Pizza Strips

Ingredients

For the Dough:

2¼ tsp active dry yeast

1⅔ cups room-temperature water

3½ cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)

1½ tsp kosher salt

3–4 tbsp olive oil, for the pan and dough surface

For the Sauce:

One 28-oz can of San Marzano, Cento, or Mutti whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp granulated garlic

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Salt to taste

Optional: a pinch of sugar to balance acidity; a pinch of red pepper flakes for warmth

Directions

Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let the mixture sit until foamy, five to ten minutes. Add the flour and salt and mix on medium-low speed until the dough is smooth, supple, and pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl, six to eight minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky.

Lightly oil a large bowl, transfer the dough to it, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and set aside in a warm spot until doubled in volume, about 1 to 2 hours. Meanwhile, grease the bottom and sides of an 18-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet generously with olive oil — more than you think you need. Turn the risen dough out onto the pan and begin pressing it gently toward the edges. If it springs back stubbornly, cover it and let it rest for fifteen minutes before continuing.

The rest allows the gluten to relax.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Do not cook the sauce. The raw mixture will concentrate, deepen, and bloom in the oven, and precooking it would push it past the point of brightness. The sauce should be thick — thick enough to mound slightly on a spoon — so if your canned tomatoes are particularly watery, drain some of the liquid before mixing. Quality tomatoes make an enormous difference in a dish with nowhere to hide.

Assembly and Baking

Once the dough has stretched to fill the pan, spoon the sauce over the surface and spread it with the back of a spoon, leaving a half-inch border around the edges. Set the pan aside, uncovered, and allow the dough to puff for twenty to thirty minutes. This final rest gives the crust lift and an open crumb.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Bake the pizza, rotating the pan once halfway through, until the crust is golden and slightly crisp on the bottom and the sauce has thickened and darkened at the edges, for 20 to 25 minutes. Use a spatula to check the bottom of the crust; it should be deeply golden, not pale.

For the characteristic char that many Rhode Islanders consider essential — those dark, caramelized spots across the sauce’s surface — move the pan to the top rack and broil for two to four minutes, watching closely. The difference between perfect char and burned sauce is less than a minute.

Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer it immediately from the pan to a wire rack. This step prevents the bottom crust from steaming and softening as it cools.

Finishing and Serving

Now the most important instruction in this entire recipe: do not serve the pizza strips hot. Allow them to cool to room temperature completely before cutting. This is not merely tradition — it is the point at which the dough firms into the right texture and the sauce settles into its full, concentrated flavor. Every true Rhode Islander will tell you this, and they are right.