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A Million Ways to Eat Pizza

January 19th, 2022

It is very likely that a true pizza lover could not go without eating pizza for over a month. In fact, a large number of Americans claim to eat pizza at least once a week, just as they do back in Italy. But there is a small yet substantial amount of people in the United States that eat pizza every single day. One cannot blame them – pizza is indeed the best dish in the world. Though perhaps it would not hurt to add some variety to the menu.

Fortunately, the possibilities that pizza has to offer are endless. You can rest any ingredient over a nicely kneaded dough, and you will have a different dish each time. Moreover, you can take the pizza twirling to a next level, rolling it or folding it instead, and baking it or frying it, turning it inside out and upside down. You can turn the toppings into fillings and discover other infinite ways to eat more and more pizza apart from your go-to Southwest Detroit pizza. In this article, we will tell you about calzones and other pizza derivatives that utilize the same ingredients to achieve different versions of your favorite pie.

Stromboli

Scattered throughout the history of humankind there are a few significant days that changed the course of our society. For example, there is the day when someone had the brilliant idea of rolling a pizza dough into a savory turnover. Yes, in the 1950s somebody heard of a stuffed pizza in the old continent and decided to give it a go. They named it after an Italian island off the north coast of Sicily, containing an active volcano with the same name. Or perhaps it got the name from the neorealist film directed by Roberto Rossellini, featuring Ingrid Bergman, that everybody was talking about at the time. Well, the invention of the stromboli is disputed between different parties, but it is definitely American, and it is unarguably delicious.

While stromboli is technically a type of bread, it is usually made with pizza dough, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, and looks a lot like a pizza burrito. The dough is stretched into a rectangle and rolled into cylinders that can be shared among various diners. In some cases, it is served with a side sauce to dip it in for extra moisture.

Calzone

Just like pizza, the calzone was invented in Naples and sold by street vendors. While pizza was supposed to be easy to eat, calzone was the ultimate portable upgrade for people on the go. Back then, it was a relatively small type of pizza that got significantly enlarged when translated into American cuisine.

Named after trousers or stockings, calzones are prepared by stretching pizza dough into a circle in the same way as a traditional pizza, differing from our beloved pie in the steps that follow. First, the tomato sauce is not usually spread on the dough but put aside as a dipping sauce. Second, more often than not a generous amount of ricotta cheese (frequently avoided by traditional pizza artisans) is placed on top of the uncooked dough, for the calzone dough is thicker than the traditional pizza dough, thus less prone to getting soggy. In fact, the gooeyness is key in a calzone, relying on it like a decadent pizza volcano (maybe this is the one that should have been named after the Italian mount). Finally, a calzone is folded into a crescent moon and baked in the oven. They are generally topped with garlic, olive oil and parsley, and served along with marinara sauce.

The original calzone was filled with ricotta, mozzarella cheese, anchovies and olives. But what makes this dish stand out is its capacity to hold a greater amount of ingredients than traditional pizza, in particular those with higher levels of moisture. If you are more of a crust person and the abundant, gooey center of this pizza pocket is not enough to seal the deal, remember that calzones are basically an ode to crust. Once folded, the dough is painted with egg or tomato sauce, just enough to give it texture when it caramelizes in the oven. A fried calzone, which is closer to a panzerotti, takes the crust game to a whole new level.

Final words

In a world that can sometimes seem mad, being crazy for pizza is not the worst path to take. If true love means accepting your loved one in every version of themselves, then you must search for pizza place Detroit MI and visit Paul’s pizza to fall madly in love with our calzones.