Pizza around the world

Angela

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As taste tested by a bunch of kids. Well, a rather special bunch of kids I guess you could say, as they're the children of people who work at Bon Appetite. :)

They have great palates, especially one pre-teen girl with long brown hair who is more intelligent and sophisticated than most people four times her age.

A quote from one of the boys: "Cheese pizza is like a god of a food". :) One of the girls also feels called upon to thank the Italians for inventing pizza. I concur.

 
Pizza Margherita is my favorite, followed by the NYC-style one.

The Argentina pizza looks pretty good too!

I agree. Some of them look absolutely gross, although I won't name them for fear of giving offense. :)

To each their own, I guess, as long as I don't have to eat it.

You know, it's weird. As with Chinese food (or Italian food in general), with each mile outside the "core" areas, the pizza gets worse. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe not enough good pizzaiolos to go around?

Don't laugh, but as I house hunt, I eat at the pizza joints and Italian restaurants and make sure there's an Italian import store. I have my priorities straight!

My whole family is the same way. My cousin's husband did his medical residency in Nebraska. She would drive back and forth for her visits home in a HUGE van that she would fill with Italian food products for the drive back. Now, Eataly and Dean and De Luca's in New York ship things to her. :)
https://www.eataly.com/

I'm usually a purist when it comes to pizza...a Margherita or a New York slice with pepperoni, but, this one with burrata? YUM.

thumb_600.JPG
 
I agree. Some of them look absolutely gross, although I won't name them for fear of giving offense. :)

To each their own, I guess, as long as I don't have to eat it.

You know, it's weird. As with Chinese food (or Italian food in general), with each mile outside the "core" areas, the pizza gets worse. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe not enough good pizzaiolos to go around?

Don't laugh, but as I house hunt, I eat at the pizza joints and Italian restaurants and make sure there's an Italian import store. I have my priorities straight!

My whole family is the same way. My cousin's husband did his medical residency in Nebraska. She would drive back and forth for her visits home in a HUGE van that she would fill with Italian food products for the drive back. Now, Eataly and Dean and De Luca's in New York ship things to her. :)
https://www.eataly.com/

I'm usually a purist when it comes to pizza...a Margherita or a New York slice with pepperoni, but, this one with burrata? YUM.

thumb_600.JPG

I'm very happy that recently an Italian import store opened up not too far from where I live. It's owned by a young couple from Milano.
 
Oh, boy, pizzas are nowadays the most famous least Italian thing in the world! LOL In Brazil there are so many different recipes that I've lost my count, but I was outraged when I found out that simply my 3 favorite recipes of pizza simply do not exist anywhere else (or so I was told). They are so yummy, but apparently only to Brazilian tastes. What is really funny is that the names of these 100% Brazilian pizzas often refer to foreign countries and regions of countries, they're such delicious frauds!

There is the pizza calabresa, the most popular in the country, which apparently is a Brazilian invention despite its name Calabrian pizza. It's similar to salami pizza, but it's made of cheese, tomato sauce, oregano, olives and lots and lots of pieces of smoked sausage.

Calabresa-alta.jpg


Then there is the pizza portuguesa, which again didn't come from Portugal apparently. Its ingredients must sound like a shameful offense to some Italians: cheese, eggs, ham, onion, tomato, olives, oregano, and sometimes even garlic, bacon and green/red pepper.

pizza-portuguesa.jpg



My 3rd favorite un-Italian pizza is frango com requeijão (chicken with requeijão, a very Brazilian thing that is a sort of very milky/curd-like cream cheese). It also usually comes with maize, onion and, as always with Brazilian pizzas, lots of oregano, olives and so on..

Frango-com-requeij%C3%A3o.jpg


I wonder if foreign people would be positively surprised or actually horrified by those unusual pizzas.
 
Not at all , now in European states you find all pizzas , each ethnic groups have theirs ( armenian,greek,even irish) , i'd taste those brazil's anytime.
Unfortunately my stomach find pizzas hard to digest these days. it looks like the cheese is not always of good quality and am sensitive at that. An artisanal italian pizza has always best quality product.
 
