Why is New York Style Pizza Dough Folded?

We’ve all seen it. Whether we’ve been walking the streets of New York, or are watching a television show based in New York, we’ve all seen it. People are sitting in a mom-and-pop pizzeria, or walking down the street eating their homemade pizza.  But the difference is, between New York style pizza dough and other types of pizza, is that New York pizza is often folded up by the consumer before they eat it. But why is that? Does New York pizza have to be folded?

The answer is simply, no. New York pizza doesn’t have to be folded and in fact, it’s not even something New Yorkers started. Unlike other cultural traditions, this one was actually not acquired by a few doing it, and the word spreading. In fact, it was a major pizza chain – Pizza Hut – that started the phenomenon when they started selling their Big New Yorker pizza. There wasn’t really anything known as “the fold” before then, and being able to fold the pizza is just one attraction of New York pizza.

The other attraction, and the reason why people can fold it in the first place, is because New York pizza uses very thin frozen pizza dough. And so, that’s all you need before you sell it! Because it’s not the fold people are looking for, it’s simply a thin crust that can be folded in case people do want to fold it.

Offer them the thin crust, and whether they fold it or not, you’ll get more people into your restaurant.