Pizza

A Neapolitan invention

Flatbreads with toppings have existed for millennia, but the modern pizza took shape in 18th-century Naples as cheap food for the city’s working poor. The Margherita — tomato, mozzarella, basil, mirroring the Italian flag — was reportedly created in 1889 for Queen Margherita of Savoy.

True Neapolitan style

UNESCO recognized the art of Neapolitan pizzaiuoli as intangible cultural heritage in 2017, and the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana defines strict rules for pizza vera: 00 flour, hand-stretched (no rolling pin), wood-fired oven at 430–480 °C, baking time 60–90 seconds, soft pliant edge, slightly charred underside.

Major schools

• Neapolitan — soft, foldable; minimal toppings; eaten with knife and fork.
• Roman — thinner, crisp, cracker-edge.
• New York — large, hand-tossed, foldable slices; sauce-forward.
• Chicago deep-dish — buttery crust formed up the sides of a deep pan; cheese under sauce.
• Detroit — square, focaccia-like, baked in a steel pan with crispy cheese-edged sides.
• Sicilian (sfincione) — thick, square, more bread than crisp.

The crust is the test

Pizza is judged by its dough first. A great crust is leoparded with brown spots, light and airy with chewy resistance, and tastes of fermented wheat — not just a vehicle for toppings.