Alternative names | Colorado pizza, Colorado mountain pie |
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Type | Pizza |
Place of origin | United States |
Region or state | Colorado |
Created by | Chip Bair |
Main ingredients | Pizza dough, tomato sauce, cheese, honey |
Colorado-style pizza, also called Colorado pizza or Colorado mountain pie, is a style of pizza made with a characteristically thick, braided crust topped with heavy amounts of sauce and cheese. It is traditionally served by the pound, with a side of honey as a condiment.
Colorado-style pizza was invented by Chip Bair after he purchased the Beau Jo's pizza restaurant in Idaho Springs, Colorado, in 1973. Bair wanted to create a new style of pizza and thought that a braided crust would be visually appealing to customers. The pizza was successful, and Beau Jo's became a regional chain. [1]
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Colorado-style pizza is made with a thick, braided whole-wheat crust that has been sweetened by adding honey to the dough. [2] [3] It is topped with a sweet tomato sauce and heavy amounts of whole milk Mozzarella cheese and other optional toppings. [4] [5] The braided crust makes the pizza more stable and prevents the thick toppings from becoming messy. [6] It has some similarities to Chicago-style pizza, but is sweeter and has a shorter cooking time. [7]
Colorado pies are small in diameter being typically about eight inches. [6] It is traditionally served by the pound due to the weight of each slice's toppings. [1] [4] Typical restaurants offer pies in sizes between one and five pounds. [8] Honey is commonly used as a side for dipping the pizza crust in [4] as a "built in dessert". [3]
Pizza is an Italian dish consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.
Chicago-style pizza is pizza prepared according to several styles developed in Chicago. It can refer to both the well-known deep-dish or stuffed pizzas and the lesser-known thin-crust tavern-style pizzas more popular with locals. The pan in which deep-dish pizza is baked gives the pizza its characteristically high edge, which provides ample space for large amounts of cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza may be prepared in the deep-dish style and as a stuffed pizza. Chicago-style thin-crust pizza dough is rolled for a thinner crispier crust than other thin-crust styles. The thin-crust pizza is cut in squares instead of slices, and is also referred to as a "tavern-style" pizza.
St. Louis–style pizza is a type of pizza in St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding areas. The pizza has a thin cracker-like crust made without yeast, topped sweet tomato sauce and Provel cheese, and is cut into squares or rectangles rather than wedges.
New York–style pizza is a pizza made with a characteristically large hand-tossed thin crust, often sold in wide slices to go. The crust is thick and crisp only along its edge, yet soft, thin, and pliable enough beneath its toppings to be folded to eat. Traditional toppings are simply tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. This was a popular meal among poor Italians due to the ratio of product from the limited produce.
New Haven–style pizza is a style of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. Locally known as apizza, it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and is now served in many other pizza restaurants in the area, most notably Sally's Apizza and Modern Apizza. This geographically limited pizza style has been favorably regarded by national critics.
Sicilian pizza is a pizza prepared in a manner that originated in Sicily, Italy. Sicilian pizza is also known as sfincione or focaccia with toppings. This type of pizza became a popular dish in western Sicily by the mid-19th century and was the type of pizza usually consumed in Sicily until the 1860s. It eventually reached North America in a slightly altered form, with thicker crust and a rectangular shape.
Grimaldi's Pizzeria is an American pizzeria chain from the New York City area with over 40 restaurants throughout the United States. Its most famous restaurant is under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn at 1 Front Street, next door to its original location. Zagat Survey rated Grimaldi's the No. 1 Pizzeria in New York in 2007. With a carry-out and delivery service model in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022 it had 43 restaurants in operation overall. It does not sell slices, only whole pies, which are cooked by coal-fired brick ovens. It also sells wines and appetizers, as well as calzones. Among desserts are cannoli and tiramisu, as well as New York–style cheesecake.
Detroit-style pizza is a rectangular pan pizza with a thick, crisp, chewy crust. It is traditionally topped to the edges with mozzarella or Wisconsin brick cheese, which caramelizes against the high-sided heavyweight rectangular pan. Detroit-style pizza was originally baked in rectangular steel trays designed for use as automotive drip pans or to hold small industrial parts in factories. It was developed during the mid-20th century in Detroit, Michigan, before spreading to other parts of the United States in the 2010s. It is one of Detroit's iconic local foods.
The cuisine of New Jersey is derived from the state's long immigrant history and its close proximity to both New York City and Philadelphia. Due to its geographical location, New Jersey can generally be divided by New York City cuisine in the northern and central parts of the state and Philadelphia cuisine in the southern parts. Restaurants in the state often make use of locally grown ingredients such as asparagus, blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, corn, and peaches. New Jersey is particularly known for its diners, of which there are approximately 525, the most of any state. Various foods invented in the state, such as the pork roll, and salt water taffy, remain popular there today.
Pizza arrived in the United States in the early 20th century along with waves of Italian immigrants who settled primarily in the larger cities of the Northeast, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. After American soldiers stationed in Italy returned from World War II, pizza and pizzerias rapidly grew in popularity.
Quad City–style pizza is a variety of pizza originating in the Quad Cities region of the states of Illinois and Iowa in the United States.
Trenton tomato pie or New Jersey tomato pie is a type of circular, thin-crust Italian tomato pie created in Trenton, New Jersey, United States, around the early 20th century in which cheese and other toppings are added on first, then the sauce.
Altoona-style pizza is a distinct type of pizza created in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, by the Altoona Hotel. The definitive characteristics of Altoona-style pizza are a Sicilian-style pizza dough, tomato sauce, sliced green bell pepper, salami, topped with American cheese and pizzas cut into squares instead of wedges.
Lonesome's Pizza was a pizzeria in Portland, Oregon. Co-owners Noah Antieu, Nic Reddy, and Nik Sin started the delivery-only business in 2010. In 2012, Lonesome's began operating from a window at the nightclub and music venue Dante's. Known for its quirky pizza names and for including artwork and music with deliveries, the pizzeria closed in 2017.
Baby Doll Pizza is a pizzeria in Portland, Oregon.
Canada has many of its own pizza chains, both national and regional, and many distinctive regional variations and types of pizza resulting from influences of local Canadian cuisine.
Ohio Valley–style pizza is a pizza made with cold toppings sprinkled over a square crust that has been covered with a sweet tomato sauce. It originated in Steubenville, Ohio and is served in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, mostly in and near the Ohio Valley region of those states.
Columbus-style pizza is an American regional pizza style associated with Columbus, Ohio. It has a circular shape, pieces cut into short or long rectangles, thin crust, dense toppings that cover the surface, and, usually, provolone cheese and a slightly sweet sauce. It was developed in the early 1950s.