14 False Facts About Pizza You Probably Still Believe

Pizza is a dish with a truly international reputation. While it may be what most of us think of first when we consider Italian cuisine, pizza is an all-star meal made around the world in various different ways, and millions of pies are baked every single day. Because it's so famous, it's easy to think that we know everything there is to know about pizza. However, this couldn't be further from the truth — in fact, because everyone knows and has an opinion about pizza, it's easy for mistruths and myths about it to spread like wildfire.

We're therefore left with a curious situation where a lot of people get the basic facts about one of the most popular foods around wrong on a daily basis. For instance, where do you think that pizza was actually first invented? Italy? Not quite. Or how do you think pizza is cooked, and what if I told you that oven-baking is only one option? What about what's used to make pizza: What would you think if we told you that they didn't actually need cheese, or tomato, or a wheat flour-based dough to be considered pizza? I know it all sounds pretty baffling, but I'm here to show you what's what when it comes to this food. As a restaurant server, manager, and occasional chef working in various pizza restaurants for years, I've learned to distinguish fact from fiction, and I'm passing it on to you.

Think pizza, and you think of Italy. It's hardly a weird thing to assume: After all, this is basically the national dish of the country (aside from pasta), and virtually every restaurant in its major cities serves dozens of pizzas on a daily basis. However, I'm here to tell you that pizza is not, in its first form, Italian. The dish had actually existed in various different forms for thousands of years before the modern form of pizza as we know it came into existence.

Flatbreads topped with flavorful delights had been made by the ancient Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, long before pizza ever became a thing in modern-day Italy. The contemporary form of pizza actually emerged way more recently than you might think, with the 19th century seeing it come into its final form in Naples. At the time, the city was facing the consequences of a population boom, with a large number of poorer residents who needed something cheap and quick to eat. Pizza became the meal of the day, and it finally gained national prominence and respect when King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited the city and requested some local cuisine. They were served a pizza with basil, mozzarella, and tomato sauce. We'll leave you to guess who that pizza was named after.

Pizza is hardly a meal that thrills dietitians and nutritionists, and it's commonly cited as one of the world's unhealthiest foods. Well, folks, it's all about how you make it. While a lot of pizza can be unhealthy, in most of the restaurants I've worked in, the emphasis is on making a meal that's filling, yet light. Traditionally made pizza is essentially an open-faced sandwich, and in classic pizzerias, it's usually made without any super-processed ingredients. If you pick right and keep things moderate, pizza can be a pretty healthy choice.

This is especially true if you're eating at a Neopolitan pizza joint, where the chefs tend to emphasize ingredients and flavor combos that are fresh and based around tomatoes, basil, vegetables, and largely unprocessed cheese. The proteins used also tend to be lean and light. That's not to say that all pizzas are healthy, of course — anyone who's had a meaty Domino's recently can likely attest to that — but don't lump them all into the same box.

Whether you love it (yep) or hate it (nope!), there's no denying that Hawaiian pizza has made a big splash in the years that it's been around. Plus, it's not even just its flavor combo of ham and pineapple which has got people confused, but the name of the pizza itself. I'm here to tell you, everyone, that Hawaiian pizza doesn't actually come from Hawaii. In fact, the pizza is a picture of international collaboration and lineage which some people, including myself, find pretty heartening.

The most recognizable form of the Hawaiian pizza was made by Sam Panopoulos, a Greek immigrant who had started a restaurant in Ontario, Canada. Panopoulos was inspired to put pineapple on a ham pizza after seeing Americanized versions of Chinese dishes, which often combine sweet and savory to excellent effect. He popped pineapple (which is a fruit native to South America) on a 'za, and the rest was history. I don't know about you, but I think folks who embrace the Hawaiian pizza's origins and its combo of flavors are of a more adventurous palette — and I'll stand by them forever.

Okay, I know why this one exists. The classic image of a pizzaiolo (the Italian term for a pizza chef) is of someone standing in a kitchen, throwing a disc of dough into the air and watching it fan out into a perfect circle. Anything other than that can seem like a bit of a cop-out, and trying to form a pizza by pushing or pressing it on a table can feel like the chef doesn't know what they're doing. Well, people, that's not true at all. 

