August 6, 2026 · beach-pizza
Salisbury Beach Pizza (Tripoli-Style) at Home
The thin, sweet-sauced, provolone-topped beach pizza every North Shore kid grew up on — recreated in a home oven with a sheet pan and a slightly sweet tomato sauce.
- Prep
- 25m
- Cook
- 14m
- Total
- 2h 39m
- Rest / Ferment
- 2h
- Servings
- 8 square slices
If you grew up anywhere north of Boston, you know this pizza. Thin, a little sweet, provolone laid on in slices, sold by the square at Tripoli’s and Cristy’s on the Salisbury Beach boardwalk. It doesn’t taste like any other pizza in America, and that’s the point.
The two non-negotiables: sugar in the sauce, and whole provolone slices instead of shredded mozzarella. Everything else is forgiving. Here’s my home version, tested until my kids couldn’t tell the difference.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
Make the dough
Mix flour, water, yeast, salt, and olive oil until no dry flour remains. Knead 8 minutes by hand or 5 in a mixer until smooth. Cover and rest 2 hours at room temp until doubled.
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Make the sweet sauce
Stir together crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, oregano, garlic powder, and salt. No cooking needed — it cooks on the pizza. Taste it: it should read noticeably sweet. That's correct.
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Pan and stretch
Oil a half-sheet pan generously. Press the dough to the edges and corners. If it fights back, rest 10 minutes and press again. It should be thin — about 1/4 inch.
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Sauce edge to edge
Spread a thin, even layer of sauce all the way to the edges. Beach pizza has no bare rim.
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Lay the provolone
Shingle whole provolone slices across the pie, overlapping slightly. Gaps are fine — the slices melt into pools, not a uniform blanket. That's the look.
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Bake hot
Bake at 500°F on the lowest rack for 12–14 minutes, until the bottom is golden and the provolone is melted with browned spots.
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Cut into squares
Rest 3 minutes, then cut into squares. Eat one standing over the pan like you're at the beach. Mandatory.
Gear we used
Some links below are affiliate links — we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.
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Ninja Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven
If you're baking outdoors, run it around 550°F on the pan setting — shaves 3 minutes off the bake.
Pending affiliate link
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Half-sheet aluminum pan
Heavy-gauge aluminum crisps the bottom better than nonstick.
Pending affiliate link