Ohio-style Pizza
Dough
I’ll give you a shortcut for the sauce, but you have to make your own dough! This recipe makes enough dough for two 14-inch pizzas. The dough can be made in advance and refrigerated, but set it out to return to room temperature before rolling & cooking.
- 1 package of yeast
- 1 cup water
- 1 heaping tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoons softened butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- Measure one cup of cold water and then heat it to 110-115 degrees. This takes 45 seconds – 1 minute in the microwave and I check the temp with a meat thermometer.
- Pour the water in a large mixing bowl and add the package of yeast and the sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix in the butter, salt, and flour and knead until the dough is smooth (3-5 min.)
- Cover a bowl in olive oil spray, put the dough in it, cover with a towel, and let it rise in a place protected from drafts for about an hour.
- Punch it down and let it rise again.
- Roll it out evenly on a 14-inch pan (coated with olive oil) or a pizza peel (coated with flour).
Sauce
The sauce should not be too sweet and it needs lots of spices. Try the red gravy with love recipe, add lots of oregano, and food process all the vegetables after they are tender so the sauce isn’t too chunky for pizza. Or, if you need a shortcut, use Newman’s Sockarooni.
Cheese
Provolone! The key to Ohio-style pizza is to use a good quality provolone cheese, not mozzarella! This is the most important part to achieve “Ohio-ness.” You’ll need about 1/2 pound per 14-inch pizza.
Directions
- Move the oven rack to the lowest position in the oven and preheat the pizza stone at 500 degrees.
- Add sauce to your rolled out pizza dough. Spread it evenly all the way to the edges.
- Sprinkle most of the 1/2 pound grated provolone evenly over the pizza. I save a little to go over the meat/veggie toppings.
- Add the veggie or meat toppings of your choice. Pepperoni and mushroom is my family tradition but I also recommend mincing a few garlic cloves and adding them as the very last topping.
- Turn the oven down to 375 degrees and bake the pizza for 20-25 min. The cheese should start to brown.
- Cut in squares and serve.
Tip
Advice from patdaddy:
If you’re not using a real pizza stone, It’s a good idea to pre-bake the crust for about 4-5 minutes before you put sauce/cheese toppings on. Then, continue to bake for the regular recommended time.
Posted by: danar
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 11th, 2010 at 5:31 pm and is filed under entrees, vegetarian.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:48 am
Dana, l CANNOT WAIT to try this recipe!! l have been on a quest for this type of pizza myself. Yours sounds WONDERFUL!!!!!! We are having Ohio guests this coming weekend, so l plan to try it. l will let you know how they like it. Thanks!!!!! Kathy
July 12th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Thanks! I *thought* I must not be the only one chasing a recipe like this!! Let me know how it goes this weekend! I’ve been experimenting with cooking temperature & time on the pizza stone and haven’t managed to get the crust perfectly crispy yet.
July 15th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I thought surely you must be the first person to use the phrase “Ohio-style pizza” (because, let’s face it, Ohio’s not really known for anything except maybe producing a few unfamous presidents and then giving George W. Bush a second term), but Google proves me way wrong! Hank is planning to try this tomorrow night, I hope not to be let down.
July 31st, 2010 at 5:29 pm
It was good! We’re still trying for perfection; the first time, I thought I was smarter than the recipe and insisted 20-25 minutes was too long to cook a thin crust pizza, but the with the relatively low oven temp I was wrong and it turned out a little too doughy. The second time around we raised the oven temp, but then the crust was still a little gooey even after the cheese was brown and crispy on top (and both times we used a pre-heated pizza stone, so that should have helped the crust bake a little faster than the top). I think next time we’ll pre-bake the crust on the pizza stone at 400+ for 5 minutes, then lower the temp and add the toppings. Anyway, thanks for the recipe; I hope we can rise to the challenge of crafting a really good Ohio-style pizza!
July 31st, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I made pizza again last Friday night and did better with the crust! I preheated the stone and cooked the pizza on the rack at it’s lowest possible spot in the oven. Higher heat – about 400 degrees for less time. There may be no perfect answer to this – pizza ovens in restaurants get a lot hotter than our ovens!
November 29th, 2010 at 5:53 am
I’ve made this a couple times this fall and I’m now sticking by the original baking temperature and time, as long as the stone is on the oven rack at the lowest position (but not on the floor of the oven). Higher heat cooks the crust faster but the cheese and garlic don’t get toasty brown.
I’ve also found that this dough recipe is sticky and difficult in humid weather. Wait for a less humid day and/or use loads of flour and corn meal when you roll out the dough!
January 16th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
How did I miss this post? I can’t wait to try it!
September 24th, 2014 at 2:59 pm
I used to work at Ron’s Pizza in Miamisburg. We always used salty flour on the pizza peel before laying down the dough to be topped. That’s where the dough gets that salty flavor and char
November 25th, 2014 at 4:30 pm
Joey,
I am trying to recreate rons from miamisburg. I now live 2000 miles away, yet still crave rons. Do you have any recipe pointers. Thanks
June 1st, 2016 at 6:25 pm
Worked at Doug’s Point Pizza in Newark, OH for a time back in 1978 before enlisting. Damn I miss that pizza!
Pretty sure the cheese was a mixture of provolone and mozzarella (the high fat content of the provie kept the cheese from burning)
January 26th, 2017 at 8:25 pm
Ok ive made this recipe 3 times now.. and i have to say i just cant get the dough right, i follow your recipe to the T… e,actly how its written i do it.. and there is no way the dough ends up workable for you guys, first it doesnt really rise to much in an hour, no way you get 2 14″ pizzas out of it.. and its a sticky mess, doesnt really reaemble the dough im use to. More like a sticky goop that cant be “rolled” at all.. i really really want to get this right, ive put extra flour in it so it could atleast resembles dough.. without doubg that about 20 percent of the dough is stuck to your hand and the bowl and the pan.. what do i do? Anyone please?
January 26th, 2017 at 8:28 pm
Ok ive made this recipe 3 times now.. and i have to say i just cant get the dough right, i follow your recipe to the T… e,actly how its written i do it.. and there is no way the dough ends up workable for you guys, first it doesnt really rise to much in an hour, no way you get 2 14″ pizzas out of it.. and its a sticky mess, doesnt really reaemble the dough im use to. More like a sticky goop that cant be “rolled” at all.. i really really want to get this right, ive put extra flour in it so it could atleast resembles dough.. without doubg that about 20 percent of the dough is stuck to your hand and the bowl and the pan.. what do i do? Anyone please???
January 28th, 2017 at 12:33 am
Sam, It’s true that the weak link in this recipe is the dough! I tried different recipes for years… friends and family would give me new ones to try and I think this is the closest I ever got. The dough is sticky but comes out with a buttery, crispier taste. I piled cornmeal under it to get it to slide onto the pizza stone. Then I gave up and became a low-carbish type. Now I make pizza on top of slices of zucchini or mashed cauliflower and cheese.