Mixing, proofing, and forming dough in-house requires expertise and effort that few hourly workers can provide. Instead of even trying, many companies turn to manufacturers like Nation’s Pizza Products. Nation Pizza Products creates and manufactures signature crusts for some of the world’s largest pizza brands. The company is also a key supplier to McDonald’s restaurants. The man behind Nation’s crusts is Chef Sam Selvaggio. It is his expertise that allows many of the major players in pizza to mimic classic styles.

“America’s main pizza passion is for the classic pies that our parents grew up eating and now more than ever we see the industry moving even closer to those original thin crusts,” Selvaggio says. “The return to fresh natural ingredients and to clean flavorful sauces make the pizzas that we are starting to see become popular today move closer to duplicating the original pies that our soldiers discovered and loved while stationed in Italy during World War II.”

Selvaggio says high-protein flour (13–14 percent), water, yeast, and salt are all that is needed to create a perfect cracker crust, but that no matter which style you prefer, baking it properly is the key. He advocates using wood- or coal-fired ovens and flours such as semolina or spelt to bring “an old world European flavor and bite to the crust.” Many pizza-bistros are already operating with wood-fired ovens. A few still even use the ultimate in traditional pizza technology—the coal-fired oven. Genarro Lombardi’s in New York City is one of them.

Along with Lombardi’s, New York has several other notable pizzerias that use coal-fired pizza ovens. Tontonno’s and Grimaldi’s are two. These shrines to the coal-fired pizza tradition are legendary among true New York Style pizza lovers. Temperatures in the huge ovens sometimes exceed 750°F. Traditionalists who swear by this style of pizza claim that no other crust can ever come close. The ultra high heat and enormous BTUs crisp the crust and bake the toppings in a way that no other method of baking can duplicate.

Beardsmore from Sargento Foods, is a fan of wood-fired pizzas. “My personal favorite pizza is a wood-fired, brick oven baked Napolitano pizza. It should be made with fresh mozzarella and a very light, fresh tomato sauce, finished with fresh basil leaves, and fresh sweet red peppers. That’s a pizza that is hard to beat. No one ingredient or flavor overpowers the others. It’s a perfect balance.”

While Pizza Hut’s Dunn is a fan of wood-fired, too, he contends that it is not the only way to get a great tasting pie. “The best pizza baking technique is impingement. I do love pizza when it is properly baked in a deck oven set to the correct temperature. However, the constant upkeep and maintenance with a deck oven often leads to inconsistent product. If you want a consistently high quality product use an impingement oven. For a quick-serve operation, an impingement oven is far and away the best choice,” Dunn explains.

And then there is Culinary Institute of America’s take. The world’s top culinary school does indeed teach every upcoming, young chef how to make the perfect traditional pizza. What does our most prestigious food school say on the topic? “While I do feel that there are quite a few interesting combinations and novelty pizzas out there,” Chef Instructor Hinnerek Von Bargen offers, “my personal favorite is the one simple one, the one which is baked in a hearth oven. Gas or wood-fire is of secondary concern. It is the intense heat that is important. The intense heat ensures even browning and a great mouth-feel and texture. From my perspective the crust is foremost in importance. Simple, lean dough made using unbleached A/P flour enriched with 5 percent extra virgin olive oil is best. I most love to use a Biga [similar to a sour dough starter] as a pre-ferment when time allows. This method contributes a savory, fruity aroma and greatly adds to the overall flavor of the pizza.”

There is no doubt that Americans will always look for the next hot trend, and while exotic pizza varieties will come and go, simple pies will continue to thrive. “Pizza has become a platform to be innovative with for new menu offers. I would say that chefs like Wolfgang Puck have made the industry look at pizza in a different light. We have learned that pizza can be served in fine dinning with toppings like smoked salmon or sevruga caviar. We have seen BBQ pizza in Texas and alligator pizza in New Orleans. Yet none of these exotic offerings has ever truly become successful,” says Beardsmore.