Rome, Italy

Roman tonda

Cracker-thin round; the anti-Neapolitan.

Hydration
55–60%
Bake temp
550–650°F
Bake time
3–5 min
Ferment
24–48 h cold
Oven
deck oven
Flour
00 flour, All-purpose flour

Defining characteristics

Tonda romana ("round Roman") is the cracker-crust opposite of Neapolitan: very low hydration, oil in the dough, rolled rather than hand-stretched, and baked thin and crisp in 3–5 minutes.

History

Tonda romana — also called pizza bassa or scrocchiarella for the audible crackle when you bite — is the Roman trattoria and pizzeria-style round, distinct from both Naples and from al taglio. The dough is low hydration (around 55–60%), enriched with a touch of olive oil, rolled flat with a pin (not hand-stretched), and baked until thin and crisp in three to five minutes on a deck. Where Neapolitan dough is soft and folds, tonda is brittle and shatters.

The form is a postwar Roman trattoria invention rather than an ancient one: it standardized through the 1950s–70s as Roman pizzerie pushed for a pie that could be portioned individually, plated, and eaten with a knife and fork in a sit-down restaurant. Da Remo (Testaccio, 1977) and Ai Marmi (Trastevere) are the canonical examples — paper menus, rapid service, fast-fired thin rounds. The style is sometimes confused with American thin-crust because of the cracker-like snap, but the dough chemistry and the oven (deck, not screen) are different.

Common riffs

Margherita and capricciosa (artichoke, ham, mushroom, olive, sometimes egg) are the trattoria defaults. Cacio e pepe pizza — pecorino, black pepper, often with a starchy sauce — has crossed over from the pasta repertoire. Boscaiola adds mushroom and sausage; bufalina swaps in mozzarella di bufala for an upmarket version.

Other Roman tonda recipes