In the pizzerias I've worked in, the chefs would shape the pizzas on a flat surface way more than they'd toss them. Tossing pizza dough helps to shape it with centrifugal force, but you can achieve the same shape by pressing it, and as long as you do it right, you won't be able to tell the difference. The one thing you do lose when you press pizza dough into shape instead of throwing it is a bit of aeration, and therefore a lighter crust — but if your chef has a skilled hand, they'll still be able to create a delicate base.

Pizza is perhaps the ultimate baked dish. You put it in a hot oven, wait for a few minutes, and you're rewarded with an utterly delicious meal. Because oven-baked pizza is so ubiquitous, it's hard to imagine it being made any other way. However, the truth is that you can absolutely produce pizza without an oven — you just need to change up your idea of what you think pizza is.

One type of pizza that we used to offer in a restaurant where I worked was called pizza fritta. This style isn't for the faint of heart, or for people who want to keep their dish light. To make it, chefs take a disc of pizza dough and deep-fry it in a few inches of oil until the crust has puffed up and turned crispy and golden. You then top the pizza as you normally would, with the toppings generally being warmed through by the dough itself instead of being melted by exterior heat (although you can still pop it in the oven or under a broiler if you want). You can also cook pizza in a regular frying pan, or even air fry it. The possibilities are endless!

Pizza is probably a favorite round food for most people reading this article. In fact, its roundness is so key to the enjoyment of it that it's difficult to imagine it any other way. Well, people, the truth is that pizza doesn't have to be round at all. There's no official body or governing organization that determines pizza's shape — and this means that pizza can have all sorts of different dimensions.

In fact, in a lot of places, pizza is typically cooked in square or rectangular shapes, and can then be sliced up to make it even easier to eat. In Rome, pizza al taglio is a common and popular option, with larger pizzas being baked in trays, cut into pieces, and then displayed in shop windows. If you're in the Midwest, you might know this version a little better as Detroit-style pizza. There's also pizza alla palla, the Lazian form of pizza al taglio, and sfincione, which is a rectangular Sicilian pizza that has a spongy dough and is generally topped with caciocavallo cheese with onion and anchovy sauce. With so many delicious options out there, why would you limit yourself to just a circle?

This is a false fact that annoys me like no other, y'all. There's a certain snobbery around pizza which I can't deal with — and I can understand where it comes from. Pizza is a simple dish, but it can take years to get to the point where you're making perfect pies consistently. As a result, people who put in all that time tend to assume that if you haven't spent your life making pizza, you're not making it right. But it's not really true.

Sure, incredible pizza usually takes a skilled hand and years of experience — but if you can put toppings on dough, you can make pizza. This dish is, by its very nature, pretty simple, and you should never be put off giving it a go; you'll likely make something totally delicious in the process. The key is to make sure that your ingredients are as good as possible, to hit it with as high a heat as you can, and to not undercook or overcook it. These are things most people can accomplish, and while you can certainly get things wrong along the way, you'd be amazed by what a little practice can do.

What do you do with leftover pizza dough? If you've ever been told that you should throw it out, you've been sold a lie. Now, I'm not gonna stand here and tell you that frozen pizza dough is somehow better than the fresh kind, or that absolutely nothing changes when you freeze it. I'm also not going to tell you that in the restaurants that I've worked in, dough was frozen and never made fresh. However, I know of plenty of places that do make pizzas using frozen dough, and to be honest, the pies they make are pretty good. 

You absolutely can freeze pizza dough — and if you're making it at home, and want some dough to use later on, this is a great move to make. While it can soak up some moisture while thawing and become a bit too gloopy, this can usually be fixed fairly easily with a quick dusting of flour and a gentle re-knead. If you're freezing pizza dough, though, the key is to make sure that it's totally protected. Wrap it tightly and carefully to avoid any air contact, and keep it at the back of your freezer to limit heat fluctuation. Oh, and don't leave it in there for years. It'll just get freezer burn.

Pizza is so readily available, so affordable, and so unbelievably tasty that it's kinda wild to think that it wasn't always the most popular food out there — but it wasn't. In fact, pizza only really became popular in Italy, where it was of course refined into its modern form, in the latter half of the 19th century. Pizza was once looked down on by the higher-ups in society for being a cheap and simple food that the everyday worker in Naples would eat, and when the first Italian cookbooks started to appear towards the end of the 1800s, the dish wasn't anywhere to be seen. It was only when the King and Queen came to Naples and tried pizza (and liked it) that the tide started to change.

