The short answer: for most round pizzas, spread a thin layer of sauce and keep it off the rim, add the cheese, then the other toppings, and save delicate finishes for after the bake. The Pizza Calculator starts a 12-inch Neapolitan-style pizza at 58 to 88 g of sauce and 73 to 109 g of cheese, and a 14-inch New York pizza at 94 to 129 g of sauce and 79 to 139 g of cheese. Pan pizzas and some regional styles reverse the order, with cheese down first and sauce on top, which Modernist Pizza found leaves much less undercooked dough under the sauce.
The order matters because the layers cook differently. The base cooks from below, the top from heat above, and anything wet sitting on raw dough slows the dough underneath it. Which layer goes where decides what browns, what stays soft and whether the middle cooks through.
How much sauce and cheese
These are the Pizza Calculator’s starting ranges for each style at the Planner’s default sizes. They scale with the pizza’s area, so the calculator will work them out for any size.
| Style and size | Sauce | Cheese | Usual order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan-style, 12 in | 58–88 g | 73–109 g | Sauce, then cheese |
| New York, 14 in | 94–129 g | 79–139 g | Sauce, grated hard cheese, then mozzarella |
| Roman tonda, 12 in | 44–73 g | 44–80 g | Sauce, then a light layer of cheese |
| Detroit, 10 × 14 in pan | 289–361 g | 361–434 g | Cheese to the pan edges, then sauce |
| Sicilian-style, 13 × 18 in pan | 211–302 g | 302–393 g | Cheese, then sauce |
The Neapolitan-style range agrees with the published standard: the EU specification for a Pizza Napoletana margherita calls for 60 to 80 g of tomato and 80 to 100 g of mozzarella, the same amounts Ken Forkish uses for his 12-inch home margherita. Treat every range as a starting point. Drain wet cheese, and keep watery toppings light.
Why the order matters
Sauce on raw dough slows the dough beneath it. Modernist Pizza explains the “gel layer,” the white, gummy line of undercooked dough you sometimes find between crust and sauce. As the base heats, steam rises through the dough, meets the cool sauce and condenses, so the top layer of dough is the last part of the pizza to cook. In an experiment with 120 pizzas, the authors found that the only way to eliminate it completely is to prebake the dough. Short of that, they suggest two fixes: put the cheese on before the sauce, which gives a much smaller gel layer, and keep the topping load down, since the more there is, the harder the gel layer is to avoid.
What’s on top browns; what’s underneath is protected. Forkish puts grated hard cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino, under the mozzarella so it doesn’t scorch, and lays other delicate ingredients under the cheese for the same reason. Toppings that scorch easily, such as sliced garlic and raw onion, get a thin coating of olive oil.
The rim needs to stay clear. Forkish spreads sauce to within ½ inch of the edge on a Neapolitan-style pizza and ¼ inch on a New York pizza. Keep sauce and cheese inside that line so the rim is free to rise; the cornicione guide explains how it puffs.
Style by style
Neapolitan-style
The EU specification gives the classic orders. The tomato is spread from the center outward in a spiral, and the oil is drizzled the same way:
- Margherita: 60 to 80 g of crushed tomatoes, salt, 80 to 100 g of sliced mozzarella, a few basil leaves, and 4 to 5 g of extra-virgin olive oil, all before the bake.
- Marinara: 70 to 100 g of tomatoes, salt, a pinch of oregano, a sliced clove of garlic and 4 to 5 g of olive oil. No cheese.
In a home oven, Forkish changes the timing rather than the layers. His margherita goes in with sauce only for about 4 minutes, until the rim just starts to turn golden; then he adds a drizzle of oil, grated pecorino, the mozzarella and the basil, and returns it for 1 to 2 minutes before a short broil. In a bake of several minutes, fresh mozzarella added at the start melts into liquid. The two-stage bake covers this in detail.
New York
Forkish’s home New York cheese pizza: sauce spread to within ¼ inch of the edge, a sprinkle of grated pecorino or Grana Padano over the sauce, then low-moisture mozzarella, sliced or grated, in an even layer. Dried oregano and chile flakes go on at the table. Other toppings go on top of the cheese.
