I hate it when I see food threads on RVF, because I instantly know I can't just let shit be without getting involved.
There are many different kinds of bread with sauce and cheese on top. Most of them are not Pizza.
Pizza is Pizza. It's a dish. This is not 'nam, this is pizza. There are rules.
When you're talking about pizza, you're talking about Pizza Napoletana. Most people probably wouldn't like traditional Pizza Napoletana, but I love it. The crust is not crispy; it's incredibly soft. The middle of the pizza is borderline soupy. The flavors are incredible. Here are the basic guidelines:
-Your dough must have a high water content. It's a very wet dough.
-It must be cooked at 800F, minimum. Traditionally done in a woodburning oven, but you can do this on home ovens, which I'll explain.
-The tomato sauce is simply canned tomatoes run through a food mill. It is not cooked
-The mozzarella is low moisture. You simply can't get mozzarella here like what they use in Naples. The best American brand however is Bel Gioso
-A few leaves of basil are scattered over the top for Margherita
-A swirl of olive oil goes over the top.
This is a traditional Pizza Margherita. It looks like this:
Whatever you think is the best pizza you've had, or the "style" of pizza you prefer, believe me when I say this is the best pizza in the world.
Before I get into a dickswinging contest, let me say that my info on pizza comes from a pizzaiolo that worked in the best pizzeria in Naples. You can ask 1000 people in Italy where the best pizza comes from; they will say Naples. You can ask 1000 people in Naples where the best pizza comes from, they'll tell you the restaurant where my friend worked.
Now, to make pizza like this takes years, and it would take pages upon pages to detail the process. There's a guy that has gotten this shit down as good as anyone could from home so I'll just link his website. If you want to learn to make the best pizza, take some time and check it out:
http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm
I haven't tasted his pizza, but after watching his methods and knowing how my friend makes pizza I can say that he's much closer than even some of the best pizzerias in NY.
In his blog you'll see he recommends taking off the oven lock and running his cleaning cycle which gets the oven hot enough. This isn't necessary IMO. A good alternative is buying a solid baking stone or even terra cotta tile will work, setting it about 18 inches away from the broiler on your oven, and run your broiler for 20 minutes to get it piping fucking hot. Turn the broiler off but keep the oven on full blast and slip your pizza in and this is the best way to emulate a wood burning oven.
Any other questions hit me up.