What Is A Greek Pizza?

People assume that pizza was first made by the Italians. However, there is a lot of evidence that shows that pizza evolved simultaneously in several different countries. Examples of pizzas made 3,000 years ago have been found in Greece and other Mediterranean countries. In the USA, early pizzerias were either run by Greek or Italian immigrants.

The most common type of Greek pizza is a pizza made using typically Greek ingredients as toppings. These toppings include gyros, Greek meats, spinach, feta cheese, onion, Kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes and green bell peppers. Even with a Greek pizza, a tomato sauce covers the base onto which the other ingredients are added. However, the sauce usually only contains tomatoes and herbs, with no onions added.

The second type of Greek pizza is a pizza with standard toppings, but whose base is made in the Greek style. Unlike, Italian pizza a Greek pizza base is thick, springy, oily and chewy. This chewy base is achieved by rolling out the dough more thickly and placing it in a pan to cook instead of directly onto the bricks of the pizza oven floor. A small amount of honey and oil is sometimes added to the dough mix, which helps to keep the dough moist. At the very least the base picks up the oil that is wiped onto the cooking pan to stop the pizza from sticking.

Greek pizza is usually sold with a Greek salad and gyros. Gyros is a tzaziki sauce to which meat, tomato and onion have been added. Tzatziki sauce consists of strained yoghurt, garlic, salt, olive oil, cucumber, pepper and some sort of herb. Dill, parsley or mint are the most frequently used. Lemon juice is often added to taste.

Greek pizzas were first sold outside of Greece in pizzerias that were opened by Greek immigrants to the USA during the 1910s and 1920s. By 1930, there were 50,000 Greek immigrants within New York. As a result, it was in New York that Greek pizza was first made and sold to the general public. Unlike the Italians who opened shops selling only pizza, the Greek immigrants always sold other foods alongside their pizzas.

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