If you’ve ever been to Rhode Island or grew up here, you know what a pizza strip is. It’s crunchy and chewy pizza that is topped only with red sauce and sometimes grated cheese. It’s found mostly in bakeries and is a bit sweet and super delicious!
Most bakeries are closed in Rhode Island on Mondays, (I’m not sure if that’s the case anywhere else?), but I was really craving some and I figured I’d try to make my own at home.
I am no chef, although I wish I played one on TV. 🙂 I just like to experiment in my kitchen and if all goes well, I’ll keep it in my dinner rotation.
Rhode Island-Style Pizza Strips
Author: The Mod Mommy
Ingredients
- 1 pound of fresh pizza dough
- ¼ cup olive oil (this will be divided. Some for sauce mixture, some for bottom of pan)
- 1 16 oz. can crushed tomatoes or 2 cups of homemade pasta sauce (this works if it's all you have)
- 1 TBSP white sugar
- 1 TBSP fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- Couple of shakes of garlic powder
- Couple of shakes of dried oregano
- ½ TSP of salt
- Black pepper to taste (not too much!)
- Cookie sheet for baking
Instructions
- Be sure to let your fresh pizza dough rise for a couple of hours before making pizza.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, combine crushed tomatoes (or homemade pasta sauce), ⅛ cup of olive oil, sugar, cheese, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Make sure everything is incorporated and distributed evenly.
- Put the remaining olive oil on the cookie sheet covering completely.
- Roll out dough and position to fit inside cookie sheet. Be sure to give yourself a little crust along the edges.
- Prick the dough with a fork to prevent it from bubbling.
- Top the dough with your sauce mixture. Smear it on evenly and close to the edges as you would with normal pizza. You can also sprinkle cheese on the sauce before cooking too if you'd like.
- Bake at 400 degrees on the middle rack for 15-17 minutes.
- Let cool, then cut in strips or squares.
This pizza is delicious for lunch, to take to the beach, to serve at a party or just for any ol’ day.
I hope this works out for you as well as it did for me! Mangia!
Is it possible to use ready made dough or does it have to be fresh? Also, the finish product kinda looks like focaccia–could you use that instead? I’ve never had nor made these before so I apologize for the silly questions!
🙂
Hi Jessie! Hmmm, I’ve only experimented with dough bought at the supermarket or a bakery. I buy it frozen…it comes in a plastic bag, then I let it thaw and rise. Do you mean the kind from a can, like Pillsbury? It could work, but will definitely taste different. Maybe more like a biscuit? Also, Focaccia might be too thick. But, feel free to get creative. Pizza is awesome all the time! 🙂 P.S. Questions, not silly at all!
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Your pizza looks delicious, I’m going to try it tonight. Any ideas to convert it to a Caserta style with cheese on top? I could never figure out if Casertas puts the sauce on the cheese or the other way around.
Personally it seems like they par bake the dough with sauce, then add cheese with more sauce on top and bake again.
Hmm maybe you could try it both ways by doing half one way and half the other. I thought about adding grated Parmesan at the end of baking, but haven’t yet. Let me know how it goes! Good luck!
Sadly these look nor taste nothing like a true R.I pizza strip.
Hi Sandy, thanks for your comment. What’s your go-to bakery? I’m a big Calvitto’s and Tomaselli’s fan. I could never compete with top notch places, but I took a try at making my own. Thanks for testing the recipe too and for visiting my blog.
That looks amazing. Right up there with Vienna and Crugnale.
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You are too kind!!! Thank you!