The bread base of the pizza (called the “crust” in the United States and Canada) may vary widely according to style: thin as in hand-tossed pizza or Roman pizza, thick as in pan pizza, or very thick as in Chicago-style pizza. It is traditionally plain, but may also be seasoned with butter, garlic, or herbs, or stuffed with cheese.
In restaurants, pizza can be baked in a gas oven with stone bricks above the heat source, an electric deck oven, a conveyor belt oven or, in the case of more expensive restaurants, a wood- or coal-fired brick oven. On deck ovens, the pizza can be slid into the oven on a long paddle called a peel and baked directly on the hot bricks or baked on a screen (a round metal grate, typically aluminum). When making pizza at home, it can be baked on a pizza stone in a regular oven to imitate the effect of a brick oven. Another option is grilled pizza, in which the crust is baked directly on a barbecue grill. Greek pizza, like Chicago-style pizza, is baked in a pan rather than directly on the bricks of the pizza oven.
In home-made pizza, there are many variations on the bread used for crust. In some countries, creations such as french bread pizza, pita pizza, bagel pizza, matzo pizza, and tortilla pizza are popular. One of the reasons many home cooks opt for these crusts is because they find that, when making homemade pizza, the dough and crust are the biggest challenge. Most pizza recipes do not provide the necessary guidance to home cooks, often leading to frustration and failed attempts. However, more and more experts are sharing their knowledge through the internet, with sites such as The Pizza Gourmet [1] and Jeff Varasano's web page [2] providing detailed guidance.
