Grandma pizza

Grandma pizza

Type	Pizza
Place of origin	United States
Region or state	Long Island, New York
Main ingredients	Pizza dough, tomato sauce, cheese, tomatoes
Cookbook: Grandma pizza

Grandma pizza is a distinct pizza that originates from Long Island, New York. It is a thin, square pizza, typically with cheese and tomatoes, and is reminiscent of pizzas cooked at home by Italian housewives without a pizza oven. The pizza is often compared to Sicilian pizza.

A grandma pizza is usually cooked in an olive-oil coated half sheet pan with the dough shaped in a rectangle. Cheese is usually placed on first with the sauce going on top of the pizza rather than under the cheese. It is then put into a regular kitchen oven to bake, although now many pizzerias also use wood-fired ovens or stone ovens. After it is done baking, it is cut into small squares for serving.

History

The origins of grandma pizza can be traced back to the early 20th century on Long Island when immigrants from southern Italy tried to replicate some of the food from their home country with locally available ingredients. They eventually developed a pizza that would be made at home with simple ingredients in their kitchens. Due to the humble beginnings and background of the pizza, it was dubbed "grandma pizza" since it was mainly made by first-generation immigrants and rarely outside a home kitchen. Pizzerias rarely sold this type of pizza.

Despite having existed for decades, grandma pizza was little known outside of Long Island and even in New York many did not know about it. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the pizza became more popular and many pizzerias offered it. This was mainly due to people who had grown up eating grandma pizza finally being able to open up their own pizzerias and offer it as a sign of respect and homage to what they ate at home.