St. Louis-Style Pizza
A cracker-thin crust rolled out with a pin, a sweet oregano sauce, toppings to the edge and gooey, smoky Provel cheese, cut into squares.
Imo's Pizza calls itself the creator of the "Original St. Louis Style Pizza". Ed and Margie Imo opened in 1964 on The Hill, St. Louis's Italian neighborhood, and a hired chef used Provel "in place of the Mozzarella cheese traditionally layered on South St. Louis style pizza", Imo's own history says. So the style was already there: Lost Tables, a St. Louis restaurant history, finds Amedeo Fiore serving pizza at the Melrose Cafe by November 1946 and cutting it into squares. Provel is a processed cheese made from cheddar, Swiss and provolone, with a low melting point (Imo's). Feast Magazine reports that the name was filed as a trademark in 1947.
🇺🇸 This one is American
A cracker-thin crust rolled out with a pin, a sweet oregano sauce, toppings to the edge and gooey, smoky Provel cheese, cut into squares.
🇮🇹 The original
In Naples, pizza is a soft, thin-centered disc with a puffy, blistered rim, topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil and baked in about 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven. See the Pizza Napoletana Margherita recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
No yeast, rolled thin
With baking powder instead of yeast and a rolling pin instead of stretching, the crust stays flat and bakes crisp like a cracker.
Provel melts low
A processed cheese melts smooth and gooey at a lower temperature than mozzarella, so it covers the pizza without long strings. Wikipedia says it was meant to give a "clean bite".
Step by step
- Step 1
Set a rack in the lowest position and heat the oven to 425°F.
- Step 2
Stir the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, basil and oregano together.
- Step 3
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the oil and 8 tbsp water and stir, adding up to 2 tbsp more water, until a firm dough forms. Knead a few times, divide in half, cover and rest 10 minutes.
- Step 4
Roll each half on a sheet of parchment into a 10-inch round no thicker than 1/8 inch. Slide one, on its parchment, onto a 12-inch pizza pan.
- Step 5
Spread half the sauce to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Top with half the Provel, pepperoni, green pepper and onion, almost to the edge.
- Step 6
Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Repeat with the second pizza.
- Step 7
Cut each pizza into small squares and serve hot.
St. Louis-Style Pizza
Serves 4 (half a pizza each) · 2 pizzas, 10 inches each · 1 hr 5 min total
Crust
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 8 to 10 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Sauce
- 2/3 cup crushed tomatoes in purée
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
Topping
- 12 oz Provel cheese, shredded (or 1 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar, 1 cup provolone and 1 cup Swiss)
- 3 1/2 oz sliced pepperoni
- 1 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
Method
- Set a rack in the lowest position and heat the oven to 425°F.
- Stir the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, basil and oregano together.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the oil and 8 tbsp water and stir, adding up to 2 tbsp more water, until a firm dough forms. Knead a few times, divide in half, cover and rest 10 minutes.
- Roll each half on a sheet of parchment into a 10-inch round no thicker than 1/8 inch. Slide one, on its parchment, onto a 12-inch pizza pan.
- Spread half the sauce to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Top with half the Provel, pepperoni, green pepper and onion, almost to the edge.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Repeat with the second pizza.
- Cut each pizza into small squares and serve hot.
Adapted from Taste of Home, "St. Louis-Style Pizza" by Val Goodrich (Taste of Home Test Kitchen, updated 2025; two 10-inch pizzas). The page's body text mentions 1/2 cup of sugar in the sauce, but its ingredient list says 1/2 tsp; we follow the ingredient list. King Arthur Baking's Imo's-inspired version uses self-rising flour and a cheddar, smoked provolone and Swiss blend. Taste of Home. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Provel is sold mostly around St. Louis and online. The cheddar, provolone and Swiss blend is the Taste of Home swap, and a drop of liquid smoke gets closer.
- Bake one pizza at a time on the low rack so the bottom crisps.
- Cut it in squares, not wedges. The middle pieces are the prize.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Square cut. Documented ("party cut" or "tavern cut"; Taste of Home).
- Provel, not mozzarella. Documented (Imo's).
- No yeast in the crust. Disputed: Lost Tables says the crust is made without yeast, and both home recipes use baking powder or self-rising flour. Wikipedia calls the unleavened crust a misconception and says most big pizzerias use yeast; Feast says Fiore's original dough was yeasted.
