🇮🇹 Italian · Bread
🍕 Pizza Bianca
Pizza Bianca Romana
Pizza Bianca is Rome's beloved 'white pizza' — no tomato, no cheese, just a thin, crackling, olive-oil-brushed flatbread with flaky salt, sold by the slice in bakeries across the city.
Traditionally the first thing baked to test the oven's temperature before a full day of bread baking, pizza bianca has become a Roman institution in its own right, eaten plain, split and filled with mortadella, or dunked into coffee for breakfast.
Ingredients
Equipment: Large bowl, Baking sheet, Baking stone (optional)
- 500 g (4 cups) bread flour
- 350 ml (1½ cups) warm water
- 7 g (2¼ tsp) active dry yeast
- 10 g (2 tsp) fine sea salt
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
- Flaky sea salt, for topping
- Fresh rosemary (optional)
Method
- Dissolve the yeast in warm water and let stand 5 minutes until foamy.
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast water and olive oil, mixing to a wet, shaggy dough.
- Knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic — the dough should remain quite soft.
- Cover and let rise for 2–3 hours until doubled and airy.
- Preheat the oven to 250°C (480°F), with a baking stone inside if you have one.
- Generously oil a baking sheet. Turn the dough out and stretch it thin directly on the sheet, dimpling with fingertips as you go.
- Brush generously with olive oil and scatter with flaky salt (and rosemary, if using).
- Bake for 15–20 minutes until deeply golden and blistered in spots.
- Slide onto a rack briefly, then cut into rectangles and serve warm.
Chef Tips
- A very hot oven is essential — this is what gives pizza bianca its characteristic blistered, crisp exterior.
- Stretch the dough as thin as it will comfortably go without tearing.
- Generous olive oil both in and on top of the dough is non-negotiable — it's the whole point of "white" pizza.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Rolling the dough with a rolling pin instead of stretching by hand — this deflates the air bubbles that give it texture.
- Skimping on olive oil, resulting in a dry, dull crust.
- Not preheating the oven hot enough, leading to a pale, unblistered surface.
Nutrition (per serving)
Health Benefits
- Lower in fat than cheese-topped pizzas while still being rich in heart-healthy olive oil.
- Simple ingredient list with no processed additives.
Cultural Note
Romans traditionally eat pizza bianca split open and stuffed with a few slices of mortadella as an afternoon snack — a combination so beloved it has its own name, 'pizza e mortazza.'
Storage & Serving
Storage: Best eaten the day it's made. Store at room temperature wrapped in a towel for 1 day.
Reheating: Refresh in a hot oven for 3–5 minutes.
Serve with: Sliced mortadella (split and filled, as eaten in Rome), Prosciutto, Cappuccino for breakfast