on your radar!
When it comes to types of pizza, we really don't discriminate. Give us Neapolitan, Rome-style, Detroit-style, New York, Deep Dish... we'll take any slice, please and thank you.
There's another style of pizza that we believe deserves its moment in the spotlight - and while it's not new to the pizza scene by any means, it may be new to some of you! Enter the grandma pizza - sometimes known as nonna pizza, grandmother-style pizza, or any combination of the three. Per the name, this style of pizza is known for its rustic comfort... something grandma would make!
The comforting factor of this pizza style is exactly why Giada chose to showcase it at her fast-casual restaurant, Pronto, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Pronto serves up rectangular pizzas baked in sheet pans on top of homemade focaccia dough, cut into squares similar to the ones you'd find at a takeaway pizzeria in Rome. In a city as bustling as Las Vegas, it's surprising - albeit very welcome -to get a taste of something that makes you feel like you're at home.
What exactly entails a Grandma Pizza is, as much of Italian cuisine, up for some debate - but these are the main qualifiers.
The pizza at Pronto!
The rectangular shape.
The most obvious indicator of a Grandma pizza is the rectangular shape, as opposed to the more common circle. That's because these pizzas were originally baked in sheet pans, because, let's face it - that's all that most nonnas had at home! Continuing to bake the pizzas in this fashion not only pays homage to all those nonnas, but it creates a perfectly evenly crispy crust that can be broken up into square pieces, like you would with a focaccia. Speaking of which...
The fluffy, dense, delicious focaccia-style crust.
Instead of a traditional pizza dough, this type is baked on a focaccia-style dough. The main difference between focaccia and pizza dough is that focaccia has more yeast. This results in a crust that's airy, full of flavor, and fluffier than traditional pizza dough...
...But it's not too fluffy.
Here's where the pizza classification gets a bit more complicated. Sicilian-style pizza is very similar to Grandma-style, but Sicilian is much fluffier. Sicilian pizzas get a longer proof time, resulting in a very tall, fluffy, light and airy crust without much of a crispy edge. Grandma pizzas have a shorter proving time, which results in a crust that's still tender and fluffy - but a bit more crisp, and a bit more dense than the Sicilian counterpart.
What's left to do other than taste it? If you're local, stop over at Pronto for a bite of Giada's pizzas - and if not, turn to the recipe below!
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