I have to admit, the idea of cold toppings on a pizza? I was skeptical of what makes Ohio Valley Style Pizza unique! This rebel pizza breaks the rules and does it with style!
Ohio Valley’s Best-Kept Secret
Let’s turn back the clock to the post-war Americana, the birth era of Ohio Valley Style Pizza. It’s a style that emerged in the Ohio Valley region, particularly in places like Steubenville, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia. You could say it’s as American as apple pie, but for the pizza lovers.
It would appear that the Ohio Valley Style Pizza was created by Michael and Caroline DiCarlo and their son Primo DiCarlo in the early shortly after World War II. Apparently, Primo had served in Europe during the war and had eaten pizza in Italy and created his own version when he got home. In 1945, the family opened “Original DiCarlo’s Famous Pizza Shop” where his pizza sold for just 10 cents per slice!
Earning the nickname “The Poor Man’s Cheesecake”, this pizza became a local staple which has endured with three locations to this day!
What Makes Ohio Valley Pizza Unique?
Cold Toppings (including Cold Cheese) on Hot Pizza
Let’s talk about what makes Ohio Valley Pizza the James Dean rebel of pizzas – it’s unconventional, it’s cool, and it’s surprisingly good. The twist? The cheese. This pizza comes out of the oven cheese-less, and then – in a move that defies all pizza logic – cold, shredded cheese is sprinkled on top. Yes, cold cheese on hot pizza. It’s like wearing sunglasses at night; it shouldn’t work, but it does.
The Crust: Pan Style
A newspaper article written in the Wheeling News Register in 1949 described DiCarlos pizza recipe as having “an Italian bread dough base”. This comes from cooking a higher gluten dough in a square or rectangular pizza pan with square edges. The pan allows the bottom of the crust gets crispy and able to support the sauce and toppings.
The Sauce: Where the Magic Happens
The sauce is different from many pizzas in that it is cooked before application. Simmering the sauce for a few hours reduces the water from the hand-crushed tomatoes. But the real magic is in its application. The sauce is spread on the crust before cooking the dough, letting the flavors bake right into the base. It’s like the baseline of a great song – you might not notice it at first, but it’s what keeps everything grooving.
Toppings: Keep it Classic
When it comes to toppings, Ohio Valley Style Pizza is like a classic rock album – it doesn’t need any remixes or fancy collaborations. You’ll find the usual suspects: pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and bell peppers, however I believe simple is best – it allows more of the residual heat of the pizza to transfer to the toppings to give them a bit of warmth.
Also, it’s very important that the toppings be at room temperature and dry before application – otherwise, you might get a cold, wet toppings ruining that lovely pizza!
What You Need to Make This Ohio Valley Style Pizza Recipe
Ohio Valley Pizza Recipe Ingredients
This recipe makes a pizza that fits an 11″ x 13″ pan. To make a pizza to fit a standard 10″ x 15″ cookie sheet, you’ll need about 10% more of the toppings shown below.
- 13 ounces of pizza dough (use 15 ounces for a cookie sheet)
- If you’re not sure you’ll get enough rise out of it, go ahead and use a couple extra ounces.
- Pizza sauce (this makes about 1 1/2 cups and you only need about 1 cup to top this size pizza – but you can apply extra, or use the extra for dipping!)
- 28 ounce can of whole, steam-peeled tomatoes (San Marzano preferred)
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups of grated provolone cheese
- I used very coarse grated, but that’s not necessary
- (Note that some say a mix of grated provolone and mozzarella is the secret)
- 12 slices of pepperoni at room temperature (preferably very thinly sliced)
- Optional: DiCarlos appears to use dried basil in their sauce, but we much prefer adding some fresh basil to the top after cooking.
- (Other toppings can be added, as you prefer – just make sure they are dry and at room temperature)
How to Make Ohio Valley Style Pizza
(Specifically, a copycat of the DiCarlos Pizza Recipe)
If you’re going to follow in someone’s footsteps, follow the leader! This recipe recreates the DiCarlos Pizza recipe to the best of my ability.
As mentioned, the Ohio Valley style pizza relies on the square crust, so the first, and possibly most important, step is forming the dough in the pizza pan.
Preparing the Pizza Dough
The dough used in Ohio Valley style is generally a bread-flour based dough that has plenty of rise. You can use store-bought dough but you’ll need to give it a little help. I suggest removing the dough from the fridge, opening up the package, adding 1/4 teaspoon of dry active or instant yeast, and kneading it for a couple of minutes to integrate it. Then cover the dough with a damp tea towel for at least an hour while it warms to room temperature. This should jump start the dough when you go to the next step.
