When I made this St. Louis-style thin crust pizza topped with bacon, Italian sausage, green bell pepper, red onion, and sliced mushrooms for my family, they responded with words like “amazing”, “favorite”, and “best ever” while they reached for another piece. It was a HUGE hit at our house, which is saying something since we regularly make my regular yeasted homemade pizza dough recipe for our pizza nights and I wasn’t sure how everyone would feel about the cracker-thin crust that is almost closer to a tortilla pizza than a regular chewy pizza crust. Needless to say, I had to include this original St. Louis-style pizza recipe in my collection of foods that Missouri is known for as part of my American Eats series where I’m making famous foods from every state. If you want the full Imo’s experience, you might also want to try our toasted ravioli recipe as an appetizer!
What is St. Louis-Style Pizza?
If you have been through a Midwest like Missouri, Kansas, or Illinois, you might have had the chance to try Imo’s Pizza, which makes their famous St. Louis-style pizzas with edge-to-edge toppings, a super thin, crisp crust, and gooey Provel cheese. It’s unique pizza crust without yeast makes it so you can’t fold the slices easily like New York-style pizza and it’s the rebuttal to thick and bready pan pizza, Detroit-style pizzas, or Chicago deep dish. It’s not just the crust that sets Imo’s pizza apart though. They use a processed cheese called Provel to top their pizzas rather than the more conventional mozzarella and Parmesan combination that we’re used to. Living in California, I don’t have access to Provel cheese, but it’s just a mix of white cheddar, swiss cheese, and provolone, all of which are easy to get at the grocery store! This cheese blend has a low melting point so it’s gooey and melty without being super stringy like mozzarella. We loved the flavor paired with my no-cook pizza sauce and the same toppings that Imo’s pizza uses for their deluxe pizza at their restaurants.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
All-purpose flour – Regular all-purpose flour works great for this recipe, although you could use bread flour or 00 flour (a popular pizza flour) if you prefer. Water Olive oil Baking powder – This is the only leavening agent instead of yeast. Salt – Just enough to keep the crust from being bland. Cheese – You’ll need some white cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, and smoked provolone cheese to replicate the Provel cheese commonly used on St. Louis pizza. Pizza sauce – My homemade pizza sauce is the best ever with extra oregano and spices. The combination of tomato sauce and tomato paste means it’s perfectly thick and punchy without needing to simmer it on the stove and it freezes well so I can always have some one hand for pizza night. Toppings – We love a good supreme pizza and this one delivers with mild Italian sausage crumbles, smoky bacon, sliced mushrooms, crunchy green peppers, and red onion for a little bite.
How to Make St. Louis Style Pizza
Tips for Success
Let the dough rest. If you find you are having a tough time rolling out the pizza dough really thin, give it another five minutes to rest before trying again. When the gluten in the flour gets overworked, it can be really hard to roll the crust out thin. Make sure the oven is hot. If you set your pizza on a cold pan and bake it, the crust will be good, but not as crisp as if you slide the pizza onto a hot pizza stone or upside down baking sheet in a preheated oven. The direct contact with the heat on the thin bottom crust will help it crisp up beautifully. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Feel free to change up the sauce and use pesto sauce, alfredo sauce, or any other sauce you like for your base. And the sky is the limit when it comes to how you top your pizza! Add some dried herbs. A great way to add flavor to any pizza is to sprinkle it with dried Italian seasoning before baking.
Variations
Our favorite version is Imo’s deluxe St. Louis-style pizza with the toppings listed here, but here are some other popular specialty versions that you might want to try! And of course you can always top your pizza however you like or just go with plain cheese.
All Meat – Top your pizza with cooked & crumbled Italian sausage, bacon, Canadian bacon, and pepperoni. BBQ Chicken – Replace the pizza sauce with some of our Kansas City-style bbq sauce and add shredded bbq or rotisserie chicken, sliced red onions, and cilantro. Veggie – Load up your pizza with sliced mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and black olives.
Storage & Reheating
If you have leftover pizza, you can wrap it in foil or store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. The crust might soften a bit, but leftover pizza is almost just as good cold or room temperature the next day. I recommend reheating slices of pizza in the air fryer at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes for best results as it crisps up the thin bottom crust even better than the oven does. But you can also reheat on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes until hot before enjoying.
Freezing Instructions
You can freeze the unbaked pizza if you want to make this ahead of time and bake it directly from frozen. Just preheat the oven to 450 degrees F then transfer the pizza to the middle rack of the preheated oven (directly on the rack, not on a pan) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cheese and crust are golden brown. You can also freeze leftover pizza for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat as directed above.
More Pizza Recipes
Homemade Pizza Sauce Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza Four Cheese Pizza with Tomato Basil Arugula Salad
Legit Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Homemade Stromboli
Cast Iron Pan Pizza (Copycat Pizza Hut Pizza Recipe)
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