Pizza secca

Pizza secca, meaning dry pizza, derives its name from the crunchy, crispy texture it develops once it’s baked. It is not a regular pizza but a type of schiacciatina, a very thin flatbread with a topping that resembles a pizza in visual appearance and flavor.

Consisting of flour, water, olive oil, salt, and (sometimes) yeast, the dough is rolled out very thinly before it is cut into rectangular or square-shaped slices and brushed with a combination of tomato sauce, oregano, salt, and olive oil. The topping can also be enriched with other ingredients such as finely sliced onions, olives, eggplants, dry salami, or marinara sauce, while some versions may omit the tomato sauce altogether.

Pizza secca is a specialty of the Sicilian town of Catania and the surrounding area, where it is available in almost every local bakery at any time of the day. Slices of this crunchy, pizza-like flatbread make for an excellent snack or an appetizer that can be enjoyed warm or chilled.