Dough
70%
Hydration
Wet enough to proof airy and open, structured enough to hold the toppings without collapsing. Bread flour, not 00.
Style guide · Sicilian
Sicilian.
An ancestor and a parallel. Sicily's sfincione is the foundation; New York's Grandma slice is the cousin who emigrated. Both rectangular, both baked in a well-oiled pan, both built on the idea that a thicker base supports bolder toppings.
01 · History
From sfincione to the corner pizzeria's back oven.
Sfincione — "sponge" in Sicilian — is a thick, focaccia-like flatbread from Palermo, topped with onions, anchovies, breadcrumbs, and tomato. Cooked in deep oiled trays in the back rooms of bakeries.
The Sicilian immigrants who landed in New York in the early 20th century brought the dough but adapted the toppings. The back-pan Sicilian slice — sauce on top, cheese underneath, baked square in a sheet pan — became a staple of corner pizzerias' afternoon counter.
Grandma slice is the home-cook adaptation: thinner than Sicilian, dimpled to hold pools of tomato and garlic, more EVOO, no fancy cheese. Named for the way Italian-American grandmothers made pizza in their home ovens — in whatever pan they had.
By the rules
Thick and pillowy for Sicilian; thinner and dimpled for Grandma. Both: bread-flour dough proofed directly in an oiled half-sheet pan, baked at 450–475°F. Sicilian uses low-moisture mozz under sauce on top; Grandma uses crushed tomato + garlic + EVOO with a light dusting of cheese.
02 · Defining traits
Per pan
800g
Half-sheet
Stretches to fill a standard 13×18 half-sheet. Long proof in the oiled pan, 1–2 hours, until it springs back slowly from a poke.
Bake
18 min
At 475°F
Standard home oven, no special equipment. The oil in the pan fries the bottom into a crisp shell; the inside stays tender and bready.
03 · Classic recipes
04 · Make it
One click into the calculator
Make a Sicilian dough.
Opens the dough calculator with Sicilian pre-selected. Pick your pan dimensions and a 24-hour cold ferment; we'll handle the high-hydration math and the in-pan proof timing.
Open the dough calculator→
Pair with
The topping calculator opens with Grandma slice preconfigured — crushed tomato, garlic, EVOO, light dusting of cheese.
Open the topping calculator→
Equipment
Three questions on budget, space, and how often you bake — we'll recommend a curated equipment build to get you started.
Open the equipment quiz→