1. Most people have had red pizza, or pizza covered
with red sauce, but have you ever had white pizza? White pizza is made in
almost the same way as red pizza: the dough rises and is rolled out, toppings
are applied, and it is cooked in an oven,but the key difference is
that white pizza does not have any tomato sauce on it. Instead, a white
pizza may have olive oil or no sauce at all. I like white pizza more than
red pizza because you can really taste the ingredients. Adding some fresh
tomatoes to a white pizza will give it that tomato flavor without the
completely overwhelming taste of the red sauce that covers most pizzas.
If you have not had a white pizza, I recommend that you order or make one
today.
2. The foundation of every
pizza is the crust, and good crust comes from good dough. You might be
surprised to learn that pizza dough is made from nothing more than flour,
water, yeast, olive oil, salt, and sometimes sugar. Start by adding your
yeast packet to a cup of warm water. Let the yeast activate, and then add
two cups of flour, two tablespoons of olive oil, two teaspoons of sugar, and a
teaspoon of salt. Mix all of that together and wait half an hour for the
dough to rise. Now you're ready to roll it out!
3. Cooking the perfect pizza at home can be quite a challenge.
You may find that it's difficult to get your oven to the right
temperature. If the oven is too hot the crust will burn, become hard, and
taste bad. If your oven isn't hot enough, the crust may get soggy.
Even at the perfect temperature, extra moisture from your ingredients may
prevent the bottom of the crust from fully cooking, but don't let oven
temperature stop you from building the pizza of your dreams. Get yourself
a pizza stone. A pizza stone will get very hot when preheated and will
allow your crust to fully cook without burning it. Then you can pile the
ingredients on your pizza and have a crispy crust that isn't burned.
That's the way to go.
4. Pizza is often viewed as a junk food, and it is true that some
pizzas are high in salt, fat, and calories, but there may also be some benefit
to eating pizza. Some studies have found that lycopene, an antioxidant
that exists in tomato products that are often used in pizza, may prevent some
forms of cancer. Dr. Silvano Gallus, of the Mario Negri Institute for
Pharmaceutical Research in Milan, studied the eating habits of people who
developed cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and colon. He concluded
that people who ate pizza at least once a week had significantly less chance of
developing these cancers. Here's to your health.
5. If you ask me, the perfect
pizza has a thin crust, but not too thin. Even though I'm from Chicago, I prefer
the New York style crust. Your
perfect pizza might have tomato sauce on it, but mine has pesto on top of the
crust. On the pesto I'd like to see lots of cheese: a full layer of
shredded mozzarella and Romano cheese, and on top of the shredded mozzarella, I'd
like to see some slices of fresh mozzarella. Now you might think I'm
crazy for this one, but I'd really like to see some goat cheese in the crust.
To top it all off, I'd like to see it polka-dotted with pepperoni slices.
Now that's what I call a pizza pie.
6. You'd think that making a
frozen pizza would be as easy as rolling out some dough, dropping some
ingredients on it, and freezing it, but it's actually a lot more complicated
than that. Some of the challenges in creating a good frozen pizza include
the sauce combining with the dough and the crust becoming rigid after it is
frozen and reheated. To prevent the sauce from combining with the crust,
you can use a layer of modified cornstarch as a moisture barrier between the
sauce and the crust. This will prevent the crust from absorbing the
sauce. Additionally, partially baking the dough and other ingredients
will keep the dough from becoming too rigid after it is frozen and reheated.
On second thought, you're probably better off not trying this at home.
7. Pizza is so old that its
origins are not quite clear to historians, but the word pizza comes from the
Latin verb pinsere, meaning to press. It may also be
related to the Greek wordpitta.
In any event the word "pizza" was first documented in Italy in 997 AD. Whatever they were eating back then, however, was
quite different from the pizza that we know today. Pizza as we know it
could not really have been invented until sometime during the 16th century, when tomatoes were brought to Europe from America.
This was big, but in my opinion the greatest development in the history
of pizza occurred in 1905, when pizza was first sold in America.
The rest, as they say, is history.
8. Jimmy's pizzeria is my
favorite pizza place in the city, but you wouldn't be able to tell that just by
looking at the outside. It is an inconspicuous brown brick building.
It doesn't even have a sign, just the name of the establishment in
three-inch letters on the storefront window. The inside isn't much to
speak of either. There are some chrome swivel stools along a laminate
countertop that makes an L shape, separating the register and kitchen area from
the dining area. Booth seating lines the eating area of the restaurant
area and a few favorable reviews from local publications are framed and
displayed on the walls. Yeah, the aesthetics of the place are a little
underwhelming, but forget the scenery. I go to Jimmy's for the pizza.
9. Almost everybody loves
pizza, but try to get a group of people to agree on a pizza order and you'll
quickly find that not everybody likes their pizza the same way. Perhaps
such disagreements led to the many distinct pizza styles that can currently be
found in America. These pizza styles are currently categorized by region and
three of the most popular pizza styles are the New York-style, the
Chicago-style, and the Detroit-style. All of these pizza styles contain
dough, sauce, cheese, and other toppings, but it's the way that these
ingredients are utilized that gives them their unique regional flair. The New
York-style pizza is thin. New York-style slices are cut into large
triangles that can be folded and this pizza is commonly sold by the slice.
Chicago-style pizza is marked by its deep dish crust, which can be up to
three inches tall at the edge. Toppings are heavily applied to these
pizzas, as is characteristic of the style, and they are generally sold as whole
pies rather than slices. Then there's the Detroit-style pizza, which is
not circular like theChicago and New York-style pizzas, but square like the Sicilian-style
pizzas. The Detroit-style pizza is similar to the Chicago-style pizza in
that these pizzas both have thick crusts, but the Detroit-style pizza is twice-baked,
giving it a chewy crust that is crispy around the edges. Pizza styles in America may vary greatly by region, but they are all delicious if you ask
me.
10. Getting a free pizza from Mortini's
Pizza Parlor is as easy as pie, pizza pie. You'll see. Start by
placing your order. I suggest that you choose a white, New York style pizza with lots of cheese, but you can get whatever floats
your boat. After placing your order, wait until your pizza comes.
It may take thirty minutes to an hour (longer on Super Bowl Sunday).
When your pizza finally arrives, pay your deliver driver. Don't
forget to tip. Then, eat your pizza, or just throw it away. We're
fine with either. But before you throw it away, grab the coupon off the
top of the box and save it in a drawer. Collect ten of these coupons and
the next time you place your order from Mortini's Pizza Parlor, you can redeem
them for a free pizza. Now you see, getting a free pizza from Mortini's
is as easy as eating pizza.
