We’ve rounded up the hottest pizza facts to celebrate National Pizza Day!
I love pizza. You love pizza. We all love pizza! So let’s serve up some hot and fresh pizza facts! Pizza as we know it hasn’t always been around… In fact, modern pizza is thought to have evolved from basic flatbreads (like focaccia) with toppings.
The word ‘pizza’ was first documented in 997 A.D., but what we would consider ‘modern’ pizza had its glow up in the 18th or early 19th century. Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, which opened in 1738 in Naples, Italy, is widely considered to be the world’s very first pizzeria. From there, the popularity of pizzerias grew and by 1807 there were already 54 pizzerias in Naples!
Fast Pizza Facts
- The top 5 days for the largest pizza sales are New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, Halloween and the day before Thanksgiving.
- 94 percent of Americans eat pizza regularly and 93 percent of Americans have eaten pizza in the last month.
- Americans eat around 100 acres of pizza per day. That’s 350 slices per second!
- Speaking of acres….. Kansas wheat acre
- While National Pizza Day is February 9, October is National Pizza Month. That just gives us more time to celebrate!
- Pepperoni is placed on 36 percent of all pizzas, which makes it the most popular topping in the U.S.!
- Created in 1962, the first frozen pizza tasted more like ‘cardboard’ than its modern successors.
- Pizza Hut delivered a six-inch pizza to the International Space Station in 2001. This marked the first outer-space pizza delivery!
Crusty Questions
- All-purpose flour is a great flour for thin, Sicilian style and deep-dish pizza crusts. Be aware that that that lower gluten content does mean that it’s a little more difficult to stretch the dough out, and it may tear more easily, but the result will still be tasty!
- Bread flour is great for chewier crusts. It will help your crust be crispy on the outside while retaining the chewy consistency on the inside. Dough tears aren’t typically an issue for bread flour due to the higher gluten content, but the gluten does mean that it can be hard to form into the desired shape.
- Many say that Captuo ’00’ Bread Flour is the ideal flour for pizza crust. The ’00’ refers to the coarseness of the milled flour. There is a scale from 00 to 1 in Italian flour milling for the fineness of the product, with 00 being the finest and 1 being the most coarse. There is a rumor that ’00’ flour is made with soft wheat for a low protein (aka gluten) content, but that’s not accurate! If your oven doesn’t perform well at temps over 500° F, the ’00’ flour may not char and brown enough for a great Neapolitan-style pizza, so be aware!
Pizza Recipe Roundup
What’s your favorite pizza fact? Don’t forget to try our hot ‘n fresh pizza recipes below!
Chicken Alfredo Pizza
Chicken Alfredo Pizza is a fun, new flavor everyone will love! Using a pre-made crust makes this a quick and easy weeknight recipe.
Deep Dish Pizza
This chicken Caesar salad pizza is fun twist on two classics. Try this fresh and delicious meal idea at your next Sunday brunch.
Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza
Chicken Alfredo Pizza is a fun, new flavor everyone will love! Using a pre-made crust makes this a quick and easy weeknight recipe.
Grilled Pizzas
Grilled pizzas keep the kitchen cool in the summer while still allowing you to enjoy a classic meal! They are easy to customize for those picky eaters.
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
If your family likes spicy chicken wings, they are sure to love this buffalo chicken pizza. An easy way to spice up your next weeknight meal.
Easy Air Fryer Pizza
This Easy Air Fryer Pizza recipe is sure to be a new week night favorite. The pizzas have flaky crust topped with pizza sauce, sausage, pepperoni and cheese.
Easy Weeknight Taco Pizza
This easy taco pizza using a store-bought crust is a perfect weeknight family meal for “Taco Tuesday,” or is sure to be a hit appetizer at your next neighborhood cookout.
Pizza Crust in a Bag
Mix up this Pizza in a Bag without any mess. Add the pizza crust ingredients to a large resealable plastic bag and knead together. Great activity for kids.
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Build Your Own Pizza
Building your own pizzas in three delicious ways… Individual pizzas, pizza pockets and English muffin pizzas. That is the dream!
Black Bean Chicken Taco Flatbread Pizza
This thin black bean chicken taco flatbread pizza has just the right amount of spice and will be a weeknight favorite at your house!
Breakfast Pita Pizzas
Kids love pizza of any kind, so try out these fun and filling breakfast pizzas. This can be an exciting way to use leftover scrambled eggs or sausage gravy. The best part is that breakfast can be on the table in under 30 minutes!
Wheat Facts: A Primer for Pizza
- In 1889, an Italian tavern owner named Don Raffaele Esposito developed a pizza featuring tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil – ingredients bearing the colors of the Italian flag. He named it the Margherita Pizza, after the Queen of Italy, Margherita Teresa Giovanni. Thus, modern-day tomato-and-cheese pizza was born.
- Ninety-three percent of Americans eat AT LEAST one pizza per month. (Source: Bolia Wines.)
- Approximately 3 billion pizzas are sold in the United States each year.
- Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices, (23 pounds), of pizza per year. (Source: Packaged Facts, New York.)