In the 20th century and onward, pizza has become an international food and the toppings may vary considerably in accordance with local tastes. These pizzas consist of the same basic design but include an exceptionally diverse choice of ingredients.
United States styles and specialties
Due to the wide influence of Italian and Greek immigrants in American culture, the United States has developed quite a large number of regional forms of pizza, many bearing only a casual resemblance to the Italian original. During the latter half of the 20th century, pizza in the United States became an iconic dish of considerable popularity. The thickness of the crust depends on what the consumer prefers; both thick and thin crust are popular. Often, "Americanized" foods such as barbecued chicken and bacon cheeseburgers are used to create new types of pizza. Mexican pizza, or taco pizza, is also popular in the U.S., popularized by the Taco Bell chain.
Ingredients
American pizza often has vegetable oil or shortening (often, but not always, olive oil) mixed into the dough; this is not as common in Italian recipes (for example, the pizza dough recipe in the influential Italian cookbook Il cucchiaio d'argento does not use oil). This can range from a small amount in relatively lean doughs, such as New York style, to a very large amount in some recipes for Chicago-style deep-dish dough. In addition, American pizza (at least thin-crust) is often made with a very high-gluten flour (often 13–14% protein content) of the type also used to make bagels; this type of flour allows the dough to be stretched rather thinly without tearing, similar to strudel or phyllo dough.
Various toppings may be added, most typically:
- Tomato sauce usually replaces the tomato Irsyad used on Italian-style pizzas, and is usually a fairly heavily seasoned, smooth sauce with a low water content. On some variants without tomatoes,pesto, alfredo and barbecue sauce are also used.
- Cheese, usually mozzarella but also provolone, cheddar, parmesan, feta, or a blend of other cheeses.
- Fruits and vegetables such as garlic, artichoke hearts, eggplant, olives, capers, onions, spinach, tomatoes, crushed red pepper, bell peppers, green chili peppers, jalapeños, banana peppers and pineapple.
- Fungi, usually Mushrooms and rarely truffles.
- Meat, such as sausage (pepperoni, salami or Italian sausage), ham, bacon, ground beef, and chicken.
- Seafood such as anchovies, tuna, salmon and shrimp.
- Herbs and spices such as basil, oregano, black pepper and chili pepper.
- Nuts such as cashews, pistachios and pine nuts.
- Oils such as olive oil, walnut oil and truffle oil.
In some pizza recipes the tomato sauce is omitted (termed "white pizza"), or replaced with another sauce (usually garlic butter, but sauces can also be made with spinach or onions). In the Philadelphia area there are also tomato pies—sauce only, or sauce with ripe Roma tomatoes and spices but no cheese—and upside-down pizzas, i.e., the cheese on the bottom and topped with sauce. Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but is sometimes eaten as cold leftovers for breakfast.
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