Pizza: is not a peetsa, peetza, peatsa, peatza, pitza or pita.

               

Pizza like so many of the foods and recipes included in this book, did not originate in any of the countries in which it is now famous.

Maybe you, like many people who have never researched the subject, have always thought that Pizza originated with either the Italians or Greeks but that it was really made popular in the United States of the Americas.

Actually; as is true on many “modern” innovations and inventions; the foundation for Pizza may well have been laid by Neanderthal man.

Ever since he first patted meal and water into a flat cake and roasted it near his fire, almost every country and culture has enjoyed a form of flat bread as a staple part of their diet.

In 1572, Bannock, (originally bannock made from barley flour) first appeared in Scotland as a communal bread. (The bread was also used in the church, but in this case; the term comes from the word communist or community). Poor Scottish house-wives, like people all over the world, had little with which to feed their families. They all joined together and combining whatever they had in a tasty and nutritious manner to feed all became the goal.

The Greeks baked a large, round, flat bread, (very similar to Bannock except that it was un-leavened and therefore much tougher), which they topped with various items, such as olives, oils, spices, vegetables and other things. Tomatoes, which originate in South America, had not yet been discovered by any European country.

Eventually the idea of this flat bread found its way to Italy, where in the 18^th century, the flat breads called “Pizzas”, (the root word in Latin is Picea, which describes the blackening of the crust--- also refers to the black and white bird called a Magpie ---caused by the fire underneath), were sold on the streets and in the markets. They were not topped with anything but were enjoyed au natural. Since they were relatively cheap to make, were tasty, and filling, they were sold to the poor all over Naples by street vendors.

According to another favoured bit of folk-lore, it was not until about 1889, that Queen Margheritta, accompanied by her husband, Umberto 1, took an inspection tour of her Italian Kingdom. During her travels around Italy, she saw many people, especially peasants, eating this large flat bread. Curious, the queen ordered her guards to bring her one of these Pizza breads. The Queen loved the bread and, after that, would eat it every time she was out among the people, which caused some consternation in Court and government circles. It was not seemly for a Queen to dine on simple, peasant, communal style, food

Never the less, the queen loved the bread and decided to take matters into her own hands. Summoning Rafaela Esposito from his bakery ovens to the royal palace, the queen ordered him to bake a selection of pizzas for her pleasure.

To honour the queen, who was so beloved by her subjects, Rafaela decided to make a very special pizza just for her. He baked a Pizza topped with tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese, and fresh Basil (to represent the colours of the Italian flag: red, white, and green). This became Queen Margherittas favourite pizza and when word got out that this was one of the queen’s favourite foods, she became even more popular with the Italian people. She also started a culinary tradition, Pizza Margherita, which lasts to this very day in Naples and has spread throughout the world.

Making your own pizza dough by hand is at once a most challenging and satisfying of culinary experiences; an art that, like any other, can be mastered with much practice. Homemade pizza dough “from scratch” is without a doubt still the single most defining factor that differentiates a great pizza from any other pizza or loaf of bread that you will ever have. And the personal gratification that comes of successfully making pizza at home is like successfully completing any of the great recipes in this book unparalleled.

Back in the mid-sixties, when my cousin Ron Coyle, started out- Edmonton, Alberta-he, like all other pizza shop operators, used a cardboard type crust that could be pre-manufactured and stacked like the old record albums. But then, realizing that it is truly the crust that makes a great pizza, by the time he opened his First Boston Pizzas he was using a dough recipe very similar to the ones I give here.

 That’s Right Folks, North American Style Pizza was Made Famous By Edmontonians, Living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.