Grandma Pie
If you grew up in Brooklyn like I did and if your grandmother was born in Italy, there is a very good chance she would make what is know as the Grandma Pie. A Grandma Pie is always square or rectangular and the mozzarella always goes on first then the sauce! Once you try pizza this way you will understand why the cheese goes down first. Good ingredients make all the difference. Use pizza flour from Italy, fresh mozzarella, pecorino romano cheese, locatelli if you can find it, and San Marzano tomatoes.
For the SAUCE you’ll need:
- 1 28 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes or a good quality Italian plum tomato
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp dry oregano
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 5 fresh basil leaves
Put all this into a blender and pulse until smooth. We don’t cook the sauce or heat the sauce, we use it at room temperature only.
Then you’ll need:
- Pizza dough
- Mozzarella sliced thin (it should be at room temperature)
- Grated Locatelli Romano cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil
- A heavy sheet pan
Directions:
- Put the olive oil in a sheet pan and spread to the ends and up the sides of the pan
- Place the dough into the pan and spread all the way to the sides
- If the dough resists let it sit in the pan for a couple minutes and continue
- Once it it stretched to the sides, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes to rise
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees
- First place the sliced mozzarella on the pizza that’s a Grandma Pie, then top with your sauce and sprinkle a good amount of pecorino romano cheese
- Place into the oven for 20-30 minutes or until done
Once you make this pizza you will probably never order one out.
Daniel Mancini
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