- Imo's invented St. Louis pizza. Disputed: Imo's says "Original St. Louis Style Pizza" (1964; Feast says Imo's started as a carry-out in 1963). Imo's own history and Lost Tables show St. Louis-style pizza before Imo's, with Feast quoting historian Harley Hammerman that it was born at the Melrose Cafe.
- Where Provel came from. Disputed: Imo's says it was invented in St. Louis in 1947 and that "its origins are debated". Feast says Chicago's J.S. Hoffman Co. filed the name in 1947 and got it in 1950. Wikipedia says it was purportedly developed in the 1940s by Costa Grocery with Hoffman Dairy.
- Sweet sauce. Documented as the usual style (Wikipedia, citing food writer Alan Richman).
Every other pizza
Pizza Napoletana Margherita
The Naples original: a soft, hand-stretched dough with a puffy, charred rim, topped with hand-crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil, and nothing else.
Pizza Marinara
Naples' other classic, and the older idea: tomato, sliced garlic, oregano and olive oil on a soft, charred crust. No cheese, and no seafood either.
Sfincione (Palermo-Style Sicilian Pizza)
Palermo's tall, spongy pan pizza: cheese and anchovies pressed into the dough, a sweet onion and tomato sauce on top, and a crunchy blanket of oregano and toasted breadcrumbs.
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.
New York-Style Pizza
The big, thin, foldable slice: a cold-fermented bread-flour dough with a little sugar and oil, a smooth cooked tomato sauce and grated low-moisture mozzarella, baked hot and long until the cheese spots brown.
Grandma Pizza
Long Island's thin square pan pie: an oiled sheet-pan crust, mozzarella first, then raw tomatoes tossed with garlic, olive oil and oregano spooned on top.
New Haven White Clam Pizza
New Haven's famous "apizza": a thin, charred crust with olive oil, garlic, oregano, grated Pecorino Romano and fresh littleneck clams, and no mozzarella.
Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
A tall, flaky, buttery crust baked in a round pan, filled with a thick layer of mozzarella and topped with a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan. Eat it with a knife and fork.
Chicago Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza
Chicago's everyday pizza: a cracker-thin crust, a sweet herby sauce to the very edge, fennel-flecked sausage and mozzarella to the rim, cut into little squares.
Detroit-Style Pizza
A thick, airy rectangle baked in a well-oiled steel pan, with pepperoni under Wisconsin brick cheese spread to the very edge so it fries into a dark, crispy crown, and sauce spooned on top in stripes.
California-Style BBQ Chicken Pizza
The pizza that told America anything goes: barbecue sauce instead of tomato, smoky gouda and mozzarella, roasted chicken, red onion and fresh cilantro.
Weeknight Skillet Pizza
Store-bought dough crisped in a skillet on the stove, then finished under the broiler: a crackly-bottomed cheese pizza in about 35 minutes, no stone and no preheating.
Pan Pizza, Inspired by Pizza Hut
Inspired by Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza, not an official recipe: a thick, no-knead dough that rises in an oiled cast-iron skillet and bakes with a golden, almost fried bottom and cheese right to the edge.
Meatballs of the World
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Big, tender meatballs braised for an hour in red sauce over spaghetti. The one most Americans grew up with.
Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
Small, soft meatballs browned in butter, in a cream sauce made from the same pan, with lingonberry jam on the plate.
Danish Frikadeller
Pork meatballs shaped with a spoon and fried slowly in butter, crusty outside and soft in the middle.
Königsberger Klopse
German meatballs that are never fried: poached, then served in a creamy white sauce with capers.
Spanish Albóndigas in Almond Saffron Sauce
The tapas bar classic: small meatballs in a golden sauce thickened with fried almonds and bread.
Mexican Albóndigas with Chipotle and Mint
Soft meatballs with rice and fresh mint inside, simmered in a smoky tomato and chipotle broth.
Izgara Köfte (Turkish Grilled Meatballs)
Small, flat meatballs kneaded hard, rested cold, and charred on a hot grill pan.
Lion's Head Meatballs
Big, soft pork meatballs, stirred into a sticky paste, fried to set, then braised in a savory sauce.
Chicken Tsukune
Japan's chicken meatball: kneaded sticky, grilled on skewers, glazed with sweet soy tare, dipped in egg yolk.