Rome, Italy
Roman al taglio
Long pan-baked rectangle, sold by the cut.
- Hydration
- 75–85%
- Bake temp
- 525–575°F
- Bake time
- 14–18 min
- Ferment
- 24–72 h cold (often biga or poolish)
- Oven
- rectangular pan in a deck oven
- Flour
- Bread flour, 00 flour
Defining characteristics
Open, airy, alveolar crumb from very high hydration. Crisp, almost crackery bottom from oil-rich pan. Sold by weight at the counter, cut to length with scissors.
History
Pizza al taglio ("by the cut") grew out of Rome's bakery tradition in the mid-20th century — long, oil-rubbed pans of bread-like dough, baked in a deck oven and sold by weight at the counter. For decades it was simple takeaway food: a square of margherita, patate, or zucchini fiori, weighed and wrapped in paper.
The modern artisanal version is most associated with Gabriele Bonci, whose Pizzarium opened in 2003 near the Vatican and rebuilt the form around very high hydration (often 80%+), long cold ferments, biga or poolish preferments, and stone-milled flours. Bonci's pies move toward a focaccia-bread crossover: open alveolar crumb, crackling oil-fried bottom, and rotating seasonal toppings instead of a fixed menu. The book Il gioco della pizza (2010) and a string of TV appearances pushed the technique global; by the late 2010s, al-taglio shops had opened in New York (Alice Pizza, Bonci Chicago), London, and Tokyo.
Stephen Starr's Bonci Chicago (2017) and PizzaForno-style retail brought the format to American shoppers, but the home-baker uptake came mostly through Ken Forkish and the Pizza Bible community: a sheet pan, a 24–48 hour cold ferment, and a hot deck oven get you within range without a wood oven.
Common riffs
Bianca al taglio — just oil, salt, and rosemary, no sauce — is the bakery default and the test of dough quality. Patate (paper-thin potato over mozzarella) and zucchini fiori (squash blossoms with anchovy) are Roman canon. Mortadella and pistachio, finished off-heat with cold mortadella draped over a hot slab, became the breakout artisan slice of the 2010s.
Other Roman al taglio recipes
- Roman al taglio
Margherita al taglio
The Bonci-style Roman al taglio: 80% hydration, 48-hour cold ferment, two-stage bake. Open alveolar crumb, cracker-fried bottom.
- Roman al taglio
Mortadella & Pistachio al taglio
The breakout Roman al-taglio slice: bake the bianca first, then drape cold mortadella and crushed pistachio over the hot slab. Residual heat is the only cooking the mortadella sees.