Pinsa production: overviewPinsa is moving beyond Italian restaurants into global retail and foodservice through topped products, flavoured breads and ready-made basesIts wet, delicate dough requires low-stress handling because conventional pizza processing can damage the open crumb that makes it distinctiveManufacturers must control the entire process – from fermentation and forming to cooling and packing – without reducing hydration simply to make production easier
Pizza may be one of the world’s most familiar foods, but its elongated Italian cousin still prompts the question: what exactly is pinsa?
The oval flatbread combines a crisp exterior and light open crumb with a highly hydrated dough and typically longer fermentation. It carries toppings like a pizza but delivers a noticeably airier eating experience.
Its relatively low profile partly reflects pizza’s overwhelming dominance. Pinsa remained largely confined to specialist Italian bakeries and restaurants while round pizza conquered supermarket freezers, takeaway menus and foodservice. That’s changing as consumers become more familiar with regional Italian breads and seek restaurant-style products that don’t feel like another version of the same pizza.
Part-baked, chilled and frozen formats are now helping pinsa travel. Crosta & Mollica, Dell’Ugo and Deli Kitchen have taken it into UK retail, while Italian specialists Di Marco and Pinsami supply bases to retail and foodservice customers internationally. Di Marco says it’s present in more than 60 countries and expanded into US retail in 2026. Pinsa may still be dwarfed by pizza, but it’s no longer a purely Italian or European curiosity.
The opportunity sounds tempting, but pinsa isn’t simply pizza stretched into an oval. Its wet, delicate dough requires far gentler handling than a conventional pizza base, while faster processing can destroy the gas cells behind its airy structure. Manufacturers may want pizza-scale output, but pinsa refuses to play by pizza’s production rules.
Don’t call every oval pizza pinsa
Villafranca Pinsa with porcini mushroom cream, tomato puree and tiger prawns, topped with rocket, Gran Moravia cheese and lemon zest. (Image: Getty/Monty Rakusen)
James Fitch, head of sales for bakery at food processing equipment supplier Interfood Technology, believes pinsa is benefiting from several trends arriving at once.
“Consumers want restaurant-quality products at home, they understand regional Italian bakery styles better than they did a few years ago and they are looking for premium products with a clear point of difference,” he said. “Pinsa delivers that difference visually and through its eating quality; the oval shape, crisp exterior and light, open crumb make it recognisably different from a conventional pizza.”
Pizza is already a crowded global category, packed with stuffed crusts, sourdough bases, wood-fired claims and premium toppings. Pinsa changes the dough, shape and texture, giving shoppers something they can recognise before taking the first bite.
Fitch expects it to become a lasting premium subcategory rather than a replacement for pizza. There is, however, a danger that manufacturers will dilute its appeal before the category has had time to establish itself.
Also read → Slice, slice baby: Why the world can’t get enough of pizza
“If the market simply applies the pinsa name to any oval pizza base, the proposition will quickly become diluted,” he said. “Products that deliver the expected fermentation, texture and appearance have a much stronger chance of generating repeat purchase.”
Manufacturers can borrow the shape, but the word pinsa won’t disguise a disappointing base. “A regional name or provenance story may encourage the first purchase, but texture, flavour and cooking performance determine whether the consumer buys it again,” says Fitch.
Claims that pinsa is ‘lighter’ or ‘more digestible’ also require care. Its open crumb may create a lighter eating experience, but that doesn’t automatically make it nutritionally superior to pizza. Any specific nutritional or health claim must be supported by the formulation and appropriate evidence.
Why pinsa won’t behave like pizza
Pinsa is gaining global retail and foodservice traction, but its highly hydrated dough creates major challenges for industrial bakery production. (Image: Getty/Rabizo)
Pinsa’s production challenge begins with hydration. Its dough normally contains considerably more water than conventional pizza dough and may also involve extended fermentation and a blend of flours. These elements help create its open structure but leave manufacturers handling something softer, stickier and far less tolerant of force.
A standard pizza dough can often withstand direct dividing, pressing or rolling. Pinsa needs tighter control of mixing, dough temperature and fermentation, followed by low-stress feeding, portioning and forming. Dusting and resting must also be managed carefully to prevent the dough from sticking, spreading or losing its intended shape.
