Views on Pizza Bases

Having had quite a few pizzas over many years, I wondered if people prefer the thin base or the thicker foccacia type. It is probably a delicate subject here, but i must say I would rather have the thicker base. Any other views???

thin and crispy outer, soggy fully loaded inner ...but a thicker well oiled base can be good... We do our own (thin) using a mixture of Jamie and the flour packet ("00") recipe, even if I say so myself, we have this of to an art and pizza day is superb, but I'd not want to have to do so for more than 4-6 people/pizza... It gets a little frantic cooking in the pizza oven ....

Definitely thin for me.

Well, Geotherm, my husband also likes the thick, foccacia style bases and lots and lots of toppings. I like both styles, but I buy onion foccacias specially for him and start piling up on top everything I have at home... not forgetting the anchovies, lots of them! Otherwise, he will divorce me

I have found that it seems to be a regional thing and not really a question of choice unless you make it yourself. The pizzeria's here in Lombardia tend to do them very thin but very large. In Puglia, they seem to be thicker but smaller. I like both, I have never been to a pizzeria in Italy that offers what us foreigners may know as deep pan. One base that I wish I could find in Italy is Stuffed Crust, not sure why they don't do here as it's delicious.

I like Focaccia too with olives, I usually have a slice mid morning when I'm at work.

In Modena there are quite a few places that sell the thick foccaccia-style base. In Argentina, some prefer it thick while others go for a thinner crispier base. I guess it is a matter of personal taste, but there is a frozen pizza sold in supermarkets that qualifies as "Alta". And a good foccac ia makes an excellent base.

found nothing but thin and crispy here in Abruzzo, except for one little place where they are very thick, lots of oil, but superb taste (from someone that prefers thin...)

A thicker base tends to absorbe the flavours of all the toppings. Something that does not happen if you have a thin, crisp crust.

Gala Placidia wrote:A thicker base tends to absorbe the flavours of all the toppings. Something that does not happen if you have a thin, crisp crust.

I am with your husband on this Gala, as the thicker bases do absorb so much more flavour. I bought a focaccia based one from Eurospin last week, added more topping and cheese and cooked it in the oven on a pizza stone. Lovely crisp but light base and the flavours of the topping blended through beautifully.
I had got fed up with the leathery bases, to be honest!!

Sorry all, but as a Pizza pureist, there is really only one true Pizza and that is the ones in Napoli. I've had Pizza all around Italy and never yet found any to compare to the ones you get at good Pizzerias in Napoli; wether it's the flour,oil ingredients whatever, the base is always a delight slightly puffed and not too thin.
Roma does come close on quality be sorry no cigar......
As for those Americanised deep dish/stuffed crust abominations, well stick to Pizza Hut if that's your idea of food.

Agree that the base should be puffed up, that is why I like the foccacia ones. Have had many that are like cutting through a piece of leather!!

Geotherm wrote:Agree that the base should be puffed up, that is why I like the foccacia ones. Have had many that are like cutting through a piece of leather!!

Agree with you, sometimes, when they say "pizza alla pietra" you are tempted to think that they may be talking about the base and not the way it is cooked

Pagans all! Pizza is pizza - focaccia is focaccia, if you want a McFrenchbread pizza with baked beans on it, then nip down to Kwiksave, otherwise eat a proper pizza. There is no deep pan pizza in Italy, because ITS NOT PIZZA! - I remember being in a restaurant in Milan and a German on the next table demanding a deep pan pizza, and they asked him to leave. Quite right too. IMO Neapolitan pizza is the best - its the water they say that makes the difference.

Modi, I am going to have to excomunicate you! We are not talking about Chicago style deep pan pizzas, but thicker, focaccia-style pizza bases and the thin one. In Italy, there are as many pizza varieties as cooks and nobody can say that they "own" the dish. Actually, it is an ancient dish that the Romans called "placenta" and the Greeks "pitta" and there was no tomato sauce on top, as tomatoes did not arrive into Europe from the Americas until the 16th Century. Possibly, the closest thing to the original one is the French Provençal dish called "pissaladière" (a foccacia base topped with a thick layer of sliced onions gently cooked in plenty of olive oil, some herbs, anchovies and capers). Yes, pizza in Napoli is generally very good... there are always exceptions... But if you want to eat fabulous pizza, I would advise you to go to Buenos Aires (Argentina). Those Italian immigrants brought with them their best cooking skills and pizza there is to kill for. Have you ever tried pizza and "faina" or "farinata" from Genoa? Fabulous! Same goes for fresh pasta. They could teach a few lessons in that area as well.
And now, ready for the slaughter. But I am telling you the truth. Ask the Pope!

Ah Gaia - pizza is pizza, invented in Naples in 1780's. Everything else is something else. You should call things by their proper names. Focaccia is focaccia, strudel is strudel, otherwise I could call a Yorkshire pudding a pizza seeing its made from the same ingredients. Maybe its pedantic, but Italians have invented lots of words for a reason!

modicasa wrote:Ah Gaia - pizza is pizza, invented in Naples in 1780's. Everything else is something else. You should call things by their proper names. Focaccia is focaccia, strudel is strudel, otherwise I could call a Yorkshire pudding a pizza seeing its made from the same ingredients. Maybe its pedantic, but Italians have invented lots of words for a reason!

Do not think pizza was invented in Naples, as it seems to have a very long history, back to Roman times. Perhaps that "Fat Duck" guy got there!!
The precursor of pizza was probably the focaccia, a flat bread known to the Romans as "panis focacius", to which toppings were then added.^[2]

There is also talk of it coming from the Greek pitta bread.

p.s Hope you didn't buy up all the Cheddar cheese from Lidl this week to put on your pizza.........

