Understanding Proper Cooking Skills

Getting To Know 3 Types Of Pizza Crust

17 November 2014

Lois Young

If you love pizza, you undoubtedly know what your favorite toppings are and how they literally make the pizza. However, how much do you know about the silent partner of the pizza, the pizza crust? The pizza crust covers the greatest area in a pizza and works in concert with the sauce, cheese, and toppings to deliver great flavor yet its presence is usually not highlighted:

Neapolitan Crust

Pizza originated in Naples, Italy. Therefore, the Neapolitan pizza crust was the crust used on the very first pizza. On one hand, it is the easiest kind of pizza out there--it's the fewest ingredients of any. On the other hand, it is the most complex. Creating a perfect Neapolitan pizza pie crust is no simple accomplishment, but it is possible. Neapolitan pizza is created from dough that is thin, that is, its only ingredients are flour, water, salt, and yeast. The flour is usually a high-protein flour, which is ground so that it is very fine, giving it a distinctive feel as well as the capacity to soak up more water without becoming squishy.

New York Style

The crust on a New York style pizza must be strong and elastic. The crust is strong but not tough. This creates a pizza crust that is elastic but soft enough to bite into. The baked crust must crackle and give gradually as it is folded but never crack or split. Following the underside layer of crispness, the next thin layer of soft, tender, and somewhat chewy cooked dough.

This layer does not taste bland. It has wheat-like taste that is savory. The aroma of the baked crust is a sophisticated scent. The top of the New York style crust, that is, the layer where the sauce and cheese is in closest contact, should be almost doughy, and a glossy.

Sicilian Crust

Sicilian pizza crust is simple to make even for a novice. You will not need to excessively stretch or rolling the dough. You can mix all of the ingredients in the mixer. As it bakes, the crust's underside basically fries so that the resulting crust comes out ultra-flavorful, soft, pliant, and somewhat chewy with a fried crispness to the underside. Sicilian pizza crusts are shaped in a traditional rectangle shape. Each slice from this pizza will have a square shape. The Sicilian pizza crust is thicker than the Neapolitan and the New York style pizza crusts so it could be considered the original pan pizza.

No matter what type of toppings or pizza crust you prefer, it is very useful to know about all of your options before you order your next pizza. Pizza crusts could be as varied as the cheese, sauce, and toppings that make the pizza. Let your taste buds guide you on this journey. To learn more, contact a company such as The Valley Pizza with any questions or concerns you might have.

Share