Pizza Dough

Long gone are the days when pizza dough was simply flat round bread, as we learned with the famous Chicago deep dish style pizza. Pizza dough can be shaped in many way, besides the traditional round pizza a very popular pizza shape is the square. Calzones are made from circular pizza dough which is filled, folded over and crimped at the edges forming what is known as the Italian turnover. The sauce is served on the side with the calzone, and is not part of the filling. Panzarotties look very much like the calzone, however, they are made with a softer dough, the sauce is part of the filling, and they are fried. Strombolis, another type of turnover, which resemble the Mexican burrito, are filled and then rolled into an oblong loaf, and are similar to the calzone and panzarotti. The ingredients are determined by the maker. Pizza dough can also be used to make the famous, yet basic, bread sticks. Very simple, rolled pizza dough seasoned with cheeses, herbs and spices.

Today the basic or traditional pizza dough has variations just like the toppings we put on our pizzas. Naturally, we have the thin crust, for the health conscious there is the whole wheat pizza crust, and for the cheese lovers it's the stuffed crust; which basically is a ring of cheese around the inner edge of the crust.

The basic pizza dough ingredients are flour, warm water, quick rising yeast, salt and oil. However, many other ingredients have been added to make the dough tastier. Some people have added sugar, honey, grated Parmesan cheese, and red sauce. There are many other ingredients that may be used and just like with pizza toppings as time passes we are sure to see many new versions of pizza dough becoming popular.