Category: Pizza

Stop Over Mixing Your Dough

~ Steve N. ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been experimenting with low-knead, and no-knead doughs. I’ve come to the conclusion for the home baker at least, there is zero need for a mixer, and when kneading by hand, if you’re doing a cold ferment you can get away with very little kneading.

If you have an infirmity in your hands, and you can’t knead dough then by all means use a mixer. Or if you are making large batches of dough, then you need a mixer. But to make 3 or 4 or even 8 to 10 pizzas, skip the mixer. Knead by hand, and only knead for a couple of minutes. Any longer is not necessary in my experience.

My low-knead dough is so good, I’m seriously perplexed as to why so many recipes have you mix the living daylights out of the pizza dough. There’s no way I’m the first to discover this. No-knead bread doughs are common. I’ve not stumbled onto some cosmic hidden secret. I have a serious question; why? Why are you mixing your dough so long?

I had one person on Facebook tell me my no knead pizza was “odd.” Huh? I thought the comment was odd, especially since it was coming from someone who is a very experienced home cook and baker.

Maybe low-knead/no-knead pizza doughs are a great cosmic secret.

I have not tried a same-day low knead dough. It may not work. I cold proof all my doughs at least 24 hours. Gluten will form during cold fermentation, and that’s important to understand. We don’t need to create a strong gluten structure when we knead or mix, time will do it for us.

The texture of a low-knead dough is nothing short of remarkable. My taste in pizza is heavily influenced by two people. Chris Bianco and Dan Richer, of Pizzeria Bianco, and Razza Pizza Artigianale, respectively. Both their pizzas are exceptionally light, airy, crisp and chewy, but tender. That’s what I’m shooting for when I make pizza. I want my pizza to be light. I want it to be what I call “tender/chewy.” Mixing less creates a more tender crumb that still has plenty of the chewiness you expect of good pizza. It helps to make the pizza light, and that lightness aids crispness. The pizzas I’ve made using this method are an absolute joy to eat. And, if you’re used to dense, heavy, overly-chewy, bready pizza, try my method. You may be surprised at just how good homemade pizza can be.

Low-knead/no-knead pizza dough.

Use any flour you like. High gluten flours work better for a no-knead dough.

Put everything in a bowl, and stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Then knead in the bowl until it forms a dough, about 45 seconds. For a no-knead dough, cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, longer is better.

For low-knead dough, cover, and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Then, place the dough on a counter and knead by hand for two minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, up to 96. 72 hours is best and will create a lighter, more crisp crust, though I’ve had excellent results letting the dough sit in the fridge up to five days.

After the cold ferment, ball the dough, cover, and proof at room temperature for about three hours before baking.

Bake in a 550F degree oven. Use convection if you have it. Place your stone or steel on the top most rack. Preheat at least 45 minutes. Bake the pizza for about three minutes, then turn on the broiler. Watch closely and pull from the oven when the crust is nicely browned and has some char, about two minutes.

If you have a high heat pizza oven, omit the sugar and oil. Cook accordingly.

Ground Pepperoni

~ Steve N. ~ 7 Comments

I’ve absolutely love pepperoni on pizza. The stuff is magical. I’ve been thinking of creative ways to use it, and got the idea to grind it up, similar to ground beef or ground sausage. I had never seen anyone grind up pepperoni, and googling it I found one pizzeria in California that is famous for their ground pepperoni pizza. Still, this is a very unique and novel way to use pepperoni.

It is definitely a pepperoni lovers pizza. Every bite is a mouthful of pepperoni, and the texture is very pleasant as well. It’s delicious. This is a pizza that requires high quality pep, don’t skimp on quality.

This is my 62% hydration NY style dough, cooked on a steel in my home oven at 550F.

Utica

~ Steve N. ~ 3 Comments

I used Roma Sausage—Utica’s most famous tomato pie—as my template when I set out to make a facsimile. In my opinion, what makes Roma’s pies so special is the sauce. The sauce is laid down in a thick layer, and one gets lots of that deliciousness in each bite. The sauce is simple and tomato forward. Its balance of salt and sweetness is nearly perfect.

