The Evolution Of Pizza

Trying to trace the history of the first pizza is a surprisingly controversial subject. Some claim that this popular food is based on early unleavened breads served in the early centuries in Rome. Others trace a connection from modern pizza back to the pita breads of Greece.

It's fairly well established that the first pizza as we know it today was created by a man named Raffaele Esposito from Naples, Italy. Esposito's creation was designed to honor the visit of Queen Margherita to Naples in 1889, and he decorated it with the colors of the Italian flag, using white cheese, green basil, and red tomatoes (tomatoes, which had arrived from the west about 60 years earlier, were originally thought to be poisonous, but by Esposito's time they were already embraced by Italian cuisine).

As the years passed and the turn of the century came about, Italian immigrants brought this recipe with them to America. The first pizzeria was opened in America in 1905. It remained popular almost exclusively among immigrants until the end of World War II, when American soldiers returned to their home soil and brought back a love of the pizza they had discovered overseas. With that, the pizza boom in America began and this food became a mainstream meal instead of an underground Italian snack.

The concentration of Italian immigrants in New York in those olden days explains the fact that many people feel you must visit New York to get true pizzeria-style pizza. It's where the pizza got its American start, after all. And nobody who has experienced New York style pizza can disagree. New York is famous for its pizzerias, where a true slice of pizza consists of a thin, wide crust loaded with plenty of toppings and marinara and smothered in heady Italian seasonings. A side of garlic bread and some heady pastas and tortellinis usually round out the menu. Pizzerias in New York are not for the faint of heart.

In the early 1940s, the city of Chicago, IL took pizza in a different direction. It is believed that the first pizzeria in Chicago was Pizzeria Uno, opened in 1943 by Ike Sewell. Sewell's pizza creation was a new twist on the old New York standard. He created what is known today as deep-dish pizza, where the pizza is sunk low into a deeper pan, and the crust is allowed to rise in thick bubbles around the edges. People flocked to Sewell's pizzeria, and a whole new way of looking at this favorite food was born.

To this day you can find yourself in some pretty heated debates if you argue with a New Yorker or a Chicagoan about what constitutes authentic pizzeria-style pizza. But whatever crust style you choose, pizza is a unique food with a foggy past and a definite appeal that has lasted through many incarnations.

So you're lucky enough to find yourself in New York or Chicago, or any city for that matter that has a true pizzeria, complete with checked tablecloths and plenty of garlic on the menu, indulge yourself in an old tradition and order a slice. After all, its tradition.

Thrill Friends And Family With A "Make It Yourself" Pizza Party

If there is one thing kids love more than eating pizza, it's being able to make it themselves using all their favorite toppings. Creating a "make it yourself" pizza party is a great way to customize the meal while involving friends and family in a fun activity. Best of all, this crust recipe, which uses a surprise ingredient, is simple enough to make at home without making a mess of the kitchen.

The secret to this simple crust is the addition of potatoes. Idahoan brand flavored Mashed Potatoes were recently named the best-tasting instant mashed potato compared to major national competitors by the American Culinary ChefsBest.™ Incorporating these convenient, 100 percent authentic Idaho potatoes in the crust adds moisture and rich flavor to this homemade version of one of America's favorite foods.

The following recipe for Fresh Tomato and Zucchini Pizza uses fresh summer produce; however, when making pizza at home, each person can substitute his or her favorite toppings. With this versatile recipe, you can enjoy a delicious homemade meal that enables everyone to eat the pizza that they love.

Fresh Tomato

And Zucchini Pizza

Crust:

1/2 cup dry Idahoan Roasted Garlic flavored Mashed Potatoes

1 cup boiling water

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Topping:

3 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced and patted dry

1 small zucchini, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and ground pepper to taste

4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons fresh shredded basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil

Combine dry Idahoan Roasted Garlic flavored Mashed Potatoes with boiling water in a bowl, using a fork to moisten all potatoes. Let stand for one minute. Add flour, olive oil and salt to potato mixture. With hands, knead mixture until dough forms a ball. Let rest 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400บ F. Press dough into 12-inch by 8-inch baking pan. Arrange zucchini slices and tomato slices over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake about 15 minutes. Top with mozzarella; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with basil.

