Traditional style
Traditional style pizza is any round pizza made without following the Neapolitan rules.
Neapolitan vs Traditional
Let me start by quoting the Neapolitan pizza international regulation.
The International Regulation is a set of codified rules, orally transmitted by Neapolitan’s generation of pizzamaker, passed down from father to son.
In 1984 Antonio Pace and Lello Surace reunited the most important and famous pizzamaker of the time to write down the fundamental rules to recognize and differentiate the True Neapolitan Pizza from the other type of pizza, giving it the maximum dignity. Since then, the International Regulation has been the heart of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, which protect the tradition of this old recipe and spread its secrets, defending its uniqueness and peculiarity.
Because the Neapolitan style pizza has its own rules,
How do you call a round pizza, similar to the Neapolitan, but that doesn’t follow the same rules??
Here you go, “Traditional.”
I have to say. Even in Italy, the Traditional style pizza is the most common pie that you can find. Outside of Naples, I mean.
Details
The traditional style pizza, as I already mentioned, has no specific rules.
It usually cooks at a temperature way lower than 400 °C (750 F): I would say, between 330 °C to 380 °C (630 F – 710 F).
It can be cooked in a wood fire oven, but also a gas one or electric.
The final product is crispier than the Neapolitan (because of the lower baking temperature), and the cornicione is thinner and less puffy.
The crust is not too dark and usually uniformly brownish.
The amount of dough used for a Neapolitan pizza must be between 200 and 280 g per pie (according to AVPN). A traditional pizza has a dough weight in a range between 180 and 230 g.
Obviously, these are just some general ideas.
New York-style, Pizza Romana, The Queen, Canotto and even NeoNeapolitan: These stiles are members of the traditional pizza family.
In various pizza competitions, it’s quite common to have a “traditional category”: The competitors must use red sauce and cheese. They must choose few (usually 2 or 3)ingredients from a list. The pizza has to be round, in size ranging 12” to 18”.
But these rules can be different depending on the judge’s choices.
Some traditional pizzas photo
The recipe
At this point maybe you would like to ask:
are the traditional style pizza ingredients the same as the Neapolitan?.
Is the difference only in the making process?
I have to tell you. In my career, the main extra ingredient I often see used in the traditional dough is the oil.
But it is quite common to see chefs that use honey. To “extra” feed the yeast, or to support the caramelization.
Someone uses milk. Or milk powder.
Look at Dominos pizza! Their pizza is a traditional style. They offer different kinds of crust, but only the “thin crust” is vegan. … This is quite interesting!!
Even if the most common ingredients for a traditional style dough are: Flour, water, yeast, salt, oil. You can use a wide range of other stuff: the limit is your imagination.
In conclusion, I want to share a recipe, made with Poolish, for a traditional style pizza.
I hope you will like it.