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Everyone has an opinion about what constitutes delicious pizza. Some will argue that the original thin crust Neapolitan-style pizza is the best, while others like a deep dish pizza with a crust so thick that it must be eaten with a fork and knife. It all comes down to the crust at the end of the day.
Pizza dough is made from leavened wheat flour and is formed into a disc or rectangle. The dough is then layered with toppings like tomatoes, cheese, meats, and vegetables before being cooked at a high temperature.
Neapolitan: The most basic type of pizza—the dough contains only flour, water, salt, and yeast. The foundation of Neapolitan pizza is incredibly thin, with dough that rises up around the sides, creating a highly airy crust.
Sicilian: A hefty piece of pizza, Sicilian-style pizza is made of thick focaccia-like dough baked in an olive oil-laden plate. The bottom of the pizza browns and crisps as it bakes. In Sicily, pizza is thinner and chewier, often topped with salty anchovies and pecorino cheese, whereas in New York, "Sicilian-style" pizza can be significantly thicker—up to 12 inches—with simpler toppings like garlicky tomato sauce and melting mozzarella.
New York: A variation on Neapolitan-style dough, New York-style pizza has oil and sugar and is stretched into a thicker and sturdier crust. The oil reduces the quantity of gluten generated, resulting in a delicate, chewy pizza crust.
Chicago Deep Dish: Chicago is known for having some of the most sumptuous and thick pizza crusts in the world, with crusts reaching 2 to 3 inches thick. By putting tomato-y pizza sauce over a hefty amount of gooey cheese, deep dish style dough flips the order of toppings. It's definitely a fork-and-knife meal, especially if you add more toppings like pepperoni or sausage.
Detroit:The crust on this rectangle pizza is exceptionally thick, and the bottom is crisp. It's baked in a large square pan with a lot of oil. As a result, the crust has a chewy texture with a crunchy bottom and edges, similar to Sicilian style.
St. Louis: A Midwest regional specialty, St. Louis-style pizza has a thin, cracker-like dough prepared without yeast. This pizza is cut into squares or rectangles rather than pie-like wedges.
Use a scale: Weighing flour instead of using a measuring cup provides more accuracy when making pizza and bread recipes.
Choose the right flour: All-purpose flour works fine, but if you want a chewier texture you should use bread flour or double “00” flour.
Hand stretch dough like a pro: For the true experience, stretch your pizza dough by hand. Begin by forming a tiny disc of dough with your hands. Pick up the dough gently and place both hands on one edge, allowing the rest of the dough to hang down. As you gently rotate the dough in one direction, gravity will handle some of the stretching. Pull the dough from hand to hand slowly while it hangs down. Stretch the pizza until it is about 12 inches across.
Skip the pizza stone: If this is your first time making pizza at home, transferring it to a pizza stone in a hot oven seems frightening. Instead, use a baking sheet. To make things even easier (and safer), forgo preheating the pizza pan and bake your pizza straight on the baking sheet. You may still obtain those crispy edges if your oven is set to a high temperature (500ºF).
Prepare toppings ahead of time: Because pizza bakes quickly in the oven, any toppings that need longer to cook, such as raw chicken, ground beef, sausage, fish, shellfish, and pig, should be par-cooked or fully cooked ahead of time.
Limit your toppings: While more cheese, hot peppers, bacon, sausage, and pineapple all seem good, try limiting your toppings when baking pizza to avoid soggy crust. When there are a lot of toppings, it covers the flavor of the dough and prevents it from cooking correctly in the oven.
We're Pizzello, and we're here to be your trusted lifestyle partner on the patio. Pizzello wasn't officially established until 2016, when we decided to take our 20 years of experience building restaurant-grade pizza ovens for the most demanding pizza connoisseurs to the backyards of all pizza lovers. The best pizza doesn't have to come from a fancy pizzeria. Join us and discover the world of artisan pizza!
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