The deception of thin crust pizzas

To me pizza heaven means a Margherita  A nice and light, chewy crust, tomato and salt based pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil leaves and olive oil baked to perfection in a high temperature oven. For me, each of these is important on its own. That is why, thin crust pizzas feel like I’ve been cheated. There just isn’t enough bite. It’s almost like you’ve put them in your mouth and barely had time to relish the flavour and its done. A crust gives some time to enjoy each of the flavours. And then there’s the crust itself. Some thickness allows you to savour the comforting feel of the bread, the craters and the nice smell of fresh bread. Why give all this up?

I think the trouble with the regular crust which people give up in favour of the thin version is that it is not done properly. I remember the early days of pizza chains in India. The pizzas would have such horrible crusts that my jaws would ache with all the chewing. Some chains haven’t changed. That is probably why people started opting for the thin crust is my guess.

A good crust is not that easy to make. Especially for the pizza chains which have bastardised the art of making pizzas to perfection. It needs love and attention to detail. Well, I have not mastered the art yet. Quite far from it, actually. But I can tell a good crust from a bad one. Here’s an example of a good crust:

You need to have those craters which basically mean the dough is light and airy and that air bubbles have formed inside. This is what makes a good pizza crust. In my humble opinion.