Italian tomato pie

For similarly named dishes, including varieties of pizza called "tomato pie", see Tomato pie.
"Pizza strips" redirects here. For pizza sold in strips in Italy, see, see Pizza al taglio.

Italian tomato pie
TypePizza
Region or state
Main ingredientsFocaccia-like dough, tomato sauce

Italian tomato pie is an Italian-American and Italian-Canadian baked good consisting of a thick, porous, focaccia-like dough covered with tomato sauce.[1] It may be sprinkled with Romano cheese or oregano. It is not usually served straight from the oven, but allowed to cool and then consumed at room temperature or reheated. Like Sicilian pizza, tomato pie is baked in a large rectangular pan and usually served in square slices, although in Rhode Island it is cut into rectangular strips like pizza al taglio.[2] Tomato pie descends from and resembles the Italian sfincione, although it is not the same dish. For instance, sfincione may have toppings, is usually served hot, and has a crust more like brioche than focaccia.[3][4][5]

A 1903 article in the New-York Tribune on the food of Italian-Americans described a "pomidore pizza", or tomato pie, made solely with dough, tomatoes, and powdered red pepper.[6] Tomato pie has been sold by Iannelli's Bakery in Philadelphia since 1910.[7] In Utica, New York, the family that would later found O'Scugnizzo's Pizzeria in 1914 sold tomato pies from their basement for several years prior, starting in 1910.[8]

  1. ^ Berman, Eleanor (2000). Away for the Weekend: New York. Crown. ISBN 9780609805961.
  2. ^ Beaulieu, Linda (November 1, 2005), "Rhode Island Pizza Strips", The Providence and Rhode Island Cookbook: Big Recipes from the Smallest State, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 195, ISBN 978-0-7627-5182-2
  3. ^ Krall, Hawk (February 13, 2017). "Never tried tomato pie? Then get yourself to Utica right now". Saveur. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  4. ^ Reuscher, J. A. "Tomato Pie". The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Archived from the original on January 22, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  5. ^ "Philadelphia's Tomato Pie: Is it Pizza, or What?". Grand Voyage Italy. Archived from the original on January 22, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  6. ^ "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress". New-York Tribune. New York, NY. December 6, 1903. Archived from the original on December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  7. ^ Barrett, Liz (September 2014). Pizza, A Slice of American History. Voyageur Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-7603-4560-3.
  8. ^ "Never Tried Tomato Pie? Then Get Yourself to Utica Right Now". Saveur. March 18, 2019. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.