Pizza History and Info
Wiki - Pizza History, types, ingredients, etc
Pizza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pizza (Pronounced ['pit.tsa] in Italian) is an oven-baked, flat, generally round bread that is usually covered with tomatoes or a tomato-based sauce and often mozzarella cheese, with other toppings added according to region, culture or personal preference. Originating as a part of Italian cuisine, the dish has become popular in many different parts of the world. A shop or restaurant where pizzas are made and sold is called a “pizzeria”. The phrase “pizza parlor” is also used in the United States. The term pizza pie is dialectal and pie is used for simplicity in some contexts, such as among pizzeria staff. Toppings: Pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, Canadian Bacon, chicken, tofu, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, garlic, pineapple, spinach, avocado, organic tomato, jalapeños
Keywords
Hand tossed, Supreme, Super Supreme, pan, thick crust, thin crust, veggie, veggie lovers, stuffed, Square cut, Chicago, slice, wheat, whole wheat, multigrain crust, honey, red sauce, organic tomatoes and vegetables, topped, toppings, all-natural cheese chicken sausage, roasted red peppers, medium, large, small, Natural pizza, one topping, average, medium, two-topping pizza, three-topping pizza, four-topping pizza, five-topping pizza, Ultimate, pizza lover, beer,
Frozen Pizza and Take and Bake
Pizza is also found as a frozen food in grocery stores and supermarkets. A considerable amount of food technology ingenuity has gone into the creation of palatable frozen pizza. The main challenges include preventing the sauce from combining with the dough and producing a crust that can be frozen and reheated without becoming rigid.
Modified corn starch is commonly used as a moisture barrier between the sauce and crust. Traditionally the dough is somewhat pre-baked and other ingredients are also sometimes pre-cooked. More recently, frozen pizzas with completely raw ingredients have also begun to appear, as have those with “self-rising” crusts. Many grocery stores and supermarkets also sell fresh, ready-to-bake pizzas. Recently, nearly all of the frozen pizza makers as well as the store brands have used cheaper pepperoni and sausage made with a combination of pork, beef and the recently added mechanically separated chicken.
Another form of uncooked pizza is available from take and bake This pizza is created fresh using raw ingredients, then sold to customers who take it home and bake it in their own ovens and microwaves. Supermarkets also offer this service.
United States styles and specialties
Home-made pepperoni pizza
Due to the wide influence of Italian and Greek immigrants in American culture, the United States has developed quite a large number of regional forms of pizza, many bearing only a casual resemblance to the Italian original. During the latter half of the 20th century, pizza in the United States became an iconic dish of considerable popularity, and may have contributed to the decline of the British pie heritage previously common in American cuisine. The thickness of the crust depends on what the consumer prefers; both thick and thin crust are popular.
Ingredients
American pizza often has vegetable oil or shortening (often, but not always, olive oil mixed into the dough; this is not as common in Italian recipes (for example, the pizza dough recipe in the influential Italian cookbook Il cucchiaio d’argento does not use oil). This can range from a small amount in relatively lean doughs, such as New York style, to a very large amount in some recipes for Chicago-style deep-dish dough. In addition, American pizza (at least thin-crust) is often made with a very high-gluten flour (often 13–14% protein content) of the type also used to make bagels; this type of flour allows the dough to be stretched rather thinly without tearing, similar to strudel or phyllo dough.
Various toppings may be added, most typically:
* Tomato sauce usually replaces the tomato mixture used on Italian-style pizzas, and is usually a fairly heavily seasoned, smooth sauce with a low water content. On some variants without tomatoes, pesto, alfredo and barbecue sauce are also used.
* Cheese, usually mozzarella but also provolone, Cheddar, Parmesan or a blend of other cheeses.
* Herbs and seasonings such as basil, oregano and red pepper.
* Fruits and vegetables such as garlic, artichoke hearts, eggplant, olives, onions, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, jalepenos and pineapple.
* Mushrooms.
* Meat, such as sausage (pepperoni, salami or Italian sausage), ham, bacon, ground beef, and chicken, or seafood such as anchovies, tuna, salmon and shrimp.
In some pizza recipes the tomato sauce is omitted (termed “white pizza”), or replaced with another sauce (usually garlic butter, but sauces can also be made with spinach or onions). In the Philadelphia area there are also tomato pies—sauce only, or sauce with ripe Roma tomatoes and spices but no cheese—and upside-down pizzas, i.e., the cheese on the bottom and topped with sauce. Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but is sometimes eaten as cold leftovers for breakfast.
Variations
New York-style pizza
New York-style pizza is a style originally developed in New York City by immigrants from Naples, where pizza was created. It is often sold in generously sized, thin and flexible slices. It is traditionally hand-tossed, moderate on sauce, and moderately covered with cheese essentially amounting to a much larger version of the Neapolitan style. The slices are sometimes eaten folded in half, or even stacked, as its size and flexibility may otherwise make it unwieldy to eat by hand. This style of pizza tends to dominate the Northeastern states, and is very similar to the basic style common through the United States and known simply as pizza. Many pizza establishments in the New York metropolitan area offer two varieties of pizza: “Neapolitan”, or “regular”, made with a relatively thin, circular crust and served in wedge-shaped slices, and “Sicilian”, or “square”, made with a thicker, rectangular crust and served in large, rectangular slices.