Oh, boy, pizzas are nowadays the most famous least Italian thing in the world! LOL In Brazil there are so many different recipes that I've lost my count, but I was outraged when I found out that simply my 3 favorite recipes of pizza simply do not exist anywhere else (or so I was told). They are so yummy, but apparently only to Brazilian tastes. What is really funny is that the names of these 100% Brazilian pizzas often refer to foreign countries and regions of countries, they're such delicious frauds!

There is the pizza calabresa, the most popular in the country, which apparently is a Brazilian invention despite its name Calabrian pizza. It's similar to salami pizza, but it's made of cheese, tomato sauce, oregano, olives and lots and lots of pieces of smoked sausage.

Calabresa-alta.jpg


Then there is the pizza portuguesa, which again didn't come from Portugal apparently. Its ingredients must sound like a shameful offense to some Italians: cheese, eggs, ham, onion, tomato, olives, oregano, and sometimes even garlic, bacon and green/red pepper.

pizza-portuguesa.jpg



My 3rd favorite un-Italian pizza is frango com requeijão (chicken with requeijão, a very Brazilian thing that is a sort of very milky/curd-like cream cheese). It also usually comes with maize, onion and, as always with Brazilian pizzas, lots of oregano, olives and so on..

Frango-com-requeij%C3%A3o.jpg


I wonder if foreign people would be positively surprised or actually horrified by those unusual pizzas.

I'd probably like the first one, since it looks like our pepperoni pizza here in New York. I'd probably take the olives off, though.

o.jpg


Blotting is recommended. :)


The third might be interesting. I'd have to try it. I like what's called in New York "white pizza", which has mozzarella, ricotta ( also a soft, mild, creamy cheese), and lots of garlic and oregano. I really don't like chicken on my pizza, though, although they serve it all the time in New York, including a barbecue chicken pizza, God help us. I think it's vile, but my son loves it, as he likes ham and pineapple pizza, so there you go: I'm a failure as a mother.
16793427f8aa019db243c4be9b85f078.jpg



The second I'm afraid I couldn't even try. Sorry.

I love focaccia, which is why I would probably like the Argentinian focaccia/pizza. Again, I'm a purist, though. I love it just with lots of oil, coarse salt and rosemary, but with caramelized onions added or olives it's good too. An Italian chef once told me: no more than three or four main ingredients, or the flavors become all muddied together. It made sense to me: that's how I like my food too: clean, clear flavors.
Schermata-2015-04-09-alle-09.40.23-1.jpg
 
Oh, boy, pizzas are nowadays the most famous least Italian thing in the world! LOL In Brazil there are so many different recipes that I've lost my count, but I was outraged when I found out that simply my 3 favorite recipes of pizza simply do not exist anywhere else (or so I was told). They are so yummy, but apparently only to Brazilian tastes. What is really funny is that the names of these 100% Brazilian pizzas often refer to foreign countries and regions of countries, they're such delicious frauds!

There is the pizza calabresa, the most popular in the country, which apparently is a Brazilian invention despite its name Calabrian pizza. It's similar to salami pizza, but it's made of cheese, tomato sauce, oregano, olives and lots and lots of pieces of smoked sausage.

Calabresa-alta.jpg


Then there is the pizza portuguesa, which again didn't come from Portugal apparently. Its ingredients must sound like a shameful offense to some Italians: cheese, eggs, ham, onion, tomato, olives, oregano, and sometimes even garlic, bacon and green/red pepper.

pizza-portuguesa.jpg



My 3rd favorite un-Italian pizza is frango com requeijão (chicken with requeijão, a very Brazilian thing that is a sort of very milky/curd-like cream cheese). It also usually comes with maize, onion and, as always with Brazilian pizzas, lots of oregano, olives and so on..

Frango-com-requeij%C3%A3o.jpg


I wonder if foreign people would be positively surprised or actually horrified by those unusual pizzas.

