Grandma vs Sicilian pizza — the difference
Two square sheet-pan pizzas often confused, built opposite ways: grandma is thin, barely proofed and fried crisp in oil, while Sicilian (sfincione) is a thick, slowly-risen, spongy square carrying far more dough.
Side by side
Every number below is the calculator’s, at each style’s default size:
| Grandma | Sicilian | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Pan pizza | Pan pizza |
| Typical size | 35 × 35 cm pan | 33 × 33 cm pan |
| Dough per pizza | 637 g | 817 g |
| Hydration | 65% | 70% |
| Salt | 2.2% | 2.2% |
| Oil | 3% | 3% |
| Sugar | — | 1% |
| Oven | 260 °C / 500 °F | 230 °C / 446 °F |
| Flour | Bread flour | Bread flour, splash of semola |
| Protein | 12–13.5% | 12.5–14% |
What sets them apart
Grandma. Grandma presses a lean dough thin into an oiled pan with little proofing, so it bakes fast and crisp — closer to a thin bar pie than to focaccia, with the sauce often spooned on last.
Sicilian. Sicilian sfincione is the opposite: a tall, airy, well-proofed crumb carrying much more dough per pan, soft and bready under its toppings.
Which one to make
Go Grandma. Choose grandma when you want a thin, crisp square in a hurry — minimal proofing, big crunch, weeknight-friendly.
Go Sicilian. Choose Sicilian when you want a thick, pillowy, focaccia-like square with real height and chew.
Both bake in an oiled rectangular pan and both like a sturdy flour, so the pan and the shopping list overlap; the difference is dough quantity and proof — Sicilian carries far more dough and rises longer. The calculator sizes each by its own density.
For the numbers behind the table, see the hydration and flour guides.
Questions from the counter
Is grandma pizza the same as Sicilian?
No — both are square and pan-baked, which causes the mix-up, but grandma is thin, barely proofed and oil-crisped, while Sicilian is thick, airy and slow-risen. The calculator gives each its own dough density, so the same pan gets very different amounts of dough.
Why is my grandma pizza thick and bready?
Too much dough or too long a proof — that's drifting toward Sicilian. Grandma wants a thin layer pressed into the pan with only a short rest; trust the lower dough weight the grandma preset sets.
Make either one
The calculator weighs and schedules both — pick a preset and it does the rest.
The clock is a suggestion. The dough is the boss. In bocca al lupo!
Impasto is a free pizza dough calculator for Neapolitan, New York, Roman, Sicilian, Detroit, thin crust and focaccia doughs — flour, water, salt and yeast weighed in baker's percentages, with the fermentation schedule written for you.