Chicago tavern-style pizza vs New York-style pizza
The fuller page on this is Compare any two styles.
| Field | Chicago tavern-style pizza | New York-style pizza |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | United States, Chicago | United States, New York City |
| Form | round, thin | round, large format |
| Thickness | very thin | thin |
| Rim / edge | No distinct rim; flat and thin to the edge | Moderate, slightly raised rim, less pronounced than Neapolitan |
| Base texture | Uniformly thin and crisp throughout, almost cracker-like | Thin, foldable, with a firmer crumb than Neapolitan |
| Crumb | Minimal to no open crumb | Moderately open, chewier and less irregular than Neapolitan |
| Hydration | 45–55% (typically 50%) | 60–65% (typically 62%) |
| Fermentation | same day direct, room temperature long fermentation | cold fermentation |
| Shaping | Rolled out thin and even with a pin | Hand-tossed or hand-stretched to a large, thin round |
| Flour | All-purpose flour (traditional) | Bread flour (traditional) |
| Preferment | No documented preferment tradition (direct dough) | Direct dough method (common modern approach) |
| Topping load | moderate | moderate |
| Bake temperature | 250–280 °C (typically 265 °C) | 290–320 °C (typically 300 °C) |
| Bake time | 8–12 min (typically 10 min) | 5–8 min (typically 6.5 min) |
| Oven | Commercial deck oven, Domestic fan (convection) oven | Commercial deck oven, Domestic fan (convection) oven, Gas-fired pizza oven |
| Flavour | savoury, rich | savoury, rich |
| Texture | crisp, brittle, crunchy | chewy, foldable, crisp |
| Difficulty | intermediate | intermediate |
| Domestic suitability | good | good |
| Serving | Cut into small squares ('party cut'), well suited to sharing casually | Sold by the slice or whole pie, folded lengthwise to eat ('the New York fold') |
Key similarities
- Topping load
- Flavour
- Difficulty
- Domestic suitability
Key differences
- Origin
- Form
- Thickness
- Rim / edge
- Base texture
- Crumb
- Hydration
- Fermentation
- Shaping
- Flour
- Preferment
- Bake temperature
- Bake time
- Oven
- Texture
- Serving