Roman Pala vs Roman Pinsa: Why We Chose a Different Name

The "Ancient" Story Isn't Ancient — Even Pinsa's Own Inventor Says So

"Roman Pinsa" isn't a centuries-old recipe. It's a trademarked name, registered in 2001 by an Italian bakery owner who built a modern dough blend of wheat, rice and soy flour — and gave it an "ancient Roman" backstory as a marketing angle. He's since said as much publicly himself.

That's not a knock on the product. The dough style genuinely works. But we didn't want to sell you someone else's marketing story as if it were ours.

Pala Is the Part That's Actually Old

Long before "Pinsa" existed as a brand name, Roman bakers made pizza alla pala — dough stretched by hand and slid into the oven on a wooden pala, the long flat peel it's named after. It's the real old-school Roman method and that's where our name comes from.

What Roman Pala Actually Is

Same traditional method, a different ingredient list:

• 100% wheat flour — the Pinsa Romana Originale recipe is a wheat, rice and soy blend; ours is wheat, full stop. We didn't want all of the allergens that come with a blend of flours.
• No preservatives — most bases you'll find need them to survive the trip from factory to fridge or intercontinental trips; ours doesn't
• No seed oils — extra virgin olive oil only
• Pantry-stable for 6 weeks — no fridge, no freezer; most Pinsa bases are sold refrigerated or frozen (and then defrosted)
• Handmade in Perth (O'Connor, WA) — not imported, not mass-produced. Most refrigerated Pinsas are imported frozen from Italy, more than 14,000km away (not so local…)
• Ready in 10 minutes, straight from the pantry — no thawing a frozen base first