Pizza is as Italian as pasta, right? The thing is that there isn’t a consensus that it was the Italians who first boiled some salty water and threw in the spaghetti. And the same goes for pizza.

The concept of using dough as a base for various toppings is as old as civilisation. In the Aeneid, Virgil describes how, “The hungry band, invade their trenchers next”, with trenchers being flat discs of bread used as plates. Etruscans were baking schiacciata in Tuscany over 2,000 years ago. The Persians also ate flatbread covered with cheese and dates while in the Middle Ages, slices of stale bread were used to hold food – the used bread slices, full of sauces and still holding bits of food, were then given to the poor.

Pizza varieties appear in the history of most civilisations, from pitta, tartes flambées and Indian parathas and naans to Catalonian cocas and pissaladières from Provence. So while Italians claim that they invented the pizza, every country in Europe and beyond has a similar recipe.

Even the Italians themselves can’t agree on the correct definition of pizza. While the Romans favour a thin, crispy base, the Neapolitans munch on a softer yet more charred variety. There is also much verbal warfare surrounding the right toppings. Romans have developed such classics as the calzone, capricciosa and quattro stagioni, yet the Neapolitans only allow two possible combinations of toppings: the marinara, with tomatoes, garlic, oregano and olive oil, and the margherita, with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. The latter is probably the first modern pizza, created to celebrate Queen Margherita’s visit to Naples in 1889.

It is the people living in the shadow of the Vesuvius who are the more vociferous in defending the Neapolitan credentials of pizza. They are passionate about it and discuss it at every opportunity – Neapolitan taxi-drivers talk about pizza the way their London counterparts discuss the weather. That is, all the time.

The essence of a great pizza is its simplicity, the kind that is apparently poor yet is so rich in taste

Neapolitans are so protective of their pizza that in 1984, the city’s pizzaioli founded the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, devoted to regulating the ingredients in the pizza dough, which are limited to double zero flour, salt, yeast and water.

Such restrictions may appear slightly overdone to those who favour pizza toppings – cue pineapple rings, sausage and chicken – that are more at home on a buffet table. And yet, the essence of a great pizza is its simplicity, the kind that is apparently poor yet is so rich in taste. As Nikko Amandonico writes in La Pizza (Mitchell Beazley, 2001 “Naples, poor in resources, is nevertheless rich in creativity. The pizza was born amid the city’s carnival exuberance of life.”

And yet, while the Neapolitans may be well within their rights to claim their pizza fame, nowadays pizza is the most globalised dish on the planet. When impoverished economic migrants travelled from Naples to America, they took with them a taste of home. The Americans endorsed it as a symbol of the ultimate immigrant success story and made their own varieties, from the focaccia-like deep dish you find in Chicago to the twice-baked pizza in Detroit.

Whatever its origins, nowadays there is hardly a city in the world which doesn’t offer you its interpretation of pizza. From a classic margherita with San Marzano tomatoes to sweet and sour pork toppings, there’s a pizza for every taste. However, despite the variety, there are two important elements which every pizza must respect.

First is the heat of the oven, which should be so eyebrow-singeing hot that it bakes a pizza in three minutes flat. A domestic electric oven will not give you the same beautifully charred results that you get from a wood-fired oven. For the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, a pizza must be baked in a wood-fired oven at 485°C. Anything less and you will not get their nod of approval.

The second element is the quality of the dough. The combination of strong flour, yeast, salt and water must be lovingly kneaded for 15 minutes. Roll, fold, push and pull until you feel the dough coming to life in your hands. Then top, bake, slice and serve.

Pumpkin calzone

You need
Pizza dough
150g pumpkin
150g tomatoes
100g mozzarella
Basil leaves

Method

Peel the pumpkin, cut into small chunks and steam over boiling water for 15 minutes. Chop the tomatoes, tear up the basil and mix with the pumpkin. Season with salt, black pepper and olive oil. Tear the mozzarella and toss with the mix.

Roll out the dough, pile the filling into the centre and wet the edges with a little water. Pull the furthest edge over the filling to meet the edge nearest you and crimp to seal. Bake until the top is golden.

Pizza patate

You need
Pizza dough
945ml lukewarm water
5 tsp salt
1kg potatoes, peeled
100g onion, diced
Black pepper
80ml olive oil
Fresh rosemary

Method

Combine the water and salt and stir until the salt is dissolved. Slice the potatoes very thinly and place the slices in the salted water. Leave to soak for two hours until the slices are wilted. Drain the potatoes and pat dry.

Toss the potatoes with the onion, black pepper and olive oil. Spread over the pizza base and sprinkle with rosemary. Bake until the potatoes are golden brown.