| Pizza is an Italian national dish in the form of a round open pie, covered with tomatoes and melted cheese (as a rule, mozzarella) with (depending on recipe and taste) various toppings (meat, ham, salami, seafood, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, vegetables etc.).
The classical dough for pizza is made from special flour (a mixture of flour and durum flour), yeast, sugar, salt and water. The dough is mixed manually and after fermentation, a thin layer (as a rule, up to 0.5 centimeter thickness) is rolled. The dough is covered with tomato sauce. After this, practically any type of toppings can be possible. The classic pizza is baked in a special wood-burning oven very quickly at a very high temperature (in normal conditions in a preliminary heated oven up to 200 °C for approximately 10 minutes).
The toppings vary depending on the recipe. Neapolitan pizza is very thin and is baked at very high temperatures (approximately 500°C) just for two minutes. It can be eaten without using cutlery by preliminarily rolling it up libro (“as the book”).
Calzone (“Envelope with topping”) is one of the many varieties of pizza, which is folded in half and baked in the same shape. Ricotta, ham, mushrooms, mozzarella, parmesan and oregano are the traditional toppings. Originally, calzone was not baked in an oven/stove but prepared in oil in a frying pan.
The “American” variety of pizza with a thick dough layer and liberally topped with cheese is also popular. In the USA, a similar type of pizza is called “Chicago style”, deep dish or Sicilian. This pizza became popular in Europe mainly due to the chain of pizzerias “Pizza Hut”. In America, the "European" variety of pizza with a thin dough layer is called “Manhattan style” or “New York style”.
Pizza prototypes existed even during ancient Greece and Rome. In connection with the importing of tomatoes to Europe, the prototype of the Italian Pizza appeared in Naples in 1522. In the 17th century, special people (“pizzaioli”) appeared who prepared pizzas for the Italian peasants.
Pizzas were adored by Maria Carolina Lorena, wife of the King of Naples Ferdinand IV (1752—1814) and later, the Italian king Umberto I and his wife Margherita Teresa, Princess of Savoy. One of the pizza recipes is named in the honor of Margherita Teresa. The pizza reached the US in the second half of the 19th century and apparently, it appeared in Chicago for the first time. Prepared pizzas appeared in 1957.
Pizza is widespread mainly in the USA and Europe, where pizzerias have appeared, the majority of which offer free delivery to a specified address. |
