Roman Pizza al Taglio with Potato and Rosemary
Rome's sheet-pan pizza by the slice: a very wet dough, cold-risen for a day, baked airy and crisp, topped with paper-thin potatoes, rosemary and olive oil, and cut into rectangles with scissors.
Pizza al taglio ("by the cut") is Rome's everyday pizza: baked in long rectangular pans, cut to order and, at many shops, priced by weight like bread (Dissapore). Its modern dough, very wet and matured cold for a day or more, was worked out in the 1990s by pizza makers led by Angelo Iezzi, according to Dissapore, which puts it at 75% to 90% water and baked in an electric oven. Gabriele Bonci made it famous when he opened Pizzarium near the Vatican in 2003 (Scatti di Gusto). We call it International on the site: it is not the ancestor of an American pizza, it is how Rome makes pizza now.
Why it works the kitchen science
Very wet dough
At about 82% water the dough makes steam in the oven, so the crumb opens into big bubbles and the crust bakes up light and crisp instead of bready.
Time does the kneading
Folds and a long cold rest build the gluten without a mixer and give the dough its flavor.
Step by step
- Step 1
Whisk the flour and yeast in a large bowl, add the water and stir with a spatula until no dry flour remains. Rest 10 minutes, then add the salt and 2 tbsp oil and squeeze the dough with a wet hand until it absorbs them.
- Step 2
Over the next hour, fold the dough over itself in the bowl 3 or 4 times, about every 15 minutes, until it feels smooth and elastic.
- Step 3
Oil a 13 x 9-inch pan with 1 tbsp oil, press the dough into a rough 10 x 7-inch oval, cover tightly and refrigerate 16 to 24 hours.
- Step 4
Oil a rimmed baking sheet with 2 tbsp oil. Turn the cold dough out onto it and gently stretch it toward a 15 x 11-inch rectangle. Cover and let rise 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Meanwhile set a rack in the lowest position (on a steel or stone if you have one) and heat the oven to 450°F.
- Step 5
Toss the potato slices with 1 tbsp oil, the rosemary, salt and pepper.
- Step 6
Dimple the dough all over with oiled fingertips, pushing it into the corners. Shingle the potatoes over it in overlapping rows, drizzle with the last 1 tbsp oil and sprinkle with flaky salt.
- Step 7
Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are browned at the edges and the bottom is crisp and golden.
- Step 8
Slide onto a rack, rest 5 minutes and cut into 8 rectangles with kitchen scissors or a knife.
Roman Pizza al Taglio with Potato and Rosemary
Serves 4 (2 rectangles each) · one 15 x 11-inch pizza, 8 rectangles · 18 hr 40 min total
Dough
- 3 1/3 cups (416 g) bread flour
- 1 1/2 cups minus 1 tbsp (340 g) room-temperature water
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 1/4 tsp table salt
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tbsp for the pans
Topping
- 12 oz (340 g) Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/16 inch thick (a mandoline helps)
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tbsp to drizzle
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 tsp table salt and black pepper
- Flaky sea salt
Method
- Whisk the flour and yeast in a large bowl, add the water and stir with a spatula until no dry flour remains. Rest 10 minutes, then add the salt and 2 tbsp oil and squeeze the dough with a wet hand until it absorbs them.
- Over the next hour, fold the dough over itself in the bowl 3 or 4 times, about every 15 minutes, until it feels smooth and elastic.
- Oil a 13 x 9-inch pan with 1 tbsp oil, press the dough into a rough 10 x 7-inch oval, cover tightly and refrigerate 16 to 24 hours.
- Oil a rimmed baking sheet with 2 tbsp oil. Turn the cold dough out onto it and gently stretch it toward a 15 x 11-inch rectangle. Cover and let rise 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Meanwhile set a rack in the lowest position (on a steel or stone if you have one) and heat the oven to 450°F.
- Toss the potato slices with 1 tbsp oil, the rosemary, salt and pepper.
- Dimple the dough all over with oiled fingertips, pushing it into the corners. Shingle the potatoes over it in overlapping rows, drizzle with the last 1 tbsp oil and sprinkle with flaky salt.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are browned at the edges and the bottom is crisp and golden.
- Slide onto a rack, rest 5 minutes and cut into 8 rectangles with kitchen scissors or a knife.
Dough and method adapted from Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen, "Pizza al Taglio with Potatoes and Soppressata" by Andrew Janjigian (2022), 82% hydration: (hydration testing in). Our changes: we leave out the soppressata, provolone and tomato sauce and top it Roman "patate" style with potato, rosemary and oil, as in the Bonci-style potato pizzas Scatti di Gusto describes. The potato amount, rosemary and the fold timing are ours. Bonci's own home dough (24 hours in the fridge, 80% water or more) is at scattidigusto.it. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- The dough is sticky. Wet or oil your hands instead of adding flour.
- Slice the potatoes thin enough to see light through them, or they won't cook through in time.
- Many Roman shops bake al taglio in electric deck ovens (Dissapore). A steel on the lowest rack of a home oven gets you close.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Sold by weight. Disputed: Dissapore and Wikipedia say Roman shops price al taglio by weight, like bread; Cook's Illustrated says it is sold by the length and cut with scissors.
- Electric oven. Disputed: Dissapore says al taglio is baked in electric ovens; Wikipedia says the most traditional shops use wood-fired ovens and electric ones are common today.
- Bonci invented it. Folklore: Dissapore credits the high-hydration teglia dough to 1990s pizza makers led by Angelo Iezzi; Bonci popularized it.
- Long fermentation. Documented, but the length varies: Bonci's home recipe says 24 hours in the fridge; Dissapore says 24 to 72 hours.
- Sourdough required. Folklore: Bonci himself says dry yeast is fine and calls the sourdough craze a fad (Scatti di Gusto, 2013).
- Rome's other pizza. Documented: the round "tonda romana" is the opposite, a thin, crisp dough rolled with a pin (Dissapore).
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