American
New Haven-Style Apizza
Coal-fired char, clams, garlic and Parmesan — New Haven's legendary no-sauce white clam pie.
Recipe by Cyman Huang
Cooked, styled and photographed in his kitchen.
New Haven, Connecticut has a pizza culture that is, quite simply, one of the most extraordinary in the world. The apizza — pronounced “a-BEETS,” from the Neapolitan dialect of the immigrant community that created it — is distinguished by an extremely thin, coal-fired crust with a distinctive char and chew.
The legendary white clam pie has no tomato and no mozzarella: just olive oil, raw garlic, grated Parmesan, oregano and fresh chopped clams on that blistered, crackery crust. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana, which opened in 1925, is where the tradition was born.
Watch it come together
Ingredients
For New Haven dough
- 3¼ cups (425g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1¼ cups (295ml) cold water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the white clam topping
- 24 littleneck clams, shucked and chopped (or 2 cans, 6.5 oz each, chopped clams, well-drained)
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup (3 oz) Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, finely grated
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Extra olive oil for drizzling
Method
- 1
MAKE DOUGH: Combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add cold water and olive oil, mix, then knead 8–10 minutes. Divide into two balls, oil lightly and refrigerate covered 48–72 hours. The long fermentation creates New Haven's distinctive flavor.
- 2
Remove dough 2 hours before use. Preheat the oven with a stone or steel at maximum temperature (550°F or higher) for at least 1 hour.
- 3
PREP CLAMS: Toss fresh clams with 2 tablespoons olive oil, half the garlic, half the red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt. If using canned, drain extremely thoroughly first.
- 4
STRETCH each dough ball into a very thin, roughly 12-inch irregular round — nearly translucent in places, with thicker edges. Transfer to a well-floured peel.
- 5
TOP: Drizzle olive oil over the dough, scatter the remaining garlic, distribute the clams, sprinkle generously with Pecorino, then add the remaining red pepper flakes, oregano, black pepper and one more drizzle of oil.
- 6
BAKE directly on the hot stone at maximum heat 8–12 minutes. The crust should be deeply blistered and charred in spots — that char is the entire point.
- 7
Drizzle with olive oil straight out of the oven. Slice and serve immediately — New Haven apizza waits for no one.
Substitutions
- Chef's Tip: Fresh clams are spectacular, but well-drained canned clams produce a very fine result. Well-drained is the key phrase — squeeze them in a towel if necessary, since excess clam juice steams the crust.
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