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Our Philly-style tomato pie is easy to make anywhere in the world with just a few ingredients. The secret? We channel Detroit-style pizza to achieve an outstanding crispy pan pie that’s delightfully crunchy and loaded with big tomato flavor.
We bought an aluminum Lloyd pizza pan with the goal of making Detroit style pizza. But, living in Portugal, we encountered some challenges. How do we find the right cheese? Will pizza dough behave the same way in the humid Lisbon air? How do we make high hydration dough without making a sticky mess? Making pizza by hand heightened those challenges.
While working with Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Detroit pizza recipe on the Serious Eats website, it hit us. We could create a pizza variation that echoed closer to home – classic South Philly tomato pie.
Philly’s tomato pie may be new to you if you don’t have a connection to the City of Brotherly Love. As for us, It’s a classic Philly food that we eat whenever we’re home and miss when we’re away. We both spent a good portion of our lives in Philadelphia and one of us was born there.
Either way, you’ll love making and eating Philly-style tomato pie at home. It’s a moderately healthy pizza alternative that’s easy to make. Unlike Detroit pizza, you don’t have go crazy sourcing special cheese. And, since little or no cheese is required, the calorie count isn’t too bad. You can even make a vegan version if that’s your thing. We can’t say the same thing about our Philly cheesesteak recipe but that’s to be expected.
Pro Tip
Since Philly-style tomato pie stays fresh for hours after it’s baked, it’s a great dish to serve when you’re having friends over or to bring to a party. Be aware that it will probably disappear quickly after people eat their first few bites.
Our Philly-style tomato pie recipe has two main componetents – dough and sauce. We start the recipe by making a simple dough with flour, instant yeast, water and salt. The sauce is almost as simple but, unlike classic tomato sauce for pasta, it has a generous amount of sautéed garlic, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder and salt. A few basic toppings finish the pie
Starting with the dough, here’s everything you need to make tasty tomato pie at home:
1. Dough
Pro Tip
You can measure the water temperature from the tap with an instant read thermometer. Alternatively, you can place cold water in a pot over your stove and warm it slightly. You’ll want to measure the temperature either way.
2. Sauce
3. To Finish
You can finish the tomato pie as you like. Perhaps you’ll want to replicate the toppings available at your favorite pizza joint’s condiments bar. Or maybe you’ll choose to add one or more of our favorite toppings.
Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.
The first step is to make dough with a simple flour:water hydration level of 60 to 65 percent. It’s a simple dough that will feel smooth after about 10 minutes of kneading. It doesn’t need a huge amount of air like focaccia. Instead, this dough will have a consistent amount of rise. If you have the time, say a few extra hours, you could theoretically mix the dough in the morning and let it rise all day.
We use warm tap water in this recipe but you can heat your water on the stove if you’re squeamish about using water straight from the tap. Keep an eye on the water if you go with the stove option – its temperature will rise quickly. Whichever way you go, it’s easy to measure the temperature of the water with an instant read thermometer. Once you do, it’s time to make the dough.
Start by mixing the dry ingredients – flour, instant yeast and salt. Next, pour warm water into the dry ingredients and watch for the mixture to bubble a little. That’s when you know that the dough is activated.
Mix with a wooden spoon or a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms.
Once the dough comes together, knead it constantly with your hands, stretching and pulling the dough with your palms until a smooth dough forms.
Next, shape the dough into a ball.
Place the dough ball into a large mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with either plastic wrap or a lid and place the covered bowl in a warm place (70°f / 21°c to 75° / 24°c) for two hours. After about 90 minutes, start preheating your oven on the conventional, bottom heating setting to 400°f / °200°c.
The dough ball should be well developed and doubled in size when you hit the two hour mark. Do a window pane test to see if the dough has sufficiently developed. Stretch a small piece of dough into four corners. If you can see light through the dough without it breaking, you’re there.
Once you pass the window pane test, add a generous amount of olive oil, about 3 tablespoons, to a pizza pan and spread it evenly over the pan. (We use a special 10″x14″ aluminum pan that you can buy here.) This olive oil has a frying effect that creates a crisp, golden brown crust.
Move the developed dough ball to the oiled pizza pan and shape it into a rectangle. Stretch the dough as far to the edge as it will go. Initially, you’ll only be able to stretch to about an inch of the edge. Let it rest for a half hour and stretch it again.
The dough needs this time to relax since its gluten is so strong. After 30 minutes, the dough will stretch to the pan’s edges.
You can make the pizza sauce while the dough is relaxing. Pizza sauce, unlike the pasta sauce, should be substantially thick with enough viscosity for spreading.
Start by lightly sautéing minced garlic in a generous amount of olive oil until the garlic is just fragrant and light golden. (You don’t want it to turn brown and burn.) Next, add puréed tomatoes along with generous amounts of oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Simmer the sauce until it’s thick, about 30 minutes, over a low fire. As the sauce cooks, stir frequently. If the sauce gets too thick and sticks to the bottom of the pan, you can always thin it out with a little water.