Yield: 4 main-dish servings or 6 appetizer servings

Where Do the Pizza Toppings Belong?

In the pizza industry, there has been many a conflict over how to make the best and most perfect pizza. Debates over the subject include what type of crust to use, the type of pizza sauce, type of toppings and even the type of cheese that makes the best pizza pie. From New York Style to Chicago Style to California Style, differences in technique are what make the Pizza World go around. Another one of those pizza arguments is where on the pizza the toppings should go. It is debatable that toppings under the sauce look better or worse than toppings above the sauce and cheese. There is even an issue over which one tastes better.

Chicago Style pizza is a recipe steeped in tradition. This deep-dish style pizza goes against the traditional grain of most of the other pizza recipes in the U.S. Instead of placing the toppings you choose on the top of the pizza sauce and cheeses, the sliced mozzarella cheese is placed in a layer on the crust, which is placed in the bottom of a deep-dish pizza pan. On top of the mozzarella cheese is placed the toppings of choice, such as Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. The next layer is the sauce, which is the top layer. To many people who are not from Chicago or familiar with this style of pizza, this is something that is brand new. It may even seem backward to those who live elsewhere in the country and are used to another style of pizza. Many people say that Chicago Style is the best because it helps to keep the crust crispy because the sauce is on top, and not directly on the crust, making it soggy.

This other type of pizza places the sauce on the crust, shredded cheese layered above the sauce, and the toppings scattered above the cheese. This is what most people in the United States think of when they think of pizza. Many people don’t even know of a different way of making pizza. Some say Americans love the tradition of sauce directly on the crust.

While the theory of the "best" pizza is definitely up to the individual and personal preference, arguments over whose style is the "best" is an ongoing battle in the pizza universe. The argument will never be settled between the die-hards from their respective regions. But, the good news is, that the United States has become more and more open-minded when it comes to food. The real winners in this debate are the ones who eat a little bit of both types of pizza. The real winners realize that there is no best, only different. Every once in a while, treat your senses to something out of the ordinary. If you are used to Chicago Style and the toppings beneath the sauce, check out a new thing and have some New York Style or California Style pizza. The same goes for you New Yorkers and others. If you are always having the same old toppings-on-the-top pizza, go crazy and try some Chicago Style pizza. Open your palate up to the unique taste of something extraordinary.

Changing Pizza Trends

For years, pizza has been a favorite food of American culture. Pizza, holding its own against all time greats such as hamburgers and hotdogs, has become somewhat of a staple on the American menu and on its table. However, since its comeuppance in the category of favorite foods in the U.S., pizza has come a long way as far as what is termed as great toppings and what is termed as just plain weird. Some new trends in the way that pizza is made and topped have come to the forefront. Foods that are used for toppings today and are popular, in the 1960’s would have been turned away as ridiculous.

Over the past few decades, tastes have changed in America. While many pizza lovers prefer traditional pizza styles and toppings such as pepperoni, sausage, onions, peppers, mushrooms and olives, pizza connoisseurs that are new to the scene are fond of trying the non-traditional in order to find pizza topping greatness. Some newer toppings that are not so radical that the traditional pizza fan can not get past them are toppings such as chicken, ham and pineapple, and ground beef, to name a few. However, there have been toppings that have totally offended the sensibilities of that traditional pizza enthusiast.

One of the things that has completely affected the new wave of pizza traditions in this industry is the fact that the great people of the gourmet foods industry have begun to take a part in the pizza industry, helping to make it their own. Suddenly, pizza is no longer only for the superbowl party, or the kids’ birthday party, or a late night fix when the busy career woman comes home tired from work and doesn’t want to cook. It has become the object of attention for society’s elite in the gourmet foods circuit.