Thin based pizza all the way for me. And I agree pizza is pizza and foccacia is foccacia - which I also love and living in Liguria is everywhere - yum!!

...And the omelette was not invented by the French and its original name was "ova mellita" and it was a sweet omelette invented by the Romans, eggs and honey, if you want the ingredients. Sorry, but I have an advantage here, I used to teach Culinary Terminology and history is my "forte".
By the way, "canard à l'orange" was not invented by the French, but it was a Tuscan dish brought to the French court by Catherine of Medici's cooks.
And I repeat, the word pizza comes from the Greek word "pitta", which means flat bread.
Sorry, Modi... In Culinary Science nothing, or practically nothing, has been "invented", with the exception perhaps of "soufflé" potatoes, which were discovered by accident and "molecular cooking" in recent times. A flat bread with different toppings has been eaten for centuries well before the 1780's...

Pizza is how "you" like it... I used to think, what would southerners , including Yorkshire people here, know about Yorkshire pudding compared to people in the NE of England.... !!!!

I think that pizza is a very versatile dish that allows you to be as creative as you want. It is not "Haute cuisine" but it can be delicious... or terrible. You can use different types of bases, according to your own preferences, thicker as in foccacia style or thinner. And you can combine toppings to suit your tastes. At home, I know that my husband prefers the thicker base, so I usually buy an onion foccacia and start with the toppings: home made tomato sauce, ham or speck, salami, olives, capers, different kinds of cheese, including mozzarella slices, peperoni, herbs and plenty of anchovies. Good ingredients guarantee good results. But I have also tried more elaborated toppings and they are good for a change. I particularly like the capricciosa variety.

As a food historian you should know that pizza is now a 'doc'- that is a recognised mix of ingredients and cooking that creates a pizza. Anything else is not a pizza, it is pizza-like! The Romans invented panis focacius, not pizza If you want to call a McCains deep pan filled crust soggy affair covered in pineapple and processed meat a pizza that's not only heresy but a limited vocabulary! A Chablis is a chablis, not just a wine. Is Bouillabasse a 'soup'? So lets call things by their proper names... I know im a pedant but its just laziness to bracket everything together.

SteveMonkSeaton - Yorkshire is not in the NE of England then? And there was I thinking that the terrible weather I grew up with was precisely because I was stuck up there!

modicasa wrote:SteveMonkSeaton - Yorkshire is not in the NE of England then? And there was I thinking that the terrible weather I grew up with was precisely because I was stuck up there!

No it's in the South by a few hundred miles to me....!

Sorry, Modi... as it is the case with Religion, we are not going to agree on this one. Naples has been trying to get a DOC, but their chances are slim. On the other hand, San Marzano tomatoes and the true Mozzarella si Buffala have obtained it. The biggest victory, in this area, was obtained by the French when they managed to obtain the "champagne" protection, but I must add that there are plenty of bubbles out there, including "prosecco" and most of them elaborated according to the "méthode champenoise" discovered by Dom Pérignon, which are excellent rivals.
I think that the important thing about pizza, is that it has become a universal food. And I am not talking about the chain or frozen products, which I refuse to eat. Possibly, the best pizza in the world is the homemade one, with fresh, quality ingredients. The one you share with friends and family, over a nice glass of wine, in a nice environment and a great atmosphere. And this can be done in Campania, Tuscany, Sicily...or China...

modicasa wrote:As a food historian you should know that pizza is now a 'doc'- that is a recognised mix of ingredients and cooking that creates a pizza.  Anything else is not a pizza, it is pizza-like!   The Romans invented panis focacius, not pizza   If you want to call a McCains deep pan filled crust soggy affair covered in pineapple and processed meat a pizza that's not only heresy but a limited vocabulary!   A Chablis is a chablis, not just a wine.    Is Bouillabasse  a 'soup'?  So lets call things by their proper names... I know im a pedant but its just laziness to bracket everything together.

I do totally agree with you Modicasa I really do, but I feel your honourable quest to put a stop to bracketing everything together is futile. It's too late and worst of all, how many people would know (or care) they weren't eating pizza... they were eating something pizza-like? Take the UK for example. Pizza Hut, Dominos .... are booming. Unfortunately that says a hell of lot of about people choose to eat and what they feel a pizza should be. Personally I'd rather eat my own arm than a pizza from either of these establishments. And as for doing anything with a tin sweet corn or stuffing manky dough crust with processed cheese and thinking 'mmmmm yummy' let alone putting it near a pizza is sacrilege! But how many of these people have had the pleasure of eating pizza in Naples? It's all about experience, perception and supply&demand. You shove a Yorkshire Pud in the Dominos pizza boxes and 99.9% of people would take it back! 
And it isn't just limited to pizza. It's rife with many foods and drink. Yes a Chablis is a Chablis because it's from Chablis but it's a European recognition hailing from EU wine regulations that really protect it's true identity in Europe. For some American wine drinkers Chablis is something entirely different! Usually very cheap and rarely even chardonnay. The American 'chablis' export market is vast but obviously does not include the EU. And why? Because BAFT tolerate it under the guise that ''Chablis'' is only classed as a ''semi-generic'' appellation. 

I. would. love. nothing more though, than to see Pizza Hut, Dominos et al have to sell and advertise their Pizza-like Pizza-likes  
Would the pizza-like pizza likes have lots of pizza-liking likes on Facebook? Probably!!