August 17, 2026 · new-haven

New Haven Plain Tomato Pie (Apizza at Home)

Name: New Haven Plain Tomato Pie (Apizza at Home)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 6 min
Total time: 48 h 36 min
Yield: 2 oblong pies
Cuisine: New England
Ingredients: 500 g bread flour; 350 g cool water (70% hydration — this is a wet, extensible dough); 10 g fine sea salt; 2 g instant yeast; 1 can (28 oz) whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed and drained slightly; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1/2 tsp salt for the sauce; 60 g grated pecorino romano; Olive oil for finishing

The charred, chewy, mozzarella-free tomato pie that made Wooster Street famous — adapted for a home pizza oven or a screaming-hot baking steel.

Prep: 30m
Cook: 6m
Total: 48h 36m
Rest / Ferment: 48h
Servings: 2 oblong pies

Ninety minutes down I-95 from Boston is America’s most serious pizza city, and its purest expression is the plain: tomatoes, pecorino, oregano, olive oil, char. No mozzarella. The first time someone orders you a plain at a Wooster Street institution, you wonder where the cheese is. By the second slice, you understand everything.

This is also the recipe where your outdoor oven earns its keep — the style simply doesn’t exist below 700 degrees.

Ingredients

500 g bread flour
350 g cool water (70% hydration — this is a wet, extensible dough)
10 g fine sea salt
2 g instant yeast
1 can (28 oz) whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed and drained slightly
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt for the sauce
60 g grated pecorino romano
Olive oil for finishing

Instructions

Mix and cold ferment

Mix dough ingredients, knead briefly, and cold ferment 48 hours. High hydration plus long time is what gives apizza its blistered, chewy character.
Stretch oblong

New Haven pies aren't round — stretch each ball into an irregular oval. Thin in the middle, rustic at the edges. Imperfection is authentic.
Tomatoes, pecorino, oregano — that's it

Crushed tomatoes spread thin, a confident dusting of pecorino, oregano, a drizzle of oil. No mozzarella. On Wooster Street, mozz is a topping you have to ask for.
Bake as hot as you can

Koda 12: 750–850°F, 4–5 minutes, rotating — keep the ovals sized to the 12-inch stone. Ninja Woodfire: max pizza setting, 5–7 minutes. Indoors: baking steel under the broiler at max, 6–8 minutes. Char is not a defect here — black blisters on the rim are the whole point.
Finish and slice

More pecorino and a thread of olive oil out of the oven. Cut into irregular strips, never neat triangles.

Gear we used

Some links below are affiliate links — we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Ooni Koda 12

This style genuinely wants 750°F+, and the Koda 12 gets there with room to spare — just stretch your ovals to fit the 12-inch stone.

Pending affiliate link
Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven

Live Amazon Associates link. Runs cooler than the Koda, so use the longer 5–7 minute timing — you still get real char on the rim.

Ninja Woodfire 8-in-1 Outdoor Oven (OO101)
Baking steel

The indoor alternative — steel under a broiler out-performs any pizza stone for this.

Pending affiliate link

Ingredients

Instructions

Gear we used

Get the Ninja Woodfire Quick-Start Guide