In the United States, things took slightly longer. It wasn't until the first half of the 20th century that pizza began to take hold in the country, with an influx of Italian migrants opening up pizza shops and selling their wares. Over time, the appeal of pizza grew, and the dish modernized to reflect people's tastes.

One of the biggest draws of pizza is its crunchy, stretchy base. That base is, as I'm sure you're aware, often pretty gluten-heavy — and this can create an issue for people who don't or can't eat it. Unfortunately, over the years the pizza base substitutes that have existed for people who don't eat gluten have been pretty poor, and this has led to the common belief that a gluten-free pizza isn't worth trying. I'm here to tell you that isn't true. 

These days, there are some incredible gluten-free bases out there, that have been tailored to emulate gluten-containing pizza bases as much as possible. Many pizza bases today are made with rice flour, which has a slightly stretchy quality and a chewiness that's super moreish. Sorghum and millet flour, and potato and tapioca starch, are also all put to good use in gluten-free bases. Plus, you can make a totally tasty gluten-free pizza base at home with the power of polenta. Trust me, you won't even miss the original.

What's a pizza without cheese? To some people, absolutely nothing. Cheese is the cornerstone of most of the millions of pizzas made every day, and some folks think that a pie without it isn't even an option. Well, I don't agree. There are tons of pizzas out there that don't involve cheese at all, but are still utterly delicious.

The most famous is, of course, the marinara. This Neapolitan classic is made by covering the base with tomato sauce, dotting it with basil, and drizzling it with olive oil — and it's absolutely delicious. It has a fresher, lighter taste than a pizza with mozzarella on it, but it also feels filling and rich. There are also countless vegan options out there these days, which please the palate without adding heavy cheese. Oh, and bear in mind that there are a load of vegan cheeses out there too, so that you can enjoy the richness it provides without having to consume any dairy.

Reheating pizza can be a challenge, and in my opinion, it's always better when it's eaten fresh (or when you have it cold from the fridge, the day after — don't judge me, it's heaven). Nevertheless, you absolutely can reheat pizza if you wish. There's this idea that reheating pizza will deteriorate it in some way, or lead to it being floppy or tasteless. That's not the case — you just need to reheat it properly.

There are plenty of techniques that allow you to recreate that balance of crispness to squidginess, and give your pizza a second lease of life. One quick and easy way to reheat pizza is in the air fryer. In just a few minutes, you can have a revived slice of pizza that's crispy in all the right places, and the convection action means that any moisture that might collect during the reheating is evaporated away. You can also microwave your pizza, and prevent it from drying out by placing a glass of water in with your slices, which will help reheat them using steam.

Here's the thing about pepperoni pizza: It isn't quite as authentic as you think. Having worked in Italian pizza restaurants for a number of years, I've lost count of the number of people who end up disappointed that we don't have pepperoni on our menus. However, pepperoni isn't Italian, and the idea that you'll find it in Italy is pretty false. Pepperoni is instead an Italian-American invention, so pepperoni pizza as we know it is far more likely to be found in the US, and in pizza places in Italy that cater to non-Italian tastes.

Instead, in Italy it's more common to find pizzas made with different types of Italian sausage, like salami or soppressata. There's also pizza diavola, a pizza made with hot salami and chili peppers, that's probably the closest you'll get to a classic pepperoni (although as you might expect, it can be a little bit more fierce on the heat front). If you ask for pepperoni in an Italian pizzeria, though, you may end up with a pizza covered in bell peppers. This is the direct translation of "peperoni," and the mix-up has led to many unhappy customers.

The biggest barrier to entry when it comes to homemade pizza is how you cook it. You can usually source the ingredients you need, but things fall apart when you consider what you're going to put it in to heat it up: The usual school of thought goes that your regular kitchen oven just isn't powerful enough to cook pizza at the speed that you need, and trying to do so will result in a dense crust and overcooked vegetables.

While that can be true, it's not the case that you can never cook pizza without an oven specially designed to do so. One way to make pizza at home that emulates the oven-fired version is with a pizza stone, which helps to heat the bottom of the pizza to a super-high temperature. Much like cast-iron pans, these tools absorb and retain heat exceptionally well, allowing your pizza to crisp up properly without overcooking its surface. If you want that charred note, too, you can use a broiler to finish off your pizza and create a lovely charred top.