The following method I patched together from recipes in both Joy of Cooking and Cook’s Illustrated’s The Best Recipe. I made two batches of dough, four pizzas in all, with varied toppings. Next time I’ll be a bit more patient with stretching out the dough so I can get it even thinner. Look to the end of this post for some excellent links about pizza from other food bloggers. You can use all purpose flour instead of the bread flour that is called for in the recipe, but bread flour is higher in gluten than all-purpose flour and will make a crispier crust for your pizza.
The term pizza was first recorded in the 10th century, in a Latin manuscript from Gaeta in Central Italy.[1] Modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish and its variants have since become popular and common in many areas of the world.[2] In 2009, upon Italy‘s request, Neapolitan pizza was safeguarded in the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed dish.[3][4] Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza Association), a non-profit organization founded in 1984 with headquarters in Naples, aims to “promote and protect… the true Neapolitan pizza”.