POLL: Which component of a slice of pizza is the most important?

sauce being underappreciated. there shouldn't be too much so that cheese slides, and gives some acid to counterbalance other non-acidic ingredients

imago, your toasted bread with toppings sounds delicious, but it ain't no kind of pizza.

As others have well-noted, pizza is a gestalt. If any of these elements are out of whack, you have a bad pizza. However, crust is literally foundational.

Real heads know the answer is sauce.

The answer is "toppings", you need to have the right balance of sweetcorn to cheese or it isn't real pizza or whatever

indeed, the sweetcorn:pineapple:prawn ratio has to be just right to balance out the essential textures and flavours

A pizza is a unified whole.

― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r),

pizza is a flat circle. everything we have done or will do we will do over and over and over again- forever.

A good pizza is basically like a casserole where the crust replaces the dish or whatever

Like slow-braised beef and carrot on a pizza, is like delicious to me? That's what I think is good

lol, i came to the pizza thread to consider the merits of sauce vs cheese vs crust. i came away thinking of a carrot sticking out of a hunk of beef on a casserole sitting on a crusty plate

i don't agree with your pizza decisions but i respect the innovation!

Is pizza a hot dog?

respect to imago playing the very long game

a good hot dog is basically a delicious thin slice of pizza, so yes

wait is that true

it has always been true - take a solidly constructed thin slice of pizza, fold it in half, add a few toppings in the middle and you've got yourself a delicious hot dog

(add the optional accordion fold if you need a hot dog glider)

https://i.imgur.com/3k9dDat.jpg

The New York City water, baby!

Interesting. Put some doubanjiang on it, little bit of "tianjin preserved vegetable", you might have something approaching edible

voted cheese because I'm a monster but this is a silly question

A good pizza needs no toppings, get real.

confused about this 'crust' thing. that's the bit most people throw away

Ch...chicken Kiev, on a pizza

But you have to like, boil the Kiev in the sauce, which as we've established must be made with a base of doubanjiang and not tomato, and then spoon it into the crust

I am wading into the ocean as I type this

hahaha

This is a disgusting thread

start with Tianjin-preserved vegetable, boil the Kiev, then top with NYC water. fold in half, tear crust-flaps, and fly

Why is there so much ontological confusion about crust? Crust = the entire doughy portion, not just the puffy end bits.

^i agree with that, but i also think there should be a separate name for the part at the end (which my family also calls "crust")

Put a bad sauce on a good crust and you've ruined a good crust. Put a good sauce on a bad crust and you've improved a bad crust. For me, this describes the essence of their relationship.

xp Big crust.

I got some pizzas last week at an ILX-disapproved chain. I was the first customer of the day and the oven apparently wasn't fully preheated -- that underdone crust was fucking disgusting.

bloody crusties

write-in for "the pineapple"

Pizza (Italian: [ˈpittsa], Neapolitan: [ˈpittsə]) is a savory dish of Italian origin, consisting of a sour, boiled paste mixed with breadcrumbs,

no, sorry, the Base and the crust are two different things

cheese and crust and sauce = pizza

cheese and crust without sauce = cheesy bread
sauce and cheese without crust = cheesy dipping sauce
crust and sauce without cheese = vegan pizza, square one

cheese without sauce and crust = cheese
sauce without cheese and crust = sauce
crust without cheese and sauce = crust

--

so basically cheese, because as long as you have the cheese you know you're going to be fine

your pizzas got no middle

just a ring of crust with sauce and cheese piled in the middle, no base

I think my favorite part of pizza is the cum

eat it while it's hot, otherwise it gets crusty imo

i'll just show myself the door

^i agree with that, but i also think there should be a separate name for the part at the end (which my family also calls "crust")

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, May 27, 2020 11:48 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

a kid's book I remember reading many years ago had a character that called these "pizza bones" which has stuck with me as being v accurate and useful

are we just going to call the entire base the 'crust' then

I'm just staring at this in awe, bravo

I don't like your peaches
They are full of stones
But I like pizzas
Because they have no bones

https://www.easier.com/uploads/cache/thumbs/0/3/2/074/400x400/15271/findus-french-bread-pizza.jpg

It's the blend, the balance, or the irresistible alchemy of the parts coalescing, what sorcery is this etc, Sund4r otm

cheese and crust and sauce = pizza

cheese and crust without sauce = cheesy bread
sauce and cheese without crust = cheesy dipping sauce
crust and sauce without cheese = vegan pizza, square one

cheese without sauce and crust = cheese
sauce without cheese and crust = sauce
crust without cheese and sauce = crust

--

so basically cheese, because as long as you have the cheese you know you're going to be fine

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, May 27, 2020 12:55 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ever dip cheese and crust without sauce into sauce and cheese without crust while you wait for the cheese and crust and sauce to come out?

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/190322-pizza-rustica-vertical-1553721278.png?crop=1.00xw:0.668xh;0,0.142xh&resize=980:*

whats the difference between pizza rustica and quiche eh?

Ever dip cheese and crust without sauce into sauce and cheese without crust while you wait for the cheese and crust and sauce to come out?

oh man, that sounds amazing! i could imagine enjoying that at a table without hard corners on a day without a cloud

crust or gtfo

crust or gtfo

I think a couple of those experiences were with wood fired pizza

ILX PIZZA ORDER

hi System, plz order me three cheese pizza, large
take the pizza back if they use the word "base"
-Neanderthal

I make pizza crust from scratch, while my housemate uses Trader Joe frozen pizza crusts. And yet his pizza is consistently better than mine, because he knows the secret of making really delicious pizza sauce. So I voted for sauce.

god it's all so important

beautiful balancing act, pizza

I suppose the most important component is really the spirit in which it is offered

Underrated insight

Speaking of all crust pizza, there was a pizza place in Boston I used to go to that served rolls made from their pizza dough, and they were damn good.

See also “garlic knots” and “breadsticks”

thought you meant actual “pizza rolls” for a second there, I was like wow

a pizza dough roll is hard to imagine. what do you all think of cornmeal crusts?

Vicolo Pizza was my first experience with cornmeal crust in the late 80s/90s. They are long closed now but I think their idea of a crust made of wheat flour, corn meal and soybean oil was really good

recently discovered a local pizza mini chain that makes it with

1. medium thickness crust/base, like a slightly upscale version of a corner place slice; not flimsy but not like eating a loaf of bread
2. slightly fancy toppings, many of them spicy
3. an uncooked tomato sauce base with a lovely sweetness (they have alfredo pizzas as well but have yet to try)

and I may never go back in any of these respects

As much as I love alfredo and all other non-tomato-based pasta sauces, I have never taken the plunge on a slice of pizza with anything other than the red.

Carbonara may be my favorite dish ever, but I'd never get a pizza version of it.

what do you all think of cornmeal crusts?

i'm a fan of putting some cornmeal in dough. adds a nice texture so long as not too much is added and yeast is rendered useless. like up to 20% by volume i guess, but probably more like 10-15%

I saw a place list "aioli base sauce" which seems terrigying

mmm white sauce pizza (olive oil, garlic, spices) with a spinach/marinated red onion/prosciutto top is an all time favorite

Kinda reminds me of this clam pie a buddy made once that I still plan on recreating.

Frutti di mare

have had frutti di mare as pasta but never as pizza

Seemed pretty common on pizza in Naples and Sicily

Glad to see this poll has the correct answer