Pizza in cooking: how did pizza come about?
Pizza-by design, it is a round yeast bread with a spicy filling. The etymology of the word "pizza "is not exactly established, but it is highly likely that it was formed from the concept used by the Lombards of pizzo, or bizzo, which means"piece". There are, however, arguments in favor of the Eastern Semitic version.
Pizza in cooking: how did pizza come about?
The internationally popular version of the base of the filling, consisting of tomato sauce with cheese, is most likely of Neapolitan origin. At the same time, it is known for certain that already in the middle of the 16th century, pizza was very common, drizzled with olive oil, lined with tomato slices and sprinkled with basil and oregano. Apparently, it originated at a time when tomatoes became a very common product in Southern Italy. Meanwhile, Apulian and Colabrian pizza appeared even earlier, because they contain very ancient ingredients – onions, salt, olive oil and lard, while Ligurian focaccia is an ancient invention, because it was baked by the Etruscans, who lived between 800 and 100 BC..
Since pizza can only be baked in a very hot oven, it was originally not prepared at home, but delivered raw to local bakers. This continued until a branch of artisan pizza makers emerged in the 17th century, making dough and filling it themselves.
The well-known pizza "Margarita" acquired a modern look at the end of the 19th century, in Naples, in the pizzeria Brandi. Then the pizza maker Raffaele Esposito received an order to serve pizza to King Umberto the First and his wife Margherita. At the same time, the pizza had to contain a true Italian flavor, i.e. contain green basil, white mozzarella and red tomatoes. And then the pizza "Magarita", leaving the borders of Italy, came to the United States, and from there, in the 20th century, to Germany.
Real pizza dough is made from flour, water, salt, and baking yeast (or brewer's yeast). Sometimes olive oil is also added to it. Next, the dough is thoroughly mixed and left to mature for about 1 hour at room temperature (or overnight, on the top shelf of the refrigerator). Then, depending on the recipe, various ingredients are laid out on the rolled out layer of dough – seafood, ham or sausage, mushrooms, vegetables. But first, the pizza is always smeared with a spicy tomato sauce made from canned tomatoes, oregano, basil and garlic, and sprinkled or spread with parmesan cheese or mozzarella. When the ingredients corresponding to a particular recipe are laid out, the pizza is sprinkled with olive oil and placed in the oven. There it is baked for several minutes at a temperature of 400-500 degrees.
