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Pizza is often viewed as a junk food. It is true that some pizzas are high in salt, fat, and calories, but there may also be some benefit to eating pizza. Lycopene is an antioxidant that exists in tomato products that are often used in pizza. Some studies have found that lycopene may prevent some forms of cancer. Dr. Silvano Gallus, of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan, studied the eating habits of people who developed cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and colon. He concluded that people who ate pizza at least once a week had significantly less chance of developing these cancers. Here's to your health.

You'd think that making a frozen pizza would be as easy as rolling out a pizza and freezing it. It's actually pretty complicated. There are many challenges in creating a good frozen pizza. The sauce may combine with the dough and the crust, becoming rigid after the pizza is frozen and reheated. To prevent this, food scientists use a layer of modified cornstarch as a moisture barrier between the sauce and the crust. This keeps the crust from absorbing the sauce. Also, the pizza is partially baked to keep the dough from becoming too rigid after it is frozen and reheated. Will wonders ever cease?

Squinky's Crab Slabs and Pizza Paradise is not an unusual restaurant when it comes to leadership. Jon Piere, the head chef, is in charge of the kitchen. He oversees operations. Below him is sous chef Michael Bolton. (He is in no way related to the famous saxophonist.) Sous chef Bolton manages the line cooks. The line cooks do the prep work. That means that they prepare the ingredients and toppings so that the night will go smoothly. Then there are the dishwashers, who make sure that the line cooks have clean tools. Squinky's Crab Slabs and Pizza Paradise is not very zany when it comes to the kitchen.

Most people have had red pizza, or pizza covered with red sauce, but have you ever had white pizza? White pizza is made in almost the same way as red pizza. They both consist of toppings on baked dough. The key difference is that white pizza does not have any tomato sauce on it. White pizzas may have olive oil on top of the dough or no sauce at all. I like white pizza more than red pizza because you can really taste the ingredients. The red sauce on pizza can be dominating. If you have not had a white pizza, I recommend that you order or make one today.

The foundation of every pizza is the crust, and good crust comes from good dough. Making pizza dough is easy. All it takes is a handful of ingredients: flour, water, yeast, olive oil, salt, and sometimes sugar. First, add your yeast packet to a cup of warm water. The water should be around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the yeast sit in the water for ten minutes so that it will activate. Then add two cups of flour, two tablespoons of olive oil, two teaspoons of sugar, and a teaspoon of salt. Mix all that together in a large mixing bowl using your freshly washed hands. Once the dough feels mixed completely, wait 30 minutes for the dough to rise. Now you're ready to roll!

Cooking the perfect pizza at home can be quite a challenge. You may find that it's difficult to get your oven to the optimal temperature. If the oven is too hot, the crust will burn. If your oven isn't hot enough, the crust may get soggy. Even at the perfect temperature, extra moisture from your ingredients may prevent the bottom of the crust from fully cooking. Don't let oven temperature stop you from building the pizza of your dreams! Get yourself a pizza stone. A pizza stone will help regulate and evenly distribute the heat in your oven. The stone will get very hot when preheated. This will allow your crust to fully cook without burning it. Feel free to pile the ingredients on your pizza and enjoy a crispy crust that isn't burned. Ah, the perfect pizza.

Jimmy's pizzeria is my favorite pizza place in the city. You wouldn't be able to tell that from the outside of the place though. It is an inconspicuous brown brick building. It doesn't even have a sign, just "Jimmy's" in three-inch letters on the storefront window. The inside isn't much to speak of either. Chrome swivel stools line an L-shaped laminate counter. The counter separates the register and kitchen area from the dining area. The outer part of the restaurant, the area by the windows, has spacious booth seats. A few favorable reviews from local publications decorate the walls. The aesthetics of the place are a little underwhelming, but forget the scenery. I go to Jimmy's for the pizza.

Three of the most popular pizza styles are the New York-style, the Chicago-style, and the Detroit-style. It's true that each style uses the same ingredients. But it's how these ingredients are used that gives them their unique regional flair. New York-style pizza is thin. These slices are cut into large triangles that can be folded. New Your-style pizza is commonly sold by the slice. Chicago-style pizza has deep dish crust, which can be up to three inches tall at the edge. Chicago-style pizzas are generally sold as whole pies rather than slices. Then there's the Detroit-style pizza. Detroit-style pizzas are not circular like the Chicago and New York-style pizzas. They are square like the Sicilian-style pizzas. These pizzas are like the Chicago-style pizza in that both have thick crusts. But the Detroit-style pizza is twice-baked. This gives it a chewy crust that is crispy around the edges. Style may vary by region, but they are all delicious.

Pizza is so old that its origins are not quite clear to historians. The word pizza may come from the Latin verb insere, meaning to press, or the Greek word pitta. But the first documented use of the word "pizza" can be traced to Italy in 997 AD. Whatever they were eating back then was quite different from the pizza that we know today. The pizza that we know could not really have been invented until sometime during the 16th century. That's when tomatoes were brought to Europe from America. There is some evidence that pizza with tomatoes and mozzarella was eaten in Italy as early as 1790. It wasn't until 1905 that pizza was first sold in America. The rest, as they say, is history.

Let's take a moment to appreciate the construct of the pizza. On the bottom is a layer of crust. The crust is dough made from flour, oil, yeast, and salt. On top of the crust is sauce. The sauce is usually made from a seasoned tomato base, but white pizza will use olive oil. The toppings go on top of the sauce layer. A layer of mozzarella cheese is generally applied. Sometimes the cheese layer may be topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, or other vegetables. Pizza is not just a food. It's a platform for culinary expression.