[BillHiggin]

Winstonm, on 2017-May-11, 16:10, said:

If you're not in Italy, it's not really pizza.

If you are in Italy, the pizza will not even closely resemble what Americans expect. Generally, it is just a seasoned flat bread (and never any toppings).
When I was in the army stationed in Germany in the early 70's, I was sent to a non-touristy part of northern Italy to install a radio-intercept station. One local cafe offered "Pizza Americano" on their menu. I ordered one to see what it was. Imagine a plate sized flat bread with the edges folded up to form a circular dam, with a lake of molten grease contained therein(with some mystery meats floating in it)! There was no way we were going to try to actually consume that thing.

[Trinidad]

BillHiggin, on 2017-May-13, 05:23, said:

If you are in Italy, the pizza will not even closely resemble what Americans expect. Generally, it is just a seasoned flat bread (and never any toppings).
When I was in the army stationed in Germany in the early 70's, I was sent to a non-touristy part of northern Italy to install a radio-intercept station. One local cafe offered "Pizza Americano" on their menu. I ordered one to see what it was. Imagine a plate sized flat bread with the edges folded up to form a circular dam, with a lake of molten grease contained therein(with some mystery meats floating in it)! There was no way we were going to try to actually consume that thing.

Sounds like american pizza to me.

Rik

[Trinidad]

My pizza:

Tomato sauce:
Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Tomatoes
Fresh oregano
Fresh basil
A stock made with fresh thyme, rosemary and bay leaf
black pepper

Toppings:
Onion
Bell pepper
Mix of basil and spinach (Spinach keeps its color, basil doesn't)
Mushrooms
Olives
Capers
Some nice ham
Small amount of parmesan cheese

Rik

[Zelandakh]

Trinidad, on 2017-May-13, 08:05, said:

Sounds like american pizza to me.

American-style pizza = deep pan with lots of toppings
Italian-style pizza = thin and crispy, typically with only one or 2 toppings

The style preference in turn has an influence on the dough too. Of course you get mixtures - deep pan pizzas with just tomato and rocket or thin pizzas with sausage, ham, mince, peppers, chilli, anchovies, mushrooms, onion, sweet corn, etc - but it is a reasonable generalisation.

Another difference is that Italians always look confused (and often aghast) if you ask for parmesan to add on top of the pizza whereas Americans have no problem with this. If Italians add something to their pizza at the table it is typically oil dribbled on top.

As a final aside, the worst pizza I have had came from when I visted Italy (actually Sardinia) and needed to go to a tourist pizza bar due to fitting around the train times. Frozen pizzas are better than this was. In fairness it was perhaps my own fault as I ordered one with American-style toppings - sausage, extra cheese, etc. The Italian-style pizza here in Germany is considerably better and more what I would have expected.

[barmar]

Zelandakh, on 2017-May-17, 03:21, said:

American-style pizza = deep pan with lots of toppings

Deep-dish pizza is Chicago-style, not American in general. And the number of toppings is generally individual preference.

America is a big place, and there are actually many different regional styles. The pizza I grew up with in NYC and Long Island is different from the pizzas I get in the Boston area. New York pizza tends to have a thicker, more chewy crust. In the Boston area there are two common styles: thin-crust pizza from the North End (an Italian neighborhood), and thick-crust shallow-pan pizzas from Greek pizzerias (many of them are named "<something> House of Pizza"). Boston is also the birthplace of Bertuccis, which popularized brick-oven pizzas (basically just the North End style, but baked in a different type of oven to give a different texture to the crust).

[Winstonm]

BillHiggin, on 2017-May-13, 05:23, said:

If you are in Italy, the pizza will not even closely resemble what Americans expect. Generally, it is just a seasoned flat bread (and never any toppings).
When I was in the army stationed in Germany in the early 70's, I was sent to a non-touristy part of northern Italy to install a radio-intercept station. One local cafe offered "Pizza Americano" on their menu. I ordered one to see what it was. Imagine a plate sized flat bread with the edges folded up to form a circular dam, with a lake of molten grease contained therein(with some mystery meats floating in it)! There was no way we were going to try to actually consume that thing.

The simplicity of Italian pizza is the beauty of it. Try it in Naples or Sorrento. It is spectacular.