Generously spoon the finished sauce on top of the stretched dough, leaving a half inch around the edges. At classic Philly bakeries like Iannelli’s and Sarcone’s, the sauce is added once the dough has par cooked. In this recipe, there’s no need to worry about that. The sauce won’t burn and the crust and crumb of the pie will stay airy.
Once you spread the sauce over the stretched dough, immediately place the pan on a pre-heated pizza stone in the middle of your oven. It’s totally ok if you don’t have a pizza stone. You can place the pan on the floor of the oven instead.
Cook the pie for 10 to 15 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the dough separates from the pan. If you’re not sure, you can wedge a spatula on the bottom of the pan and lift the pie out to check for doneness. The bottom of the pizza should be a beautiful golden brown.
Immediately remove the cooked pie from the pan with a spatula (It should slip right out) and place it on a cooling rack.
Serve the tomato pie hot or at room termperature. (Room temperature is the norm in Philadelphia.) Before serving, sprinkle on a generous amount of grated pecorino Romano. You can also sprinkle on additional toppings like dried oregano, garlic powder and chili flake.
Philly-Style Tomato Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Step-by-Step Instructions
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Mix the flour, instant yeast and salt in a mixing bowl until the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined
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Pour in the warm water and mix thoroughly. The water will activate the yeast and the dough will begin to bubble. Continue to mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon or dough whisk until you get a shaggy dough. Let the mixture sit in a warm place for at least 20 minutes or up to 4 hours.
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Knead the dough by stretching and turning it with your palm until it’s smooth, about 10 minutes. (It should become less sticky the more you knead it.) Do the window pane test: You should be able to see a faint light through the dough when you stretch a small piece into a square between your two hands.
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Shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing bowl. Let the dough ball rest, covered, in a warm place for 2 hours. It should double in size. About 15 minutes before the dough has risen, preheat an oven on the conventional setting to 400°f / 200°c. (If you’re using a baking stone, place the stone on the middle rack of the oven.)
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Spread 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a high-sided 14×10 metal pan (see equipment list). Remove the dough carefully from the mixing bowl, place it into the oiled pan and form it into a rectangle.
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Spread the dough as far to edges of the pan as it will go. Let the dough relax for another 30 minutes. (Once it’s relaxed, the dough should stretch from end to end in the pan.)
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Make the sauce while the dough is relaxing in the pan. Heat a 2-quart pan on medium and pour in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, about 30 seconds, add the minced garlic. Let the garlic sauté until it’s just fragrant, about a minute. Pour in the pureéd tomato and add the oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, optional hot chili flake and black pepper. Cook the sauce on a low fire until it’s reduced by about a third (about 20 to 30 minutes). The sauce should be very thick so that it slowly drips off a spoon. Add a little water if the sauce gets too thick and starts sticking to the bottom of the pot.
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Stretch the dough from edge to edge of the pan. Spread the sauce on top of the stretched dough with a large spoon, leaving 1/2 inch on the edges unsauced.
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Place the pan in the preheated oven on the stone, if using, or place it on the bottom surface of the oven. Bake for about 15 minutes and, using a spatula, lift the pie from the bottom of the pan, to check for doneness. (The pie should lift out of the pan easily.) The tomato pie will be done when the bottom is a beautiful golden brown.
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Once it’s done, remove the pie from the pan. Place it on a cooling rack so that it retains its crunch.
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Grate Pecorino Romano, along with any of the optional toppings, onto the pie. Cut the pie into eight equal portions and serve either hot or at room temperature.
Pro Tips
- You can let the pie cool and serve it at room temperature up to six hours after baking.
- Skip the grated cheese if you want to create a vegan version.
- Since the sauce is enough for two pies, you can refrigerate the extra sauce for up to a week and use it later.
- You can substitute Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano for the Pecorino Romano. Note that your tomato pie may not have the same salty flavor punch.
- Get creative with the pie toppings. Potential add-ons include pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, hot honey and even pineapple.
💡 Frequently Asked Questions
Popularized by Italian immigrants in the early 20th century, Philly-style tomato pie is a pizza variation that’s notable for its thick crust and tangy tomato sauce. It’s typically dusted with grated pecorino cheese and served at room temperature.
Philly-style tomato pie was invented at South Philly bakeries more than a century ago.
Bread Flour, Instant Yeast, Warm Water, Salt, Tomato Passata or Crushed Whole Tomatoes, Dried Oregano, Fresh Garlic, Garlic Powder, Olive Oil, Onion Powder, Pepper and Hot Chili Flake
Yes. It is.
Yes. Omit the grated Pecorino Romano cheese at the end of the recipe if you want to make a vegan tomato pie.
Yes. You can add any topping you like. We don’t recommend adding toppings like uncooked greens, such as spinach, since they’re filled with moisture. That being said, you can add sautéed greens to the pie once they’re cooked.
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