More and more these days, fine dining and gourmet restaurants are beginning to offer their unique take on the creation of pizza. The gourmet food industry brings flair to pizza by offering daring topping choices and letting creativity and taste come to the forefront. While some might say the toppings they choose are ridiculous, which some of the more daring topping ideas may be, some of the new trends in pizza are really beginning to take off with the more elite crowd. Some new toppings include seafood such as oysters and crayfish. Other new toppings that have been tried are game meats like venison and duck. Even wackier are toppings such as peanut butter and jelly and bacon and eggs.

While you won’t find most pizza lovers willing to try mashed potato pizza, many are stepping out on a limb and trying the new toppings the renovated pizza industry has to offer. Whatever your favorite toppings are, America is in agreement of one thing about pizza: it’s impossible to live without.

Rediscovering Grilled Pizza

America’s favorite food has long been the pizza cooked in a traditional oven but is that about to change? While most Americans have probably never indulged in a grilled pizza, the origins of pizza are making a big comeback. There is no denying that we love our traditional backyard barbeque but rarely, if ever has the barbeque included grilling a pizza. Despite the seemingly odd combination of grill and pizza, the grill is the ideal tool for cooking pizza and in fact is deep in the origin of pizza making. The high, dry heat is ideal for a nice crisp crust and the flavor provided from your grill will on a whole new world of backyard grilling.

Before the word pizza was ever used, Greeks and Romans used wood-fired brick ovens to prepare the original version of pizza – flatbread. In ancient times each diner was given a piece of flat bread along with a piece of meat on the bread. This food was eaten with the fingers with an occasional knife to cut the meat. Little did they know that this would eventually spark the creation one of the America’s favorite foods.

Grilled Pizza Techniques:

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 tablespoon soy oil
1 teaspoon sugar
ฝ cup warm water (110ฐF)
1 ฝ cup bread flour
1 tablespoon soy flour
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
Combine yeast, sugar and ฝ cup very warm water in bowl, let sit for five minutes. Combine flour and salt in bowl. Mix yeast mixture with bowl containing dry ingredients. Add a little extra flour if dough is sticky. Knead for a good 10 minutes. Put into a greased bowl and let rise for 60 minutes until it doubles in size. Turn out onto a floured surface then knead lightly until smooth. Roll out into a ผ" thick, 12" diameter circle. The thinner the dough is rolled, the better.

Before placing your crust on the grill, be sure that your grill is both clean and well oiled. This will help prevent the dough from sticking to the grill. You will need something large enough to transport your dough to the grill. A pizza spatula is highly recommended for this task. Brush an even coat of extra virgin olive oil on the side that will be facing down first. The oil will introduce flavor and help to keep the dough from sticking to the grill as well as giving the crust a nice crisp finish. Before placing your pizza on the grill, you may want to remove the top rack of your grill to make it easier to flip your pizza. Cook the first side from 1-3 minutes before flipping depending on the heat of your grill. During this time you will need to brush olive oil on the side that is facing up. While cooking the first side, peak under the edge of the crust to monitor its finish. Cook until you are satisfied with the finish and then flip your crust over. After flipping, immediately apply any topping that you would like. It’s highly recommended that you keep the topping very light, as they will not have a chance to cook on the grill without burning the crust. You may consider precooking certain ingredients such as meats and thick vegetables. Be sure to lower the lid as soon as possible to trap the heat in and finish cooking the toppings. Cook the pizza for an additional 2-3 minutes or until you are satisfied with the crust’s finish.

You are now ready to experience one great pizza with deep tradition. Cut your pizza into triangle shaped slices or try cutting them into 1” wide strips. This shape is great for a party snacks!

A Brief History of Pizza: The Dish that Conquered the World

Pizza, the way we know it today, is a derivation from focaccia (from the Latin word for fire), flat bread that has been prepared since antiquity in different forms and garnished with herbs, olives, fat, raisin, honey, and nuts.