I'd probably like the first one, since it looks like our pepperoni pizza here in New York. I'd probably take the olives off, though.

o.jpg


Blotting is recommended. :)


The third might be interesting. I'd have to try it. I like what's called in New York "white pizza", which has mozzarella, ricotta ( also a soft, mild, creamy cheese), and lots of garlic and oregano. I really don't like chicken on my pizza, though, although they serve it all the time in New York, including a barbecue chicken pizza, God help us. I think it's vile, but my son loves it, as he likes ham and pineapple pizza, so there you go: I'm a failure as a mother.
16793427f8aa019db243c4be9b85f078.jpg



The second I'm afraid I couldn't even try. Sorry.

I love focaccia, which is why I would probably like the Argentinian focaccia/pizza. Again, I'm a purist, though. I love it just with lots of oil, coarse salt and rosemary, but with caramelized onions added or olives it's good too. An Italian chef once told me: no more than three or four main ingredients, or the flavors become all muddied together. It made sense to me: that's how I like my food too: clean, clear flavors.
Schermata-2015-04-09-alle-09.40.23-1.jpg


@Govan,
You're absolutely right. If the ingredients aren't first quality and authentic you're going to get an inferior product, and it might be hard to digest as well. The few times I've tried "chain" pizzas here in the U.S., like Pizza Hut or Dominos, I've invariably gotten acid reflux and other digestive complaints. I'll stick to our local pizzeria, where I know they're using quality ingredients.
 
This came up on my youtube feed: 23 New York slices in 36 hours. People get paid to do this. :)

Some things you can tell by look.

I think the consensus among aficionados is that the biggest sin is: undercooked dough. The bottom has to have brown marks, and the end crust has to be puffier than the bottom and have good color, preferably with some brown.

2nd biggest sin: low quality sauce either two acidic or more likely, too sweet and not herbed enough. It should be made by the pizzeria out of good quality tomatoes and cooked.

3rd biggest sin: watery, low quality mozzarella, and too much of it. There should, as he emphasizes, be a balance between sauce and cheese.

That said, I agree about Scars and Bleecker Street and Best Pizza in Williamsburg, but disagree about some of the others. If the end crust is pale and not puffy, I don't eat it. I know: picky, picky, picky. There's some degree of subjectivity even if you know what you're talking about...
20110506-corner-slice-joes-bleecker-roma-zpizza-11.jpg


 
This came up on my youtube feed: 23 New York slices in 36 hours. People get paid to do this. :)

Some things you can tell by look.

I think the consensus among aficionados is that the biggest sin is: undercooked dough. The bottom has to have brown marks, and the end crust has to be puffier than the bottom and have good color, preferably with some brown.

2nd biggest sin: low quality sauce either two acidic or more likely, too sweet and not herbed enough. It should be made by the pizzeria out of good quality tomatoes and cooked.

3rd biggest sin: watery, low quality mozzarella, and too much of it. There should, as he emphasizes, be a balance between sauce and cheese.

That said, I agree about Scars and Bleecker Street and Best Pizza in Williamsburg, but disagree about some of the others. If the end crust is pale and not puffy, I don't eat it. I know: picky, picky, picky. There's some degree of subjectivity even if you know what you're talking about...
20110506-corner-slice-joes-bleecker-roma-zpizza-11.jpg



Not a New York slice, but I prefer it because it's garlicky and the chunky tomato sauce is great: a Grandma's slice
nyc-food-guy-dot-com-004.jpg

TuqWJa
 
This came up on my youtube feed: 23 New York slices in 36 hours. People get paid to do this. :)

Some things you can tell by look.

I think the consensus among aficionados is that the biggest sin is: undercooked dough. The bottom has to have brown marks, and the end crust has to be puffier than the bottom and have good color, preferably with some brown.

2nd biggest sin: low quality sauce either two acidic or more likely, too sweet and not herbed enough. It should be made by the pizzeria out of good quality tomatoes and cooked.

3rd biggest sin: watery, low quality mozzarella, and too much of it. There should, as he emphasizes, be a balance between sauce and cheese.

