New York Style Pizza

This article provides information on New York Style Pizza. Pizza is so popular it is often present in popular culture, as when fictional characters eat a slice of this dish once considered to be peasant's food. Heck, it's so popular it even has games made about it. With this immense popularity of Italian cuisine in general (ranked first in the US), it's no wonder that many different types of pizza have sprung into existence.

You've got pizza pies in some regions which are basically a hybrid of the crusty Neapolitan delight we all know and love. In some regions you've got the deep-dish pan pizza varieties, which are so laden with toppings that one is eaten like a pizza casserole – it is eaten using a knife and fork rather than fingers.

In some regions pizzas belong to the most recognizable, traditional kind, which consists basically of an assortment of toppings assembled and cooked on top of a bread base.

What's a New York-Style Pizza?

The New York style pizza falls under the last category. When one refers to a New York style pizza, one is usually referring to pizza that has a large (around 18 inches in diameter), thin, brownish crust, made from high-gluten flour and varying from bread-like at the extremities to crispy at the middle.

The pizza is cut into 8 radial slices (a pie slice, as opposed to the so-called "party cut" used in some other places that doesn't bisect the center of the dish). New York pizza reflects the practical, traditional side of the city that spawned it, the queen of the eastern US seaboard.

Unlike deep dish and pan pizzas, the New York style's thin crust marks it as definitely finger food: it has to be, so it can be eaten on the go by busy New Yorkers, folded up and munched like a sandwich. In fact, the traditional New York pizza is folded in two; it may even be made into a pizza roll for even easier handling.

New York pizza can be ordered plain (with just cheese and sauce) and with toppings. Traditionally, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese are used in New York-style pizzas, with condiments including oregano, pepper, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Chili powder may be added by people who prefer the hot variety.

Pizzerias specializing in New York pizza usually have the plain variety cooked and ready. When someone orders New York pizza with toppings, the desired toppings are simply added on, the pizza heated, and the order served. In commercial operations, a pizza peel (a tool resembling a wide paddle with a long handle) is used to feed and retrieve the pizzas from the oven, where they are laid directly "on the deck" to cook.

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