His recipe is for a 12-inch pizza and uses 100 g of sauce, 110 g of low-moisture mozzarella and 10 to 15 g of grated hard cheese. That’s more than the Pizza Calculator’s New York starting range at 12 inches, 69 to 95 g of sauce and 58 to 102 g of cheese, because the two start from different recipes: the calculator’s New York amounts are adapted from Ooni’s New York-style recipe. Neither is a limit; they’re different starting points.
Roman thin crust
A Roman tonda is rolled very thin, so it carries less: the Planner portions 180 g of dough for a 12-inch Roman tonda, against 250 g for a Neapolitan-style pizza of the same size. One of Forkish’s favorite versions, the pomodoro, bakes with just tomato sauce and a little olive oil; the grated cheese goes on right after it comes out of the oven.
Detroit
King Arthur Baking’s weeknight Detroit pizza builds in this order:
- Bake the dough in its oiled pan, untopped, for 10 to 12 minutes, until set but barely colored.
- Sprinkle a thick layer of brick cheese where the dough meets the pan, all the way around, then cover the rest of the dough with cheese.
- Spoon thick stripes of sauce over the cheese, and add pepperoni on top if you like.
- Bake 12 to 14 minutes more, until the edges are deeply colored and crisp, then finish with grated pecorino after a few minutes’ rest.
Cheese at the pan wall is what makes the caramelized edge; Modernist Pizza notes that Detroit cheese goes right to the edges and even down between the dough and the pan. The sauce is spooned on top of the cheese, before or after baking. Spooning it on after the bake, as some Detroit pizzerias do, thwarts gumminess, the book notes. See Detroit-style pizza at home.
Sicilian-style
King Arthur’s Sicilian-style pizza also bakes the untopped dough first, for 10 to 12 minutes at 450°F, then adds cheese and finally the tomato sauce on top before another 15 to 20 minutes. Sicilian vs. grandma pizza compares the two pan styles.
Cheese down, sauce up
Modernist Pizza describes the cheese-first order as viable for most types of pizza. Besides shrinking the gel layer, it keeps the crust from getting soggy and protects the cheese from breaking down, which gives a better cheese pull. The authors saw it on Neapolitan pizzas at Pepe in Grani in Italy and prefer it for Detroit-style and deep-dish. Tomato pie in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is built the same way.
Common assembly mistakes
- Too much. A heavy load of sauce and cheese slows the middle, and Modernist Pizza found the gel layer harder to avoid the more topping there is. If the center stays soft, try the next pizza with less.
- Wet cheese straight from the brine. Forkish squeezes and pats buffalo mozzarella before using it, because its higher water content can make a watery pizza. See low-moisture vs. fresh mozzarella.
- Raw, watery vegetables. Cook and drain them first; pre-cooking toppings explains which need it.
- Toppings on the rim. Keep them inside the sauce line.
- Slow building on the peel. The longer a topped pizza sits, the more likely it is to stick. Have everything ready before you stretch the dough; launching and rotating covers the rest.
After the bake
Some things are better added once the pizza is out: grated hard cheese, burrata, cured meats such as prosciutto, dressed greens and a drizzle of good olive oil. Forkish puts burrata on right after the pizza comes out of the oven. Slice first, then finish. Finishing oils and post-bake additions covers what goes on and in what order.
To plan the dough as well as the toppings, the Pizza Planner gives the grams and a schedule for four 14-inch New York pizzas on a home-oven steel.
Sources
- Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya, Modernist Pizza (2021), volume 1: printed page 65 (Detroit “red top” sauce before or after baking), page 104 (cheese-down assembly and tomato pie), page 142 (Detroit pizza), and pages 370–371 (“The Gel Layer Problem”).
- Ken Forkish, The Elements of Pizza (2016): chapter 2 (Roman pizza and the pomodoro), chapter 4 (mozzarella di bufala and burrata) and chapter 7 (notes on toppings, Pizza Margherita and New York Cheese Pizza).
- European Commission, Regulation (EU) No 97/2010, Annex II: the Pizza Napoletana specification (garnish quantities and order).
- Ooni: New York-style pizza, the recipe the Pizza Calculator’s New York topping amounts are adapted from, as recorded in its sources.
- King Arthur Baking: Weeknight Detroit Pizza and Sicilian-Style Pizza. Checked October 14, 2026.