If you make your pizza dough yourself, you’ll want a bread-flour based dough. I use Tony Gemignani’s Master Dough recipe for this pizza, but you can readily use our Easy Peasy Pizza Dough – it just needs more time for the yeast to activate.
Whichever dough you use, the most important step is to give the dough the time needed to come to room temperature, rise, and fill the pan. While the dough is warming to room temperature is the best time to start the sauce (so skip ahead).
After You’ve Started the Sauce and the Dough is at Room Temperature
Lightly oil your pan with about 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Use a basting brush (or your finger) to spread the oil evenly across the entire pan, including the edges.
Gently transfer your warmed, risen dough to the pizza pan. Keep the dough “pretty side” up.
Gently use your fingers to press (or “piano”) the dough from the center outward to the edges of the pan. The dough will spring back a bit and it will not completely fill the pan. This is normal. Just get the dough roughly the shape of the pan, even though it doesn’t yet fill the pan.
Cover the dough with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm, draft-free area (perhaps in your microwave) for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, uncover the dough. It will have expanded but probably still not filling the pan. Gently pick up the four edges of the pizza one at a time, tug it just a little towards the edge of the pan and let it back down. Again, “piano” the dough with your finger tips to gently push the dough towards the edges and corners. You want to preserve as much air as possible in the dough while stretching it.
It’s NOT essential to fill the pan, especially not if it means completely deflating the dough!
Return the damp tea towel to the top of the pizza and again let it rest for at least one hour.
Making Ohio Valley Pizza Sauce
As mentioned above, this recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce and you can get away with only using 1 cup. But you can easily use all the sauce – or use the extra to dip the crust!
I believe the most important part of this sauce is the hand-crushed tomatoes. The natural inconsistency of hand-crushed tomatoes adds something special. Simmering the sauce also develops the flavor while cooking off the extra moisture.
- In a large sauce pot, pour in the can of whole, steamed tomatoes.
- Using your bare hands, crush the tomatoes. Because they will basically explode in your hand (and make a big mess!), you should crush them with your palm face down. An extra precaution is to take a tea towel and drape it over your hand and the pot while you do this step.
- Crush each tomato completely.
- Add all of the rest of the sauce ingredients.
- Place the pot on the stove top at low heat and simmer uncovered for at least 2 hours. Stir occasionally.
- When adding the sauce to the pizza, add it while the sauce is still warm.
Cooking Ohio Valley Pizza
- Place the pizza with a thin layer of sauce (about 1/2 cups) in the oven for 7 minutes
- Remove the pizza. Turn the pan 180 degrees now (you’ll forget if you don’t do it now!)
- Add another thin layer of sauce (about another 1/2 cups)
- Add a sprinkling of grated cheese
- Return the pizza to the oven
- Cook the pizza for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven.
- Use a spatula to carefully transfer the pizza to a cutting board.
- Cut the pizza into square slices.
- Apply the rest of the provolone cheese
- Apply the room temperature pepperoni
- Optional: tear and add fresh basil
- Serve while still warm!
The residual heat of the pizza will partially melt the provolone and will likely get the pepperoni to sweat a little, but neither will fully cook. That’s the hallmark of this style.
Tips & Tricks for this DiCarlos Pizza Recipe
There are a handful of tips you might want to explore if you’re attempting to copy DiCarlos pizza to the letter:
- If you’re not sure if your dough is going to rise enough, it’s better to err with a little extra dough than not enough. I used 13 ounces for a 11″ x 10″ pan but I could have easily used 14 or even 15 ounces, especially if I didn’t have time for the dough to rise.
- Many folks are convinced that there is honey in DiCarlos’ pizza dough. There’s no sugar or honey in the Tony Gemignani Master Dough but there is in our Easy Peasy Pizza Dough. If you are making the Master Dough, you can add 1 teaspoon of honey during the mixing stage. If using our Easy-Peasy, substitute 1 tablespoon of honey for the 1 teaspoon of sugar in the recipe.
- Getting the dough to fill the pan completely isn’t more important than making sure the dough retains some air – so don’t over-work it just to fill the corners.
- If you really like the irregularity of hand-crushed tomatoes and if they are in season (or at least really good ones are available), substitute half of the tomatoes for fresh ones from the garden or farmers market! But your typical grocery store tomatoes probably won’t be as flavorful.
- A longer simmering time for the sauce will make for a nice thick sauce, as the water boils off. But if you’re short on time, you might not be able to wait that long. Therefore, before you add them to the sauce pan, you can crush the tomatoes and strain them. This will remove a lot of fluid which you should set aside – you can add back some of the water to make sure the sauce isn’t too thick.
