Why It Works
- Adding shortening to the dough (instead of oil, which is used in most pizza doughs) limits gluten development, creating an extra-snappy crust.
- Boosting the fat content in the dough pushes the crust toward pastry-like crispness.
- Using a higher ratio of provolone than the Swiss and cheddar cheeses in the Provel blend creates a smooth, creamy, meltable topping.
Since pizza came to America, it’s evolved in many different ways, but only St. Louis has invented its own special cheese, Provel, made just for topping pizza. That cheese sits atop its regional pie, which is defined by a cracker-thin crust—yeasted but ultra-crisp and shattering—a sweet, tomato paste–based sauce, and a buttery, super-melty layer of Provel.
What Exactly Is Provel?
A relic of the 1940s, the era of “better living through chemistry,” Provel came from an attempt to create the ultimate melted cheese layer through the fusion of provolone, Swiss, cheddar, and additives. As a Velveeta-like contrast to the city’s ultra-crisp pizza crust, it’s been a success.
“Provel is delicious—creamy, salty, smoky…” says HouseofProvel, a St. Louis pizza–captivated Redditor who asked that I identify him only by his username. “If it weren’t called processed cheese, everyone would love it.” He’s developed recipes for every element of St. Louis-style pizza and shared them freely online. We all know that American cheese beats cheddar on a cheeseburger, he says. It’s time for the rest of the country to open up to the idea that Provel can do something similar for pizza.
The Truth About the Cracker Crust
The cheese is not the only thing about St. Louis pizza we need to rethink, according to HouseofProvel. Many national food publications have been unknowingly perpetuating a myth about the style—that the crust is yeastless, or even entirely unleavened.
“I came across a packaged pizza shell from Imo’s, the big St. Louis pizza chain, and I noticed that, right there on the package, yeast was listed as an ingredient,” he says. “I was like, Hold on! Wait a minute!” He began calling area pizzerias, all of which confirmed that they used yeast. “Nobody was making the internet version,” he says. He thinks someone must’ve made an assumption based on the flat, brittle crust, and no one from the relatively small network of Italian-American families that make the city’s most famous pizzas has bothered to correct it. Realizing that made him wonder what else people were missing, beginning his years of pizza research.
Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
Developing the Perfect St. Louis Pizza Crust
Inspired by HouseofProvel, I got to work on a new St. Louis pizza recipe, guided by his work and a few basic principles. To me, the ideal St. Louis pizza should have:
- A cracker crust, leavened by yeast, with an ultra-crisp, shattering texture. (Not all St. Louis-style pizzas fit this description, but my favorites do.)
- A simple, slightly sweet, tomato paste-based sauce that doesn’t distract from the other elements.
- A creamy, buttery, super-melty layer of Provel, or, you know, homemade “Provel”.
I started with the crust. I usually use bread flour for my pizza, but because less gluten means a snappier bite (remember, we’re not going for chew here), I chose Gold Medal all-purpose flour, which is lower in protein.
Like other St. Louis pizzamakers, HouseofProvel cuts vegetable shortening into the crust in place of the typical oil, for a flaky consistency that almost passes for lamination. My tests supported that. Because shortening is solid at room temperature, it creates little pockets of fat that interrupt gluten formation. Think pie crust, but you’re optimizing for crunch rather than tenderness. You don’t want to use butter here, because it contains water, which turns to steam as it melts, creating lift and softening the crust slightly. Shortening is pure fat—no extras, and no softening.
While Imo’s isn’t my favorite St. Louis pizzeria, I do like the chain’s extra-flaky crust, which crackles like pastry when it’s hot out of the oven. In pursuit of a base layer with a similar texture, I tried pushing the fat content higher than most recipes. Increasing the fat in the dough amplified the lamination effect that I liked. (Actual lamination makes a crisp crust, too, but it gives you a multi-layered texture that isn’t true to the St. Louis style.)
As I added more and more shortening, going all the way up to 25 percent in one test, I began to doubt myself. So I called Dave Lichterman, who makes Chicago-style tavern pizza (and deep-dish) at Windy City Pie in Seattle. Serious Eats contributor Kenji Lopez-Alt had mentioned that Lichterman ran the same experiment while developing his extra-crunchy cracker crust, and I wanted to know where he ended up. “I started at 3 percent, then went up to 5 percent, then kept pushing it up… because, you know, it’s supposed to be a cracker,” Lichterman says. Eventually, he hit his limit. “I took it as far as 20 percent, and then I backed off,” he says. “It just seemed excessive. At 20 percent, when it sits in a box, you get grease soaking out. I didn’t want to hit that saturation point.” His current dough has a fat content between 10 percent and 20 percent.
