What is the difference between pizza and pinsa?

If you have eaten in Rome or in an Italian restaurant abroad recently, you have probably seen pinsa on a menu next to the pizza, or a pack of pinsa bases in the supermarket fridge. It looks like a pizza that has been gently squashed into an oval. Bite into one and the difference is clear: it is crisper on the outside, lighter and more open inside, with a texture that sits somewhere between pizza and focaccia.

The dough

This is where the real difference lies.

Pizza. The classic Neapolitan version, which has had protected EU status as a traditional speciality since 2010, according to Wikipedia's Neapolitan pizza entry, is made from wheat flour, yeast, salt and water. The dough is soft and stretchy, and the result is a thin centre with a puffy, blistered rim.

Pinsa. Wikipedia's pinsa entry describes a dough that mixes wheat, soy and rice flours with sourdough, yeast, salt, optional oil and cold water. Before baking it is full of air pockets, which give a light, crisp crust and a soft interior. In the hand it feels wetter and stickier than a typical pizza dough, and a long rest helps those bubbles develop.

Shape and handling

• Pizza is stretched into a round with the fingertips and knuckles, leaving the edge thicker.
• Pinsa is pressed and pushed into an oval, often by dimpling the dough with the fingertips like focaccia, rather than stretched. The name plays on the idea of pressing: according to Wikipedia, it was chosen to evoke the Latin verb pinsere, to pound or crush.

The oval also makes pinsa easy to share and cut into pieces, which is part of its appeal in bars and casual places.

Texture and eating

• Pizza: soft and foldable in the middle, chewy and charred at the edge. Best eaten immediately.
• Pinsa: crunchier underneath and at the edges, airy and open inside. It holds toppings well and stays crisp a little longer.

Toppings are similar in spirit. In the places we have eaten it, pinsa often gets lighter, fresher toppings added after baking, such as burrata, raw vegetables, rocket and lemon, alongside the usual tomato and mozzarella. Pizza toppings tend to bake with the base.

The history, handled with care

Pinsa is often sold with a story: that it is an ancient Roman flatbread, the ancestor of pizza. Treat that one with caution. According to Wikipedia's account, the name "pinsa romana" was registered as a trademark in 2001 by the Italian entrepreneur Corrado Di Marco, whose company near Rome had been making the tray-baked dough since the 1980s. The same entry reports that he later admitted inventing the link to ancient Rome as a marketing tactic, and that the story was repeated uncritically by the media.

So pinsa is a modern Roman invention, and a good one. It doesn't need a toga.

Can you make pinsa at home?

You can make something in its spirit. The keys are a very wet dough, a long, slow rest in the fridge, gentle handling so you keep the bubbles, and a very hot oven with a preheated tray or stone. Many supermarkets now sell par-baked pinsa bases, which only need toppings and a few minutes in a hot oven, and they are excellent for a quick dinner. For getting the most out of a domestic oven with either, see pizza in a home oven.

If you love the airy, crisp texture of pinsa, you will probably also enjoy the bubbles of a well-made focaccia.