Chicago-style deep-dish pizza
Chicago-style pizza, or Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, contains a crust which is formed up the sides of a deep-dish pan. It reverses the order of some ingredients, using crust, cheese, filling, then sauce on top. Some versions (usually referred to as stuffed) have two layers of crust with the sauce on top. The invention of deep-dish pizza occurred in America and transcends a single ethnic origin. Deep-dish pizza was invented by Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo and first served in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno, which is still operating along with its twin restaurant, Pizzeria Due, in the River North neighborhood.
Chicago-style thin-crust pizza has a thinner crust than Chicago-style deep dish, and is baked flat rather than in a deep dish pan. The crust is thin and firm enough to have a noticeable crunch, unlike a New York-style pizza, yet thick enough to be soft and doughy on the top. The crust is invariably topped with a liberal quantity of southern-Italian style tomato sauce, which is usually quite herbal or highly spiced, and typically contains no visible chunks of tomato. Next, a layer of toppings is added, and a layer of mozzarella cheese which frequently separates from the bottom crust due to the quantity of tomato sauce. Chicago-style thin crust pizzas are cut into three-to-four-inch (8–10 cm) squares, also known as “party cut”, as opposed to a “pie cut” into wedges. The small size of the squares makes it unnecessary to fold the slices. Chicago-style pizza is prevalent throughout the Midwestern US. Chains that are well known for Chicago-style thin-crust pizza are Giordano’s, Home Run Inn and Old Chicago.
St. Louis-style pizza
St. Louis-style pizza is a variant of thin-crust popular in and around St. Louis, Missouri. The most notable characteristic of St. Louis-style pizza is the distinctively St. Louisan Provel cheese used instead of (or rarely in addition to) the mozzarella common to Chicago-style thin crust.
California-style pizza
California-style pizza refers to pizza with non-traditional ingredients, especially those that use a considerable amount of fresh produce. A Thai-inspired chicken pizza with peanut sauce, bean sprouts, and shaved carrots is a popular variant in California-style pizza restaurants, as are pizzas that use chicken and barbecue sauce as toppings. The style was invented by Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, and popularized by the California Pizza Kitchen chain, along with Wolfgang Puck’s various fine dining and casual restaurant chains and retail products.
Greek pizza
Greek pizza is a variation popular in New England; its name comes from it being typical of the style of pizzerias owned by Greek immigrants. It has a thicker, chewier crust and is baked in a pan in the pizza oven, instead of directly on the bricks. Plain olive oil is a common part of the topping, as well as being liberally used to grease the pans and crisp the crust. Variations in other parts of the country include using feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and Greek herbs such as oregano.
Hawaiian pizza
Hawaiian pizza has “Canadian bacon” (or sliced ham) and pineapple toppings with Mozzarella cheese. This type of pizza is especially popular in the western United States, and is also a popular topping combination in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, but notably not in Hawaii. This type is also common within the EU, where it is known as pizza Hawaii.
Taco pizza
Taco pizza has ingredients usually associated with tacos, such as; lettuce, shredded beef or hamburger, chopped tomatoes, avocados, corn chips, cheddar cheese, sour cream and taco sauce.
Grilled pizza
Grilled pizza, invented in Providence, Rhode Island, uses a fairly thin crust cooked on a grill; the toppings are placed on the baked side after the pizza has cooked for a bit and been flipped over.
English muffin and French bread pizza and pizza bagels are common convenience pizzas made at home in an oven or toaster, usually with a simple topping of tomato sauce, sliced or shredded cheese, and perhaps pepperoni. French bread pizza is sometimes available commercially as a frozen meal.
Apizza
New Haven-style pizza, also known as apizza, popular in southern Connecticut. It has a thin crust that varies between chewy and tender, depending on the particular establishment. The default version is a “white” pizza topped with only garlic and hard cheeses; customers who want tomato sauce or mozzarella cheese have to ask for them explicitly. Apizza has a very dark, “scorched” crisp crust that offers a distinctive bitter flavor, which can be offset by the sweetness of tomatoes or other toppings.
Pizza in Australia
Pizzas are very popular in Australia, which has a large Italian community. The usual Italian varieties are available, but there is also the Australian, or australiana, which has the usual tomato sauce base and mozzarella cheese with bacon and egg (seen as quintessentially Australian breakfast fare). Prawns are also sometimes used on this style of pizza.
Since the 1980s Australian pizza shops and restaurants began selling gourmet pizzas, essentially pizzas with upmarket ingredients such as salmon, dill, rocket, bocconcini, tiger prawns, and even such outré toppings as kangaroo, emu and crocodile meats. Wood-fired pizzas, cooked in an impressive-looking ceramic oven heated by wood fuel, are also popular.
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