The word pizza in Italian identifies any type of flat bread or pie—fried or baked. Although you’d find many types of pitas or pizzas around the Mediterranean, it is in Naples that pizza in the form we know it today first emerged, after the tomato appeared on the table in the 1700s. Naples has many records of pizza since around the year 1000; the first mentions call these flat breads laganae, and later they are referred to as picea. In those times, pizzas were dressed with garlic and olive oil, or cheese and anchovies, or small local fish. They were baked on the open fire and sometimes were closed in two, as a book, to form a calzone.

In Naples is also where the first pizzerias opened up, with brick wood-burning oven, covered with lava stones from the Mount Vesuvius. The chefs of those times ignored pizza because was considered a poor people’s food, but the new combination with the tomato, when it entered the kitchen around the 1770s, must have raised some curiosity, even in the royal palace. Ferdinand I Bourbon, King of Naples, loved the simple food of the people and went to taste the pizzas made in the shop of Antonio Testa. He liked it so much that he wanted pizza to be included in the menu at the court. He failed after the opposition of his wife, Queen Maria Carolina. His son Ferdinand II also liked all kind of popular food and he loved pizza to the point that he hired Domenico Testa, son of the now famous Antonio, to build a pizza oven in the royal palace of Capodimonte.

Pizza became very popular, earning its place in Neapolitan folklore. Simple and economical, it turned into the food for all people, even sold on the streets, as shown in many illustrations of the time.

A famous episode extended the popularity of pizza beyond the limits of the city of Naples. It was 1889, and Margherita, queen of Italy, was visiting the city. She was told about pizza and wanted to taste it. A famous cook by the name of Don Raffaele, helped by his wife Donna Rosa, was invited to cook pizza at the royal palace. They prepared three pizzas, typical of that time: one with cheese and basil; one with garlic, oil, and tomato; and one with mozzarella, basil, and tomato. The queen, impressed by the colors of the last pizza, which resembled the national flag, preferred that one. Since then this pizza is known as Pizza Margherita, and Don Raffaele is credited with its invention, even if we know that it already existed for a long time.

At the beginning of the last century, with Italian immigrants, the first pizzerias appeared also in the United States, where pizza has become a mass phenomenon. Yet, even today the best pizza is found in Naples, where it is rigorously made with buffalo mozzarella. Superior pizzas are considered those obtained by moderate variations of the simplest and most popular: Pizza Napoletana with tomato, garlic, oil, and oregano; Pizza Margherita; Pizza Marinara with tomato, anchovies, capers, and olives; and Pizza Four Seasons, divided in four quadrants, each dressed in a different way. Pizza with hot salami, the American pepperoni pizza, is instead found in the Calabria region south of Naples, where this type of hot sausage is produced.

Pop-Up Pizza Casserole Recipe

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 pound Hamburger

* 1 cup Onion; chopped

* 1 cup Green pepper; chopped

* 1 clove Garlic

* 1/2 teaspoon Oregano

* 1 dash Salt

* 1/2 cup Water

* 1/8 teaspoon Hot pepper sauce

* 1 package Spaghetti sauce mix (1.5oz)

* 1 cup Milk

* 1 cup Flour

* 1 tablespoon Oil

* 2 Eggs

* 1/2 teaspoon Salt

* 7 ounces Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese slices

* 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; grated

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 f. In large skillet, brown hamburger and drain. Stir in onion, green pepper,

garlic, oregano, salt, water, hot pepper sauce, tomato sauce and sauce mix; simmer about 10 min

stirring occasionally. In a bowl, combine milk, oil and eggs; beat 1 min on medium speed. Add

flour and salt; beat 2 min or until smooth. Pour hot meat mixture into 13x9 pan; top with cheese

slices. Pour batter over cheese, covering filling completely; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake

at 400 f for 25-30 min or until puffed and golden.