Coal-fired pizza is a pizza style in the United States.

New York–style pizza New York–style pizza is a pizza made with a characteristically large hand-tossed thin crust, often sold in wide Pizza by the slice, slices Take-out, to go. The crust is thick and crisp only along its edge, yet soft, thin, and pliable enough ...

and New Haven–style pizza are often cooked in

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

-fired

pizza oven A pizza oven is an oven that is specially suited for making pizzas, especially Neapolitan pizza. They can be wood-fired, such as a masonry oven, gas-fired, or electric. History Primitive cultures across the world cooked food on a bakestone or ...

s. A coal-fired oven can reach and cooks a pie in two to five minutes. Pizzerias outside of the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

that feature coal-fired ovens are uncommon enough to be noted in travel guides: for instance, Black Sheep Pizza with the first coal-fired oven in Minneapolis, or URBN in San Diego. As of 2007, coal-fired ovens were quite uncommon in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

with only five others west of the Mississippi: four in an Arizona chain and one more in Las Vegas. The growing popularity of coal-fired pizza in the 2010s was identified as a major market for

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...

suppliers, most of whom are in Pennsylvania's

Coal Region The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite, anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons. The region is typically defined ...

and generally see a declining market due to demand for alternate industrial and home heating fuel sources.

Health concerns

Concerns have been raised about particulates,

sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

and CO₂ emissions from coal-fired pizza ovens.

Health concerns

References

Further reading