That said, I agree about Scars and Bleecker Street and Best Pizza in Williamsburg, but disagree about some of the others. If the end crust is pale and not puffy, I don't eat it. I know: picky, picky, picky. There's some degree of subjectivity even if you know what you're talking about...
20110506-corner-slice-joes-bleecker-roma-zpizza-11.jpg



OMG OMG Im someone with a mediocre palet who wouldn't mind eating what you'd reject at first glance but EVEN I would refuse pizza with undercooked, soft dough!! I don't care if the ingredients are perfectly chosen and other things that adds to the quality of the pizza, I will choke soft pizza down unless I have time to go somewhere else for pizza after throwing it in the garbage lol. Soft pizza is plain nasty
 
In australia we have stopped using Mozzarella cheese and created a sub-branch of it
https://www.cheese.com/fior-di-latte/
it is actually much better
.
but, IMO, the best pizza is from Napoli, campania ............the best of the rest is passable.
.
My parents when they left Italy in the 1950 and 1952 ( and they met in Australia) both said that they first saw pizza in Australia and never seen it in italy in their province, region ( until they went back in 1960 for a visit
 
Neither had I, and I left later. I'm a convert.

My local Italian store makes their own mozzarella, fresh every day, in both a more liquid and drier form. It's very good, but it's not the same as Campanian mozzarella.

The breed of cow, the water they drink, the grass they eat, all impacts taste.

The French call it terroir.

There's no real substitute, just approximations.
 
There's a fun series on youtube called "The Pizza Show" by Frank Pinello. Three seasons so far.


Frank, you're better looking than Derek Jeeter, but Mark is sexier. :)

Mark Iacono is also featured on a fun series called "Is it pizza, dough?" This guy is the real deal in every way.

Is Chicago Deep Dish pizza really pizza?

"Jon Stewart once attacked the pizza on national television claiming, "This is tomato soup in a bread bowl. This is an above ground marinara swimming pool for rats."

Sounds about right to me. :)

Also, not according to Mark, the purist of purists. It's a casserole. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajGLobflwFI
 
As taste tested by a bunch of kids. Well, a rather special bunch of kids I guess you could say, as they're the children of people who work at Bon Appetite. :)

They have great palates, especially one pre-teen girl with long brown hair who is more intelligent and sophisticated than most people four times her age.

A quote from one of the boys: "Cheese pizza is like a god of a food". :) One of the girls also feels called upon to thank the Italians for inventing pizza. I concur.


I have been tolled that the pizza as we know it is a US (NY Italian American) invention. It was originally in this form not known in Italy. Of course this invention landed in the heartland Italy too....and nowadays we consider it as 'typical', 'authentic' Italian food. But may be I'm wrong, you are better informed I guess!
 
@Northener,
I'm afraid that guy is completely misinformed.

Pizza is a Neapolitan invention, and is so recognized. In my area of Italy, we had foccacia and cecina, but the Neapolitans had to bring us pizza.

"Foods similar to pizza have been made since the Neolithic Age.[16] Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history. In the 6th century BC, the Persian soldiers of Achaemenid Empire during the rule King Darius I baked flatbreads with cheese and dates on top of their battle shields[17][18] and the ancient Greeks supplemented their bread with oils, herbs, and cheese.[19][20] An early reference to a pizza-like food occurs in the Aeneid, when Celaeno, queen of the Harpies, foretells that the Trojans would not find peace until they are forced by hunger to eat their tables (Book III). In Book VII, Aeneas and his men are served a meal that includes round cakes (like pita bread) topped with cooked vegetables. When they eat the bread, they realize that these are the "tables" prophesied by Celaeno.[21]Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century.[22] Prior to that time, flatbread was often topped with ingredients such as garlic, salt, lard, cheese, and basil. It is uncertain when tomatoes were first added and there are many conflicting claims.[22] Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries, antecedents to modern pizzerias.
A popular contemporary legend holds that the archetypal pizza, pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, when the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan pizzaiolo (pizza maker) Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in honor of the visiting Queen Margherita. Of the three different pizzas he created, the Queen strongly preferred a pizza swathed in the colors of the Italian flag — red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella). Supposedly, this kind of pizza was then named after the Queen,[23] although later research cast doubt on this legend.[24] An official letter of recognition from the Queen's "head of service" remains on display in Esposito's shop, now called the Pizzeria Brandi.[25]"

In this case Wiki got it right. The Neapolitans took flatbread, transformed it, added cooked tomato sauce and their mozzarella and fresh basil, and voila. The "Margherita" was born.