He had a point. While the crust became flakier and crispier as the fat content increased, I wanted to stay on the right side of the pastry line. In the name of balance, I settled at an even 15 percent fat, or three tablespoons of Crisco—still well beyond the typical 3 to 10 percent.
A couple more conventional pizza-making tricks were also helpful: letting the dough rest in the refrigerator for 48 hours after mixing improved its flavor and extensibility, making it easier to roll thin without tearing. That, along with briefly parbaking the crust before weighing it down with sauce and cheese, gave me the shattering texture I was aiming for.
Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
The Sweet and Simple Sauce
The next layer is a standard tomato paste–based sauce in the family pizzeria tradition, with sugar and basic Italian-American seasonings. To avoid soggy spots, spread it thinly and evenly over the crust with a pastry brush or the back of a spoon. Go all the way from edge to edge. This style doesn’t have any exposed crust.
How to Make Homemade Provel That Actually Works
To make a homemade “Provel” without industrial equipment or additives, there’s a straightforward method: Combine provolone, Swiss, and cheddar and stabilize the mixture with sodium citrate, a salt that helps even firm cheeses melt smoothly, like American. It’s used in a few other Serious Eats recipes such as baked mac and cheese and gooey cheese sauce as a tool for creating stable emulsions. Like HouseofProvel, I use cream as the liquid base instead of milk or water, which helps approximate the softened-butter consistency of melted Provel.
In my initial Provel tests, I used equal parts of all three cheeses, but the result wasn’t quite what I wanted—not as mild in flavor or as smooth in texture as the real thing. After a few side-by-side tastings, I realized that I should take a cue from the processed cheese’s name: It’s called Provel, not Swish or EZ-Ched.
Provolone is a buttery cheese with just enough tang that it isn’t boring, and it melts evenly without separating, which makes it the most pizza-friendly of the three. While there are Midwestern pizzerias that use only provolone, I have yet to find one that uses only Swiss or cheddar. So, provolone is the star of my final Provel blend, at a ratio of two parts provolone to one part each of the other cheeses.
The Finishing Touches
Add a sprinkling of Romano cheese and oregano, a classic pizza parlor finish, and you have a pie that’s a testament to Midwestern optimization from edge to edge—crunchy, creamy, salty, a little bit smoky, and aromatic with Italian herbs.
“People think St. Louis pizza is just a factory-made, paint-by-numbers pizza, probably because of Imo’s and their pre-made shells,” HouseofProvel says. “But all the family-run places make their own dough, their own sauce—those are real family recipes. Maybe it’s not artisanal, exactly, but it’s not industrial.” Cut into snack-sized squares, it’s a pizza you’ll keep coming back to.
Thin-Crust Fans, Meet St. Louis Pizza: Crunchy, Cheesy, and Totally Underrated
Cook Mode
(Keep screen awake)
For the St. Louis–Style Pizza Dough:
255 g all-purpose flour (9 ounces; 2 cups)
3 tablespoons (36 g) vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, cut into ½-inch pieces
1/2 cup (120 ml) ice water
6 g (2 teaspoons) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume
5 g (1 teaspoon) granulated sugar
1 g (1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
For the Tomato Sauce: (Makes about 1 cup)
3/4 cup tomato paste
2 1/4 (540 ml) cups water
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Homemade Provel Cheese:
1 packed cup shredded provolone (4.75 ounces; 135 g)
1/2 packed cup shredded white cheddar cheese, preferably mild (2.5 ounces; 70 g)
1/2 packed cup shredded Swiss cheese (2.5 ounces; 70 g)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream
9 drops hickory-flavored liquid smoke
2 teaspoons (9 g) sodium citrate (see notes)
For the Romano and Oregano Topping:
2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian oregano
For the Pizza Dough: In a food processor, combine flour, salt, yeast, and sugar. Pulse 5 times to combine. Add shortening and pulse until the shortening is fully integrated, 5 to 10 times. With the machine running, stream in the ice water and process just until the dough begins to come together into a ball, about 15 seconds.
