Complete Guide to Pizza Styles

"Pizza" is really a family of breads. Italy alone has dozens of regional variants, and America has added at least five major styles of its own. Here are the world's most important pizza styles and what actually distinguishes them.

Pizza Napoletana — Neapolitan

The grandparent of all modern pizza. Born in Naples, baked in a wood-fired stone oven at 430–480 °C for 60–90 seconds. Thin and soft base, puffed rim (the cornicione), often soupy in the middle. Protected by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. The defining pie: the Margherita pizza.

Hydration around 60–65%, Italian 00 flour, and toppings restricted to tomato, mozzarella, basil, oil and salt — minimalism is the point. Confused about flour? See our flour selection guide.

New York Street Style

Brought to New York by Neapolitan immigrants in the early 1900s, but baked in lower-temperature gas deck ovens (~290 °C). Larger, thinner, foldable slices, with cheese covering the whole pie. Hydration around 60%, made with high-protein US bread flour.

Sicilian / Sfincione

Square, thick, visibly fermented. Traditional Sfincione is topped with breadcrumbs, onion, and anchovy, with cheese added last. The American "Sicilian slice" is a descendant of this tradition.

Detroit Style

Square deep-pan pizza baked in blue-steel trays (originally car-parts trays). Cheese is pushed to the very edges, forming a crisp "frico" crust. Tomato sauce is striped on top after baking — hence "red top". High hydration (70%+) gives a fluffy interior and a deeply caramelised bottom.

Chicago Deep Dish

Not really a pizza — more a savoury pie shaped like one. Up to 5 cm deep, with cheese first, then fillings, then tomato sauce on top. Bakes 30–45 minutes.

Roman: Pizza Romana & Pizza al Taglio

Two distinct Roman styles: thin-crisp round Pizza Romana, and the rectangular cut-and-weighed Pizza al Taglio. The latter is extremely high hydration (80%+) using high-hydration pre-ferments.

Hong Kong Fusion

Recent Hong Kong restaurants combine local flavours with traditional bases — Char-Siu & Pineapple, Roast Duck, Typhoon-Shelter Chilli Prawn. The dough is usually Neapolitan or New York, but the toppings are entirely local. Read more in Hong Kong Pizza Culture.

Next steps

Want to make pizza yourself? Try our Neapolitan recipe, scale it with the dough calculator, and pick toppings using the toppings & sauce guide.