Pizza purists like Mark Iacono maintain pizza consists of three things, crust, tomato and cheese. Basta. I get his point, although even Neapolitans added some other toppings.

As with many seemingly simple things, it's exceedingly difficult to get it right, especially the crust. The real deal is made with a "mother" yeast which is tried and true, and it is proved for a long time. The sauce and the cheese have to be exactly right.

Pizza Hut, Dominos, and all the rest are abominations as far as I'm concerned. :) As for that monstrosity known as "Hawaiian pizza", don't even get me started. Oy Vey!

The Margherita:
20140712-spacca-napoli-margherita-pizza.jpg


Some famous pizza makers react to you tube videos about making pizza. When they're not laughing, they're practically crying. Frank, I'm sorry, you're cute, but that's terrible pizza. :( As they said, you spent all that time with them in Italy learning how it's done and still continue with the same mistakes.

How to really do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4r0tGfTh68&t=217s

The two biggest mistakes a lot of American pizza shops make is that they don't proof the dough for long enough, and the dough is not wet enough. I never make pizza at home as I'm a big believer in the fact that you need the right oven. The only exception might be pizza made in a cast iron pan. Anyway, I once did try it with pizza dough I got from the local pizzeria. The reason you can barely extend it and it pulls back is because the dough is too hard.

Some more info:
"According to the rules proposed by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana,[17] the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of wheat flour (type 0 or 00, or a mixture of both), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, salt and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer. After the rising process, the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other machine, and may be no more than 3 millimeters (0.12 in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F) stone oven with an oak-wood fire.[18] When cooked, it should be crispy, tender and fragrant. There are three official variants: pizza marinara, which is made with tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil, pizza Margherita, made with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil, and pizza Margherita extra made with tomato, sliced buffalo mozzarella from Campania, basil and extra virgin olive oil. The pizza napoletana is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (Specialità Tradizionale Garantita, STG) product in Europe.[19][20]Pizza in Lazio (Rome), as well as in many other parts of Italy, is available in two different styles. Take-away shops sell pizza rustica or pizza al taglio.[21] This pizza is cooked in long, rectangular baking pans and relatively thick (1–2 cm). The pizza is often cooked in an electric oven. It is usually cut with scissors or a knife and sold by weight. In pizzerias, pizza is served in a dish in its traditional round shape. It has a thin, crisp base quite different from the thicker and softer Neapolitan style base. It is usually cooked in a wood-fired oven, giving the pizza its unique flavor and texture. In Rome, a pizza napoletana is topped with tomato, mozzarella, anchovies and oil (thus, what in Naples is called pizza romana, in Rome is called pizza napoletana). Other types of Lazio-style pizza include:

  • pizza romana (tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, oil)
  • pizza viennese (tomato, mozzarella, German sausage, oregano, oil)
  • pizza capricciosa (mozzarella, tomato, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, olives, oil[22][23])
  • pizza quattro formaggi ("four cheese pizza":[24] tomatoes, and the cheeses mozzarella, stracchino, fontina and gorgonzola; sometimes ricotta is swapped for one of the latter three)
  • pizza bianca ("white pizza":[25] a type of bread topped with olive oil, salt and, occasionally herbs,[26] such as rosemary sprigs)
  • it is also a Roman style to add figs to the pizza, the result being known as pizza e fichi[27] and pizza alla casalinga ("Housewife pizza"): a thin layer of dough which is stretched into an oiled, square "Sicilian" pan, topped sparingly with shredded mozzarella, crushed uncooked canned tomatoes, chopped garlic and olive oil, and baked until the top bubbles and the bottom is crisp.[28]"

As you can see, the toppings they use in Italy are quite different in some cases from what people would think to put on it here. For example, a very popular pizza in the north has tuna and onion on top, some are made with four cheeses including a blue cheese. Others might have speck or bresaola depening on the region.
 