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Transfer dough to a work surface and press dough into a coherent mass if necessary. Knead briefly until smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide dough in half and shape each half (about 200 g each) into a ball. Grease dough balls well using cooking spray or vegetable oil, then transfer each ball to a greased deli container or zipper-lock bag and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, preferably 48 hours, and up to 5 days.
Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
For the Tomato Sauce: In a small saucepan, whisk tomato paste and water until smooth. Add sugar, salt, garlic powder, basil, oregano, and black pepper. Stir well to combine.
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Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until flavors meld and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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For the Homemade Provel Cheese: In a medium bowl, add Provolone, cheddar, and Swiss cheeses and mix well; set aside.
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In a medium saucepan, combine milk, liquid smoke, and sodium citrate, and set over medium heat, whisking constantly, until sodium citrate is fully dissolved and the mixture begins to steam.
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Reduce heat to low and add cheese gradually, 1 handful at a time, whisking mixture constantly until fully melted and smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. It will likely become too thick to stir with a whisk. Switch to a spatula to fold it like an omelet over itself as it melts, preventing scorching and ensuring a consistent texture and flavor. When the cheese is a cohesive mass, like a thick nacho cheese, remove from heat.
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Transfer cheese to a plastic wrap–lined container. Let it cool uncovered at room temperature for 30 minutes, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 1 week.
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For the Romano and Oregano Topping: In a small container with a lid, such as a Mason jar, combine Romano and oregano, seal container, and shake well to combine. For a cheese-shaker texture that’s more integrated and easier to sprinkle over your pizza, pulse mixture 2 to 3 times in a spice grinder. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Stir or shake before each use to redistribute oregano.
Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
For Baking the Pizza: One hour before baking, set a baking stone or steel on the middle rack of an oven and preheat oven to 500℉ (260°C). While oven preheats, shred the prepared Provel cheese on the large holes of a box grater and return grated cheese to refrigerator.
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When ready to bake, place 1 dough ball in center of a large sheet of parchment paper. Place a second large sheet of parchment over dough and, using a rolling pin, roll dough into a thin 12-inch round. Do not add flour—it should not be necessary. (If you’re struggling, lightly grease the parchment.) If dough becomes difficult to roll and shrinks back, cover it with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes before trying again. (Optional: For a professional-looking dough round, after rolling the dough into a 12-inch round, trim the edges, using a 12-inch plate or pizza pan as a guide.) Thoroughly dock the surface of the dough by lightly pricking all over with a fork (This prevents the dough from bubbling while baking.)
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Remove top layer of parchment from dough round and loosen dough from bottom layer of parchment. Using a pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet, transfer the dough round onto the baking stone or steel. Bake until the bottom of dough is set, 3 minutes, then remove it from oven.
Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
Add 1/3 cup sauce to center of par-baked crust, then use a pastry brush or the back of a ladle to distribute it evenly from edge to edge. (Don’t leave any crust exposed. This style of pizza does not have a rim.) Sprinkle on about 1 cup shredded Provel. Finally, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon Romano and oregano topping over the entire pizza.
Serious Eats / Lorena Masso
Return prepared pizza to oven and bake until crust is browned on bottom and cheese is fully melted and beginning to brown in places, about 6 minutes.
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Remove from the oven and remove any burnt bits hanging onto the edges of the pizza. Let cool for 5 minutes, then cut into a four-by-four grid. Repeat with remaining pizza, started at step 11. Serve.
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Special Equipment
Food processor, 2 deli containers or zipper-lock bags, small saucepan, medium saucepan, baking stone or steel, parchment paper, pizza peel or baking sheet
Notes
If you want to add toppings, use standard pizza logic. Sausage and bacon are both popular. I like to pair either one with a smattering of pickled banana peppers or pepperoncini.
Sodium citrate is a salt derived from citric acid that acts as an emulsifier and pH buffer. In cooking, it’s most commonly used to create ultra-smooth, stable cheese sauces by preventing proteins from clumping and breaking. It has a clean, slightly salty-tart flavor that dissolves easily in liquids. Look for it online through specialty food retailers or sites like Amazon
Make-Ahead and Storage
The pizza dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days before making the pizza.
The tomato sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week before using.
The Provel cheese can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week before using.
The Romano and oregano topping can be refrigerated in an airtight contain for up to 1 month before using.
Leftover pizza can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Follow directions here for reheating.
