| If there's anyone who doesn't like pizza, I've never met | | | | toppings. They are Pizza Marinara (San Marzano |
| them. In addition to being wonderfully delicious and | | | | tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and olive oil), Pizza |
| flavorful, it's also inexpensive, quick and easy to | | | | Margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, oregano, |
| prepare, and -- with the right pizza toppings -- healthy | | | | olive oil, mozzarella, and basil), and Pizza Magherita |
| and nutritious. | | | | Extra (San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, oregano, olive oil, |
| Pizza didn't originate in Italy, as we've all been led to | | | | Mozzarella bi Buffala, and basil). The pizza dough |
| believe. It actually was first created in Egypt and | | | | should be tossed and pulled into a round that's less |
| ancient Greece by seasoning the local flatbread with | | | | than 14 inches in diameter. |
| herbs and baking it on hot stones. Italian pizza was first | | | | A wood-fired oven is heated to 900 degrees |
| made when tomatoes were brought back form the | | | | Fahrenheit, and the pizza is cooked for no more than |
| new world in the 16th century. The tomatoes were | | | | 90 seconds. The crust should be less than 1/8" thick |
| crushed onto foccacia bread and sprinkled with herbs. | | | | and should be capable of being folded without |
| Not long after that, water buffalo were brought back | | | | breaking. |
| from India and the Italians began making mozzarella | | | | The DOC guidelines mean that you don't have to |
| cheese with their milk. When cheese was added to | | | | travel to Naples to get real Neapolitan pizza. In fact, |
| the tomato bread, Italian pizza as we know it was | | | | many American pizzerias have been trained to make |
| born. | | | | authentic pizza by the Verace Pizza Napoletana |
| In those days -- not unlike today -- Naples was a | | | | Americas (VPN). VPN-certified pizza restaurants have |
| rough-and-tumble city with a lot of poverty. Because it | | | | gone so far as importing volcanic stones from |
| was hearty, filling, and cheap, pizza was quickly | | | | Campania to line their pizza ovens. |
| adopted by the Neapolitans. Today, Naples is the city | | | | The best authentic Italian pizzas in Naples are available |
| most associated with pizza and it's where you'll find | | | | at Antica Pizzeria di Matteo -- which also serves little |
| Italian pizza in its purest form. | | | | fried balls of rice or potatoes -- l'Antica Pizzeria de |
| Like Parma ham or Chianti wine, Neapolian pizza is a | | | | Michele (featured in the book Eat, Pray, Love), Pizzeria |
| Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) product. | | | | La Sorrentino, Pizzeria Caffaso, and Trianon. |
| The Italian government established regulations for how | | | | The best place in America to try authentic Italian place |
| it's made, what ingredients can be used, and what | | | | is Seattle, which has several pizzerias certified by the |
| temperature it's cooked at. And true Neapolitan pizza | | | | VPN, including Picolino's Ristorante, Tutta Bella |
| is produced according to these standards. Even the | | | | Neapolitan, Via Tribunale, and Pulcinella. Although it's not |
| composition of the flour is defined. | | | | certified, with pizza toppings like roasted chanterelle |
| There are only three kinds of pizza recognized in the | | | | mushrooms and Pen Cove clams, super-chef Tom |
| DOC guidelines, and they have very few pizza | | | | Douglas's Serious Pie is terrific. |