Thanks Angela, I will read it asap. What that guy, and others state, is that pizza was in Italy a poor mans food, the left overs backed up ... something like that. In the US it became an uplift (more and divers and fresh ingredients etc). That recipy went back to Italy....I guess that is not far fetched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84vCsDjuhco
 
@Northener,
I'm afraid that guy is completely misinformed.

Pizza is a Neapolitan invention, and is so recognized. In my area of Italy, we had foccacia and cecina, but the Neapolitans had to bring us pizza.

"Foods similar to pizza have been made since the Neolithic Age.[16] Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history. In the 6th century BC, the Persian soldiers of Achaemenid Empire during the rule King Darius I baked flatbreads with cheese and dates on top of their battle shields[17][18] and the ancient Greeks supplemented their bread with oils, herbs, and cheese.[19][20] An early reference to a pizza-like food occurs in the Aeneid, when Celaeno, queen of the Harpies, foretells that the Trojans would not find peace until they are forced by hunger to eat their tables (Book III). In Book VII, Aeneas and his men are served a meal that includes round cakes (like pita bread) topped with cooked vegetables. When they eat the bread, they realize that these are the "tables" prophesied by Celaeno.[21]Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century.[22] Prior to that time, flatbread was often topped with ingredients such as garlic, salt, lard, cheese, and basil. It is uncertain when tomatoes were first added and there are many conflicting claims.[22] Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries, antecedents to modern pizzerias.
A popular contemporary legend holds that the archetypal pizza, pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, when the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan pizzaiolo (pizza maker) Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in honor of the visiting Queen Margherita. Of the three different pizzas he created, the Queen strongly preferred a pizza swathed in the colors of the Italian flag — red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella). Supposedly, this kind of pizza was then named after the Queen,[23] although later research cast doubt on this legend.[24] An official letter of recognition from the Queen's "head of service" remains on display in Esposito's shop, now called the Pizzeria Brandi.[25]"

In this case Wiki got it right. The Neapolitans took flatbread, transformed it, added cooked tomato sauce and their mozzarella and fresh basil, and voila. The "Margherita" was born.

Pizza purists like Mark Iacono maintain pizza consists of three things, crust, tomato and cheese. Basta. I get his point, although even Neapolitans added some other toppings.

As with many seemingly simple things, it's exceedingly difficult to get it right, especially the crust. The real deal is made with a "mother" yeast which is tried and true, and it is proved for a long time. The sauce and the cheese have to be exactly right.

Pizza Hut, Dominos, and all the rest are abominations as far as I'm concerned. :) As for that monstrosity known as "Hawaiian pizza", don't even get me started. Oy Vey!

The Margherita:
20140712-spacca-napoli-margherita-pizza.jpg


Some famous pizza makers react to you tube videos about making pizza. When they're not laughing, they're practically crying. Frank, I'm sorry, you're cute, but that's terrible pizza. :( As they said, you spent all that time with them in Italy learning how it's done and still continue with the same mistakes.

How to really do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4r0tGfTh68&t=217s

The two biggest mistakes a lot of American pizza shops make is that they don't proof the dough for long enough, and the dough is not wet enough. I never make pizza at home as I'm a big believer in the fact that you need the right oven. The only exception might be pizza made in a cast iron pan. Anyway, I once did try it with pizza dough I got from the local pizzeria. The reason you can barely extend it and it pulls back is because the dough is too hard.

