Ever since the Netflix show, “Chef’s Table: Pizza” came out in the summer of 2022, everybody’s been wanting to make the pizzas seen in the different episodes, including me. It’s nice to change it up every once in awhile. You can’t just eat pepperoni and Margherita pizzas all the time.
The Sonny Boy Pizza from Chris Bianco, named for his father, is sort of a tribute to the pepperoni pizza as a salted pork product is one of the prominent flavors. (Ironically, “Sonny Boy” was a nickname that his father hated.)
Speaking of the salted pork product, the menu at Pizzeria Bianco describes it as “Salami”. However, when Chef Chris Makes Pizza with Jimmy Kimmel, he uses Soppressata. He uses a square shaped Soppressata. I used a round one that is easier to find.
The Gaeta olives are hard to find, so Kalamata olives are substituted.
Chris’s pizza uses a Neapolitan dough and is made in a wood-fired commercial pizza oven. I use a NY-style dough recipe, and bake it in a regular home oven. Trust me. It comes out great.
This recipe is for a 14″ pizza, with some measurements also given for a 12″ pizza. See my NY-style Pizza Dough Recipe here, and see my How-To on Forming the Pizza Base here.
As I said, I baked this in a conventional home oven. I have a pizza stone on the bottom rack, and a pizza steel on the top rack. The oven gets preheated to 525º F, and then holds for one hour before baking the pizza. (If your oven will go to 550º, do that, and if you have convection, do that too.)
I went for 7 minutes on the stone on the bottom, and then switched to high broil, and moved the pizza to the steel on the top rack for 1.5 minutes. (Keep an eye on it though. It may need more or less time on broil.)
If you only have a stone, just keep it on the bottom rack the whole time. If you only have a steel, keep it on the top rack, and just switch to broil at the end.
The prep time does not include making and fermenting the dough, which is linked in a separate recipe. You can substitute a store-bought dough if you want, but making your own and fermenting it isn’t hard, and yields phenomenal results.
Chris Bianco's Sonny Boy Pizza
Equipment
- 1 Pizza Peel (Wooden)
- 1 Pizza Stone or Pizza Steel (I use both on the same cook, switching from stone to steel at the end.)
- 1 Microplane optional
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 14 oz Pizza Dough for 14" pie (See dough recipe link in instructions below.) (12 oz for 12" pie)
Pizza Sauce
- ¾ cup Crushed Tomatoes for the Sauce
Pizza Toppings
- ½ cup Fresh Mozzarella Torn into medium size pieces
- 12-14 slices Soppressata Sliced thin
- 6-9 Kalamata Olives Sliced in half (Feel free to add a few more if you like.)
- ⅓ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano Fine grated on the microplane.
Instructions
Preheat Conventional Home Oven
- I baked this in a conventional home oven. I have a pizza stone on the bottom rack, and a pizza steel on the top rack. The oven gets preheated to 525º F, and then holds for one hour before baking the pizza. (If your oven will go to 550º, do that.)
Pizza Dough Base
- See my Pizza Dough Recipe: https://pizzaismylife.com/pizza-dough-recipes/easy-ny-style-pizza-dough-recipe/
- See my How-To on Shaping the Dough: https://pizzaismylife.com/pizza-dough-recipes/how-to-form-the-pizza-round/
Topping the Pizza
- Spread the crushed tomatoes with a ladle.
- Randomly place the pieces of torn mozzarella.
- Place slices of Soppressata
- Drop Kalamata olives around the pizza
- Sprinkle Parmigiano Reggiano evenly
Baking the Pizza
- Bake at 525° F 8-9 minutes for 14", or 7-8 minutes for a 12" pizza.
- Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before slicing and serving
Notes
