Wess.pizza

Open all night

Rome, sold by weight · 1950s

Roman al taglio

Pizza in teglia

Sold by the cut, weighed on a scale

Get ingredient amounts

Very wet dough, very long cold ferment, baked in an oiled steel tray and cut with scissors. The crumb is the point: big irregular holes, a crisp fried bottom from the oil in the pan, and a top that stays light under whatever you put on it.

How to make it

  1. Mix flour and 90% of the water to a shaggy mass. Rest 30 minutes.
  2. Add the salt and the last water, then the oil, working it in with wet hands rather than kneading.
  3. Four sets of stretch and folds in the bowl, 30 minutes apart. The dough goes from soup to something that holds a shape.
  4. Cover and refrigerate one to three days.
  5. Tip out onto a floured board without deflating it, fold into a rough rectangle, and let it come to room temperature for two hours.
  6. Oil the tray heavily. Press the dough from the centre out with flat fingers, working in stages so it does not tear, and let it relax if it fights you.
  7. Proof in the pan until puffed, dimple it, then dress and bake.

Fermentation

StageTimeTemperatureNotes
Bulk with folds 3 h 21°C / 70°F
Cold ferment 48 h 4°C / 39°F 24 to 72 hours all work.
Pan proof 3 h 22°C / 72°F Until it fills the corners and jiggles.

This is the recipe's usual schedule. If you picked a different ready time in the calculator, follow the timeline on your ingredient list. How to read the dough →

The bake

Oven280°C536°F
Time12-18 minutes

Surface. Oiled steel or aluminium tray, on a stone or the oven floor

Bake the base with sauce only until set and coloured underneath, then add cheese and finish. Delicate toppings go on after the oven. Lift a corner with a spatula to check the bottom is properly browned, not just dry.

On top

Sauce
Passata with salt and oil, or nothing at all for a bianca.
Cheese
Added late so it melts without turning to leather.
Toppings
Potato and rosemary, mortadella and pistachio, zucchini and stracchino. Rome treats this as a sandwich in disguise.

You got it right when An open, glossy crumb and a bottom that rattles on the board.