Reheating Ohio Valley Pizza
There’s probably no pizza better to reheat than this pizza. Naturally, as soon as you do, the cheese and pepperoni will actually cook – but there’s nothing wrong with that either!
I recommend warming the pizza to room temperature on the counter before putting in a toaster oven for about 8 minutes on medium high.
Ohio Valley Style Pizza Recipe
Equipment
- 1 11" x 10" Pan
- 1 Pot
- 1 Pizza Scissors (Optional)
Ingredients
- 13 ounces Pizza dough Using a larger pan will require more dough.(recommend our copy-cat version of Tony Gemignani’s Master Dough recipe but you can use another bread flour based recipe)
- 1 teaspoon. olive oil extra virgin
Ohio Valley Style Pizza Sauce
- 26 ounces whole steamed tomatoes (use a high quality brand)
- 1 teaspoon oregano dried
- ½ teaspoon garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt sea salt preferred
- ½ tablespoon brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon olive oil extra virgin
Toppings
- 1.5 cups provolone grated
- 12 slices Pepperoni (mini cups preferred)
- ¼ cup basil leaves fresh, chopped (or 2 teaspoons of dried)
Instructions
Preparing the Dough
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to warm up for 1 to 2 hours on the countertop.
- Drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil into the center of the pan. Use a basting brush to spread the oil across the entire pan, including the sides.
- Gently transfer the dough into the center of the pan.
First Stretch
- Gently using the fingers of both hands, press the dough outward (not pulling) to stretch the dough towards the edges of the baking sheet. The dough won’t likely get all the way to the edges this first time. Don’t tear the dough trying to get to the edges, but try to get it about the right shape of the pan.
- Let the dough rest uncovered in a warm space away from any draft for 30 minutes. The dough will contract initially but it will also start expanding.
Making Ohio Valley Pizza Sauce
- Open the can of tomatoes and put into a fairly large pot (the tomatoes will burst when crushed, so a larger pot is helpful).
- Using clean hands, crush the tomatoes inside the pot. To prevent tomato juice going everywhere, crush with your fingers facing down. Covering the pot with a tea towel will better prevent the juice going everywhere.
- Combine the remaining sauce ingredients in the pot.
- Stir the sauce thoroughly.
- Simmer the sauce on low heat to reduce the water content.
Second Stretch
- Use your fingers to gently “pillow” (press like you’re playing the piano) the dough to cover the entire pan. Try to preserve the airy texture but also trying to get the dough evenly distributed across the pan. It will still likely not reach the corners completely. You can pick up the edges of the dough and gently pull the dough towards the edges of the pan.
- Let the dough rest uncovered again in a warm space, away from any draft for 90 minutes. The dough should expand to the edge of the pan and nearly fill the bottom entirely now. Even if it doesn't, do not stretch or press the dough again.
- Preheat your oven to 500°F. If you have a pizza stone big enough, you can cook the pizza in the pan on top of the pizza stone.
- When the pizza goes into the oven (next step), begin to warm the sauce at low heat.
Cooking the Ohio Valley Style Pizza
- Prepare your toppings: grate the cheese, pull out the pepperoni, and make sure everything is up to room temperature before the pizza goes in the oven.
- Apply a fairly thin layer of sauce across the pizza leaving 1/2" border around the edge. This should be about 1/2 cup of sauce.
- Place the pizza pan in the oven. If you have a pizza stone, place the pan on the stone. Cook for 7 minutes.
- Remove the pizza pan from the oven and place on top of the stove or on a large wooden cutting board.
- Rotate the pan 180°.
- Add another layer of sauce to the pizza (again about 1/2 cup, or a bit more if you are so inclined).
- Distribute a small amount (about 1 handful) of grated provolone cheese on top of the sauce.
- Return the pizza pan to the oven and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the pizza pan from the oven.
- The edge of the crust should be golden brown and the cheese browning. If it's not quite done, return to the oven for 2 more minutes.
- Use a spatula to transfer the pizza from the pan to a cutting board.
- Cut the pizza into squares.
- Add the rest of the grated provolone cheese to the top of the hot pizza. The sauce will begin to melt the cheese, but it will not melt it completely.
- Add the pepperoni to the pizza.
- Tear and apply the fresh basil before serving.
- Optionally, put the extra sauce into ramekins or bowls for dipping.
Notes
Nutrition
Todd’s cooking skills have revolved around the grill since about age 12, when he developed a love for grilling and took over for Mom at the BBQ. He worked at Wendy’s and at Earl’s Tin Palace (a restaurant chain in Canada) but never really did any sort of baking…until he and Heather started making pizza together! Now he’s often making dough in the mornings and pizza in the evenings.