Feb. 20, 2013 - Issue #905: DOA No more - Trading in punk for politics

Pizza 101

Know your styles

It's one thing to love pizza, but do you know the difference between the abundance of varieties available. We've rounded up a few of the most popular to give you a crash course.

Chicago-style
•  Invented by Ike Sewell of Chicago's  Pizzeria Uno in 1943.

• Also known as deep-dish pizza, the crust can stand up to three inches tall.

• Since the crust is so thick, Chicago-style pizza requires a longer baking time, which can lead to burning certain ingredients. To avoid this, toppings are assembled "upside-down," with cheese generally on the bottom.

• Toppings most often include a generous helping of cheese, slide Italian sausage and a tomato sauce that is on the sweeter side.

• This variety can also refer to stuffed pizza, first introduced in the mid-1970s by two Chicago pizza chains: Nancy's Pizza and Giordano's Pizza.

California-style
• Single-serving pizza popularized by Wolfgang Puck that combines a thin crust with toppings generally associated with the California cooking style, which is a blend of French and Italian influences.

• Apparently, great minds do think alike, as the style was invented almost simultaneously in 1980 by different restaurants. One by Ed LaDou, a pizza chef at Spectrum Foods' Prego Restaurant in San Francisco, and another by chefs working for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.

• California-style rarely uses traditional tomato sauce. Rather, the pies are topped with alternatives such as olive oil, Alfredo sauce or even none at all. Essentially, anything that goes against tradition is fair game. There is not one quintessential topping combination for California-style pizza, but ingredients that are often used include oysters, dandelion greens, artichoke hearts and shrimp.

New York-style
• Gennaro Lombardi gets credit for this one, after he opened the United States' first pizzeria in Little Italy in 1905 and served pizza combining a large, thin crust and minimal ingredients.

• Traditionally topped only with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

• The most notable difference is the thin, hand-tossed crust, made of high-gluten bread flour which, due to its large width, is difficult to eat flat and ends up being folded.

Sicilian
• This style is a varied one, differing widely between the Sicilian regions of Palermo, Catania, Siracusa and Messina.

• In Palermo, the Fincione is the most common variety, with a traditional recipe calling for Caciocavallo, bread crumbs, onion, tomato sauce and anchovies.

• The Scacciata is found in Catania and is prepared with one of two methods: If it's ordered in the city, it starts with a layer of dough that is covered with Tuma, a local cheese, along with anchovies. However, in the region around Catania, Scacciata features potatos, sausages, broccoli and tomato sauce. Regardless of being made in a rural or urban area, a second layer of dough is placed on top before being brushed with eggs.

• The province of Siracusa traditionally prepared the pizzolu, which is a stuffed circular pizza.

• Piduni is popular in Messina. It's a variety of calzone filled with endive, tuma cheese, tomato and anchovies.

Detroit-style
• A square pizza similar to Sicilian-style, created by Gus Guerra at Buddy's Pizza in 1946.

• This style features a twice-baked crust that is crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.

• Typical toppings include pepperoni and olives.

Neapolitan
• This traditional Italian variety capitalizes on the "less is more" mentality, featuring a thin crust and toppings kept to a minimum.

• While modern Neapolitan pizza restaurants have begun experimenting with recipes, Neapolitan-style pizza is regarded as having three official varieties: pizza marinara (tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil), pizza Margherita (tomato, mozzarella and basil) and pizza Margherita extra, which is identical aside from the addition of extra-virgin olive oil.

• All three official varieties are a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed product of Europe. This means that only pizzas which meet a particular set of regionalized and quality-based criteria can be called Neapolitan.
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