| Since cheese has been added to the Neapolitan | | | | Pizza has been one of the staple foods of the 20th |
| tomato pie, pizza has been one of the most popular | | | | century, just like hamburgers or french fries, it is |
| part of international cuisine. It enjoys a good reputation | | | | soaked deep into collective consciousness. Most |
| for its versatility and great diversity, there are probably | | | | notable variations of the original pizza are the |
| more versions than there are countries in the world. | | | | Chicago-style deep pan and the New York style. |
| The original version of Italian pizza, the margherita is | | | | Chicago style is made in a deep pan instead of stone |
| made with high protein flour similar to the one used for | | | | oven. |
| making bread. The topping consists of tomato, sliced | | | | The New York style pizza is a big, often 18" pizza cut |
| mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil. These | | | | into 8 slices. A strong, protein rich flour is used and |
| ingredients are the basics of almost every other pizza | | | | topping is often only cheese and tomato sauce. It is |
| variation. | | | | also referenced to as regular or, with unnecessary |
| Neapolitan pizza is traditionally made with | | | | redundancy, cheese pizza. By definition pizza always |
| hand-kneaded dough not thicker than 1/8" in a stone | | | | has cheese on top. |
| oven. The oven is heated to over 905 F and the pizza | | | | Family pizza is often called large, or big pizza. It's 12" to |
| is baked for 60 to 90 seconds in it. This really hot oven | | | | 18" inches in size and is cut into 6 or 8 slices. The |
| makes sure the dough gets crusty without burning and | | | | regular size is 8 to 12" in diameter which is easily |
| the toppings don't dry. | | | | consumed by an adult male on his own. Largest pizza |
| The Neapolitan pizza is quite restrictive regarding the | | | | ever spun by hand was 33" in diameter and was |
| way of producing it, but there are other variations in | | | | made of a 17 oz dough. It took two minutes to flatten |
| Italy worth a mention. Pizza rustica for example is | | | | the dough to that size. |
| made with 1/2" thick dough in a big pizza pan and is | | | | Pizza is a really popular dish all over the world, it has |
| cut with a pizza cutter. This pizza is sold by the weight | | | | been consumed in dozens of different variations, but |
| and mostly is for take-away. Pizza restaurants, or | | | | however big or small it might be, the original will always |
| otherwise known as pizzerias, sell the original thin crust | | | | be Italian. |
| circular shaped version. | | | | |