“The most common mistake is assuming that pinsa is simply a new recipe that can be put through an existing pizza line using broadly the same settings,” said Fitch. “Manufacturers may compensate for handling problems by reducing hydration, adding excessive flour or applying more pressure. That may make the dough easier to process, but it removes the open crumb and light eating quality that justify calling the product pinsa in the first place.”
An artisan baker can judge the dough by sight, touch and experience. Industrial producers must translate those instincts into repeatable controls while accounting for flour absorption, mixing energy, fermentation time, dough temperature and ambient conditions.
Turning up the speed isn’t an easy answer. Additional pressure can damage the gas cells created during fermentation, producing a dense or uneven base. Longer fermentation also affects chilling capacity, production scheduling, traceability and the amount of dough moving through the bakery.
The difficulty doesn’t end once the base has been formed. Baking, par-baking, cooling, freezing and packing all influence how the pinsa performs when reheated. Too much retained moisture can soften it in the pack, while too little can leave consumers with a dry base rather than the promised airy bite.
“Moisture must be managed so that the product remains crisp after finishing without becoming dry, softening in the pack or creating shelf-life problems,” Fitch said. “A successful line therefore has to be designed as a complete process, not simply as a faster former.”
Pizza’s next big idea could be the base
Pinsa’s oval shape and airy base give manufacturers a visible point of difference in a global pizza category still dominated by new toppings and stuffed crusts. (Image: Getty/Monty Rakusen)
The products reaching the market show how many directions pinsa can take. UK consumers can find topped products, flavoured breads and finish-at-home bases, while Di Marco, Pinsami and other specialist producers supply retail and professional kitchens across international markets. What was once associated mainly with specialist Roman bakeries is developing into a global retail and foodservice category.
The format can travel further through chilled and frozen meals, food-to-go portions, filled flatbreads, sharing formats and sandwich-style applications. That could take pinsa into lunch, snacking and grab-and-go occasions as well as the traditional evening pizza meal.
“It can refresh a relatively mature pizza range and create a credible reason for a higher price point,” said Fitch. “The customer can see and taste the difference in the base, so the proposition does not rely solely on adding more expensive toppings.”
After years of pizza innovation dominated by stuffed crusts, premium cheeses and extravagant toppings, pinsa turns attention back to the dough. High hydration, fermentation, sourdough flavour and a slightly irregular appearance become selling points in their own right.
Also read → The pizza pivot: Why stars like Ant & Dec are backing frozen bakery
Air fryer-friendly bases, individual portions, sharing products and gluten-free versions could push the format further, provided manufacturers don’t sacrifice its defining texture in pursuit of convenience.
Pinsa won’t dethrone pizza and it doesn’t need to. There’s plenty of room beside it but only if manufacturers resist the temptation to flatten its personality along with its dough.
The surprisingly short history of pinsa
Pinsa is frequently presented as an ancient Roman flatbread revived for modern diners. It’s a great story – but the pinsa now moving into supermarkets and restaurants is a much more recent creation.
Modern pinsa romana was developed by Roman baker and entrepreneur Corrado Di Marco following years of experiments with flour blends, hydration and fermentation. Di Marco’s company dates its launch to 2001, although the work behind the product began in the late 1970s and built on an earlier wheat-and-soya dough. Rice flour was subsequently added to help create a crisp surface, while high hydration and longer fermentation produced the open, airy crumb now associated with the format.
The name is commonly linked to the Latin verb pinsere, meaning to pound, press or crush, reinforcing pinsa’s Roman identity and its hand-stretched shape. However, claims that today’s wheat, rice and soya recipe was eaten in ancient Rome shouldn’t be taken literally. Roman populations certainly made cereal-based flatbreads, but the modern formulation and the pinsa romana name belong to the contemporary bakery industry.
Ready-made pinsa bases arrived in 2012, making the product easier for restaurants and foodservice operators to adopt without producing the difficult high-hydration dough themselves.
So, pinsa may look like a rediscovered Roman classic, but its real history is arguably more interesting: it’s a modern bakery innovation that has successfully acquired the aura of an ancient food.
Dining and Cooking