Dish · italian
Pizza
A round of yeasted dough topped with tomato sauce and cheese, baked hot and fast until the crust blisters and the cheese melts. Toppings vary widely, but the base method stays the same.
Where it comes from
Flatbreads with toppings go back centuries across the Mediterranean, but pizza as tomato-topped dough took shape in Naples once tomatoes became common there in the 18th and 19th centuries, sold cheaply to the city's working class. It later spread worldwide through Italian immigration.
What cooks argue about
Oven temperature is the central argument: true Neapolitan pizza bakes in under two minutes at extreme heat, a range most home ovens can't reach. Cooks argue over stone or steel workarounds instead.
Nobody has published a pizza recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.