There is probably no inhabitant of the planet Earth who does not know or has not tried pizza, the Italian dish par excellence along with pasta, but if we ask about pinsa… doubts begin to arise. Although both dishes are similar, there are several things that differentiate them, but we can tell you in advance: the secret is mainly in the dough.

Both names share an etymological root, hence their similarity, pizza and pinsa derive from the Latin “pinsere” which means to crush or press, since in their preparation the dough is pressed and stretched but in the case of pizza it is made round, and oval in the case of pinsa.

Another thing that differentiates them is their origin. Although they both share remote ancestors that are none other than the flatbreads that have been made in the Mediterranean and the Middle East since before the Roman Empire, it could be said that pizza, as we know it today, is Neapolitan and pinsa is Roman.
The modern pinsa has experienced an incredible boom in recent years and has threatened the reign of pizza since it was born in 2001 in Rome when businessman Corrado di Marco invented it by adding rice flour to a mixture of soy and wheat flour that he had been working on for years. A successful formula that soon spread from Rome to the whole of Italy and from there to the rest of the world.

Both doughs serve as a base on which to combine different ingredients, but it is the shape and the dough that differentiate them at first glance, with wheat flour being the main ingredient in pizza, especially high-strength flours with more protein and more gluten that allow for longer fermentations.

The pinsa, besides being oval, has a higher and lighter dough due to its long fermentation periods, which are left to rest for more than 72 hours. Its high water content, together with the use of the best flours and sourdough, give it high digestibility.
Another reason that explains the success of pinsas in the restaurant industry is the convenience of baking, since a dome oven like that used for pizzas is not necessary to achieve a perfect result.

The future will tell whether one day the pinsa will put an end to the reign of the pizza, while we hope to have cleared up doubts and whet appetites.

As experts in Italian gastronomy, we offer you a piece of advice: to make authentic Italian pizzas at Biribox, we recommend the famous Caputo flour , the favourite of the best Italian pizza makers.
and Mutti Tomato for your pizza and pinsa bases.