St. Louis has a lot to be proud of – Budweiser, the Slugger, the Arch – but not surprisingly, my favorite is the St Louis style pizza! Featuring a square-cut, cracker-ish crust, this pizza is a great choice to share with friends and family while enjoying St. Louis’s other favorite past-times: beer and baseball!
Crispy like the crack of a bat at Busch baseball stadium, this is a one home-run of a pizza that everyone in St Louis loves!
The Origins of St Louis Style Pizza
Although I had the good fortune of visiting St. Louis to see a Cardinals game and got to try Budweiser’s special Select beer, it was only recently that I discovered St. Louis’s unique pizza.
St. Louis style pizza was a product of the post-World War II era, a time of culinary experimentation and cultural exchange. The influx of Italian immigrants to St. Louis brought with them a love for pizza, which was adapted to local tastes and ingredients, giving birth to this unique style.
And while the exact origins of the St. Louis style pizza are somewhat debated (aren’t they always?), the style is often attributed to Amedeo Fiore, who opened Melrose Pizzeria in the late 1940s (see this article from the St. Louis Daily Post Dispatch in 1947 reprinted by St. Louis Today). This pizzeria is credited with popularizing the style that would become known as St. Louis Pizza.
Others claim maybe it was Ed and Margie Imo, founders of Imo’s Pizza? But Imo’s didn’t open until 1964! Imo’s does take credit for introducing Provel cheese (more on that later), seemingly replacing the Provolone used by Mr. Fiore.
And irrespective of whether or not they came first, Imo’s Pizza now has some 100 locations, so they are certainly doing something right!
What Is St Louis Style Pizza?
There are certain characteristics that make St Louis style pizza unique:
- The Crispy Crust: One of the most distinctive features of St. Louis style pizza is its crust. Thin, cracker-like, and without yeast, the crust is crispy and almost flaky – a stark contrast to the chewy, bread-like crusts of other styles.
- Square Slices: St. Louis Pizzas are typically cut into squares or rectangles, also known as “party cut” or “tavern cut.” This method is perfect for sharing while also sharing a pitcher of St. Louis’ favorite bubbly beverage.
- Provel Cheese: Ever since introduced by Imo’s pizza, one of the most defining characteristic of St. Louis Pizza is the use of Provel cheese: a creamy, white processed cheese made from a blend of cheddar, Swiss, and provolone cheeses. This cheese melts beautifully and has a unique, tangy flavor that’s integral to the pizza’s identity.
- Simplicity in Toppings: St. Louis Pizza often features a more minimalist approach to toppings, focusing on a few quality ingredients that complement the unique crust and cheese.
How to Make a St. Louis Style Pizza Recipe
St Louis Pizza Recipe Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough ball – approximately 9 ounces (see below)
- 1 raw sweet Italian sausage – approximately 2.5 ounces
- 2 cups of provel cheese
- Can’t find it? Check the notes under tips and tricks!
- 1 teaspoon of pecorino or parmesan cheese
- 1 cup of pizza sauce:
- 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon of simple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon (or generous pinch) sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon (or generous pinch) oregano
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil (or garlic olive oil) for drizzling
St Louis Style Pizza Dough Recipe
Super-thin and crispy St Louis style pizza dough recipes often uses all-purpose flour and several recipes don’t add any yeast at all. However pizza champion Tony Gemignani recommends using his Master Dough recipe, and I too have found it worked very well. A typical store-bought pizza dough will generally work well for this pizza as well.
Making St Louis Style Pizza Sauce
This is a very simple sauce. It’s fairly thick (no extra moisture to soften up the crust) with some extra sweetness imparted by using simple syrup.
To make: Combine all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl. If the tomatoes are at all chunky, use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.
Preparing St Louis Style Pizza Dough & Cooking the Pizza
As discussed, St Louis pizza is very thin. It’s almost certainly going to be easiest to do this by using a rolling pin to get this as paper-thin as possible.
After rolling it out, you should dock the dough (poke holes in it) to keep it from inflating while cooking.
Cooking the pizza on a pizza screen will make sure the moisture can cook out from the bottom to increase the crispiness of the pizza.
Distribute the sauce over the pizza using the back of a spoon.
I prefer to add uncooked sweet Italian sausage to the pizza and cook it before adding the cheese. To do this, cut the casing open on an uncooked sausage and break the sausage into small bits (no larger than a quarter) and distribute over the pizza.
You’ll then partially cook the pizza like this before adding the cheese and returning it to the oven.
Tips and Tricks for this St Louis Style Pizza Recipe
- Provel cheese is not very easy to find. However, Provel is actually just a blend of white cheddar, Swiss, and provolone cheeses.
- The exact ratio used by different cheese produces varies, so you could either use 1/3 of each or lean into your personal favorite. For me, I love cheddar, but I do find it can be rather oily on a pizza, so I don’t go above 1/3 for it.
- It might be cheating a little, but Gruyere is technically Swiss but not classic Swiss cheese. Still, I love using some of it in this recipe!
- I’ve included cooking raw Italian sausage on the pizza. This is why the cheese is added later. You should have no trouble ensuring the sausage is fully cooked by following these instructions, but if you have any concerns, go ahead and pre-cook the sausage before putting on the pizza.
- I find the crust comes out cracker-crispy already, but some folks like to parbake the pizza crust. That means partially cooking the pizza crust before putting any toppings on it. If you do this, it’s even more important to dock the pizza so that it doesn’t puff up during cooking.
- Don’t go to heavy with your toppings. In particular, don’t use a lot of wet toppings or else your crispy crust won’t be quite so crispy!
St Louis Style Pizza Recipe
Equipment
- Rolling Pin Optional
- 1 Pizza Screen Optional, but strongly preferred.
- Pizza Cutter
- Pizza docker Optional – a fork will also do the trick
Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough ball approximately 9 ounces
- 1 sweet Italian sausage raw
- 2 cups provel cheese
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or garlic olive oil for drizzling
- 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese for dusting
Pizza Sauce
- ½ cup crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon simple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (generous pinch)
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano (generous pinch)
Instructions
Initial Steps
- If the dough has been refrigerated, remove and leave covered while it warms to room temperature (no higher than 70°F to get started).
- Preheat your oven to 550°F.
Make the Sauce
- Combine all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl. If the tomatoes are at all chunky, use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.
Prepare the Dough
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
- Gently hand knead the dough while working it into a circular shape. Add flour as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands or the surface.
- Use a rolling pin (a nice, heavy cylindrical one is ideal), roll out the dough as thin as possible (making sure it's round is secondary). You should be able to get make a 13" to 14" pizza.
- To keep the dough from puffing up, dock the pizza with a docking wheel or just by poking it with a fork.
- Transfer the pizza base to a pizza screen, if available.
- Make sure the dough is still spread flat and thin on the screen, otherwise gently pick up the edges and pull into the proper shape.
- Add the pizza sauce. Use a spoon to spread it over the dough leaving about 1/2" an inch around the edge without sauce.
- Tear or cut the casing of the sausage.
- Break up the raw sausage into small "quarter-sized" bits and distribute over the pizza.
First Bake
- Insert the pizza and screen in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and rotate 180° (do it now so you don’t forget)!
- Add the pizza cheese and return to the oven.
Second Bake
- Cook for an additional 3 minutes. Rotate the pizza and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.
- Remove and let sit on the stove top for 3 minutes.
- Use a spatula to separate the pizza from the pizza screen and transfer to a cutting board.
- Sprinkle the parmesan or pecorino cheese over the pizza to taste (generally, pretty liberally).
- Slice the pizza into squares and serve immediately.
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.