Pizza, one of the world’s favourite dish from Italy comes in all shapes and sizes. Chefs over the world have tried and tested their own versions of this popular dish, creating something new and fascinating every time. Whether it is a Flatbread or a Sicilian one, pizza has undergone many variations since its inception, especially when it comes to its crust.
Playing around with different types of crusts is a great way to create a buzz among your customers or to even help you pull a bunch of new ones to your pizzeria when you are opening a new place or trying to expand your menu. There is a lot of interesting ideas that you can experiment with when it comes to pizza crusts if you have sound knowledge about the already existing ones. Let’s take a look at some of the popular crusts that we love to gorge down.
1. Neapolitan
The original is how Neapolitan pizzas are known as. It is the one that the Italians introduced to the rest of the world and loved widely as the authentic Italian pizza. The dough for this pizza is made with special Italian wheat flour which forms a thin, crispy crust and is traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven. The toppings for this pizza are minimal to tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil because too much cheese and the sauce will make the crust soggy. Nowadays, there are many pizzerias springing up that are focused on serving Neapolitan pizza due to the increased demand to taste authenticity.
2. Hand tossed
As the name suggests, hand-tossed pizza crust is made out of dough that is tossed in the air and caught by the back of the pizzaiolo’s fists to avoid any dough tearing. The dough is tossed many times till the desired thickness and size is achieved. The crust formed out of this method is thin but strong enough to hold the toppings. Once the dough preparation is done, a thin layer of sauce is applied to it and is left to rest and rise for a couple of hours before adding the rest of the toppings and baked.
3. Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Deep-dish pizza is often referred to as Chicago style pizza as it is originated and developed in Chicago. This pizza has a crust that has a high edge and deep surface like a Pie crust due to the deep metal pan in which the pizza is baked. The topping in Chicago style pizza is usually topped with a large amount of tomato sauce on top layer and cheese & meat/vegetable mixture to fill up the deep surface in the crust. Although this pizza is thick in nature compared to the regular ones, its crust is only about thin to medium thickness.
4. Calzone
Calzone is an Italian originated oven-baked folded pizza that comes with a filling which is the topping of the pizza. The dough that is used to make a traditional Calzone consists of flour, olive oil, yeast and salt with a stuffing of salami or ham, any form of cheese and egg. There are fried versions also for this pizza that comes with a filling of tomato and mozzarella. Another similar type of pizza is Stromboli where the crust is rolled with the toppings in it.
These are the kinds of crusts that speak authenticity and tradition which you would not find that easily. Today, people like to taste authenticity, more than a slice of fast-food loaded with unwanted calories. And, learning the Artisan way of pizza making is the right way, to begin with. It will equip you with the fundamentals that will help you explore more and create an interesting menu for your pizzeria.
ICCA Dubai’s Artisan Pizza Making Program has shown ways to many entrepreneurs. And we are glad that our program could help build many successful stories of such pizzerias.
Pizza, one of the world’s favourite dish from Italy comes in all shapes and sizes. Chefs over the world have tried and tested their own versions of this popular dish, creating something new and fascinating every time. Whether it is a Flatbread or a Sicilian one, pizza has undergone many variations since its inception, especially when it comes to its crust.
Playing around with different types of crusts is a great way to create a buzz among your customers or to even help you pull a bunch of new ones to your pizzeria when you are opening a new place or trying to expand your menu. There is a lot of interesting ideas that you can experiment with when it comes to pizza crusts if you have sound knowledge about the already existing ones. Let’s take a look at some of the popular crusts that we love to gorge down.
1. Neapolitan
The original is how Neapolitan pizzas are known as. It is the one that the Italians introduced to the rest of the world and loved widely as the authentic Italian pizza. The dough for this pizza is made with special Italian wheat flour which forms a thin, crispy crust and is traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven. The toppings for this pizza are minimal to tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil because too much cheese and the sauce will make the crust soggy. Nowadays, there are many pizzerias springing up that are focused on serving Neapolitan pizza due to the increased demand to taste authenticity.
2. Hand tossed
As the name suggests, hand-tossed pizza crust is made out of dough that is tossed in the air and caught by the back of the pizzaiolo’s fists to avoid any dough tearing. The dough is tossed many times till the desired thickness and size is achieved. The crust formed out of this method is thin but strong enough to hold the toppings. Once the dough preparation is done, a thin layer of sauce is applied to it and is left to rest and rise for a couple of hours before adding the rest of the toppings and baked.
3. Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Deep-dish pizza is often referred to as Chicago style pizza as it is originated and developed in Chicago. This pizza has a crust that has a high edge and deep surface like a Pie crust due to the deep metal pan in which the pizza is baked. The topping in Chicago style pizza is usually topped with a large amount of tomato sauce on top layer and cheese & meat/vegetable mixture to fill up the deep surface in the crust. Although this pizza is thick in nature compared to the regular ones, its crust is only about thin to medium thickness.
4. Calzone
Calzone is an Italian originated oven-baked folded pizza that comes with a filling which is the topping of the pizza. The dough that is used to make a traditional Calzone consists of flour, olive oil, yeast and salt with a stuffing of salami or ham, any form of cheese and egg. There are fried versions also for this pizza that comes with a filling of tomato and mozzarella. Another similar type of pizza is Stromboli where the crust is rolled with the toppings in it.
These are the kinds of crusts that speak authenticity and tradition which you would not find that easily. Today, people like to taste authenticity, more than a slice of fast-food loaded with unwanted calories. And, learning the Artisan way of pizza making is the right way, to begin with. It will equip you with the fundamentals that will help you explore more and create an interesting menu for your pizzeria.
ICCA Dubai’s Artisan Pizza Making Program has shown ways to many entrepreneurs. And we are glad that our program could help build many successful stories of such pizzerias.