Some more info:
"According to the rules proposed by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana,[17] the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of wheat flour (type 0 or 00, or a mixture of both), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, salt and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer. After the rising process, the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other machine, and may be no more than 3 millimeters (0.12 in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F) stone oven with an oak-wood fire.[18] When cooked, it should be crispy, tender and fragrant. There are three official variants: pizza marinara, which is made with tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil, pizza Margherita, made with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil, and pizza Margherita extra made with tomato, sliced buffalo mozzarella from Campania, basil and extra virgin olive oil. The pizza napoletana is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (Specialità Tradizionale Garantita, STG) product in Europe.[19][20]Pizza in Lazio (Rome), as well as in many other parts of Italy, is available in two different styles. Take-away shops sell pizza rustica or pizza al taglio.[21] This pizza is cooked in long, rectangular baking pans and relatively thick (1–2 cm). The pizza is often cooked in an electric oven. It is usually cut with scissors or a knife and sold by weight. In pizzerias, pizza is served in a dish in its traditional round shape. It has a thin, crisp base quite different from the thicker and softer Neapolitan style base. It is usually cooked in a wood-fired oven, giving the pizza its unique flavor and texture. In Rome, a pizza napoletana is topped with tomato, mozzarella, anchovies and oil (thus, what in Naples is called pizza romana, in Rome is called pizza napoletana). Other types of Lazio-style pizza include:

  • pizza romana (tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, oil)
  • pizza viennese (tomato, mozzarella, German sausage, oregano, oil)
  • pizza capricciosa (mozzarella, tomato, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, olives, oil[22][23])
  • pizza quattro formaggi ("four cheese pizza":[24] tomatoes, and the cheeses mozzarella, stracchino, fontina and gorgonzola; sometimes ricotta is swapped for one of the latter three)
  • pizza bianca ("white pizza":[25] a type of bread topped with olive oil, salt and, occasionally herbs,[26] such as rosemary sprigs)
  • it is also a Roman style to add figs to the pizza, the result being known as pizza e fichi[27] and pizza alla casalinga ("Housewife pizza"): a thin layer of dough which is stretched into an oiled, square "Sicilian" pan, topped sparingly with shredded mozzarella, crushed uncooked canned tomatoes, chopped garlic and olive oil, and baked until the top bubbles and the bottom is crisp.[28]"

As you can see, the toppings they use in Italy are quite different in some cases from what people would think to put on it here. For example, a very popular pizza in the north has tuna and onion on top, some are made with four cheeses including a blue cheese. Others might have speck or bresaola depening on the region.

Both sides of my family make Focaccia Barese, which is very tasty.

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Sorry, Northener, but "fresh, natural ingredients" is a bit of an oxymoron when it comes to American food. This is only true for the last decades, and it's also "place" specific in the U.S, largely bi-coastal, or in large cities with people with money to spend.

One could say it all began with Alice Waters. I still use the "Chef Panisse" cookbook, fwiw. It's excellent.
"The 1970s saw the food sophistication offensive advance on a series of fronts. In Berkeley, California, chef Alice Waters, who thought of Elizabeth David as the one “person in the Anglophone world who was speaking her language,” made the kitchen of her restaurant, Chez Panisse, the epicenter of a NEW obsession with fresh, local ingredients. In 1976, it was also at Chez Panisse that chef Jeremiah Tower introduced his Northern Californian menu, in English, which included the local birthplaces of the ingredients. California cuisine, with its craftsmanship and idealism, was launched."

Neapolitans were using "fresh, natural" ingredients all along on their pizza, like basil, and fresh mozzarella, and tomatoes from the rich, volcanic soil of Campania, and pure olive oil.

People should be under no illusion that most Americans use "fresh, natural" ingredients in any of their cooking, and certainly not on pizza. Most of America eats pizza like this, or the chain delivery variety:

The video is very funny: "I wouldn't serve this to anyone, not even my dog." :) However, it's also pretty sad, particularly when you read the comments from Americans, who ask things like "What's wrong with it?" They have no idea what good food can taste like.

It's only in pizzerias in places like New York, and Boston, and Philly that you can get anything approximating good pizza. It's atrocious even in most of California.

As for that terrible short video on pizza, where the heck did you dig that up? Was it posted by some t-roll on theapricity or something like that? They should check their facts. Carlo Collodi was dead by the time the Pizza Margherita was invented. There is also nothing "left over" about mozzarella. It's made fresh every day in Italy. Plus, he was a Florentine. I can smell the anti-Mezzogiorno in his comment. The only thing I will grant is that it was a street food.
 
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