Utica tomato pie is working-class fare. It’s supposed to be cheap eats. This is not gentrified fare we’re creating. I used inexpensive crushed tomatoes.

I added nothing to the tomatoes except some tomato paste for body, salt, and a little sugar to get the salty/sweet balance just right. I cooked it just long enough to thicken it up a bit.

I didn’t want the sauce to cook in the oven. I wanted a light, bright sauce, not one that’s concentrated and cooked down like an Italian gravy. The pizza will spend a reasonable amount of time in the oven, and the sauce will further cook during that time. When I baked the pie, I put only a very thin layer of sauce to prevent the crust from browning. I added most of the sauce post-bake.

I was delighted with the result. The eating experience and flavor profile were very similar to Roma’s.

My tomato pie is on the left. On the right is Roma’s tomato pie.

Mine.
Roma’s.

Homemade tomato pie.
Homemade tomato pie.

True NY

~ Steve N. ~ 1 Comment

I owe a debt of gratitude to Joe Rosenthal for helping me to make true NY style pizza. Before one can make something, one has to know what one is making, and to make it well, one has to understand the details and nuances of said thing. Joe Rosenthal goes into detail about NY style pizza, what it is and how to make it, and he leaves no stone unturned. Thanks to his tips, procedures, and dough formulation I’ve been making excellent NY style pizza at home.

Here are two recent examples of my homemade NY style pies.

NY style pizza made in a typical home oven — plain cheese.
NY style pizza made in a typical home oven with homemade Italian sausage and sautéed mushrooms.

Pep in your step

~ Steve N. ~ Leave a comment

I discovered a very good NY style pizza dough recipe a little while back for use in a home oven with a steel. This has become my go to dough for pizzas made in my home oven at 550F, and it’s also worked well when I’ve used it in my Roccbox at about 850F.

I’ve fallen in love with pepperoni. I have half-a-dozen different brands in my fridge at any one time, and I’m constantly trying different brands. I’m not sure if this is an original idea, it likely isn’t, but I thought it’d be fun to put three different styles of pepperoni on one pie.

NY style pizza baked in a typical home oven with flat pepperoni, cupping pepperoni, and cubed pepperoni.

Detroit

~ Steve N. ~ 2 Comments

A Detroit-style pizza I made on a whim. 75% hydration, with a mix of 90% King Arthur 00 Pizza flour, and 10% semolina. Cubed Monterey Jack and Mozz blend. Topped with pepperoni and red chili.

It turned out beautiful. Tender open crumb, with a crisp undercarriage and lovely caramelized edges.

It’s the Culture

~ Steve N. ~ 3 Comments

Why does NY City have the largest concentration of the most famous pizzerias anywhere outside of Italy? Why does NYC have so many fantastic pizzerias, compared to the rest of the country?

I have heard it said over and over, “It’s the water!” as though NYC water had some magical properties to it. But that myth is easy to debunk. If New York’s water were the secret to its great pizza, there would not be great pizza elsewhere, and we all know that is not true. Not only is there great pizza all over the USA (just not in the numbers NY has), but there’s also great pizza everywhere in the world—especially in the pizza capital of the world, Naples.

There are two reasons why NY has so many great pizzerias compared to other parts of the country. Continue reading “It’s the Culture” →

Random Thoughts on Pizza

~ Steve N. ~ 10 Comments

I’ve eaten pizza in four of the top ten pizzerias in America. Soon, I’ll be making the trip to NYC to check the fifth and possibly a sixth off that list.

I have plans to spend a weekend in Brooklyn, and a weekend in Boston to eat pizza. I hope to make the trek to New Haven again and explore more of the pizza there. (I have eaten at Pepe’s.)

I’ve driven as far as 2 1/2 hours one way just to eat pizza at a single pizzeria, and then I turned around and came right back.

I’ve eaten at every single Neapolitan style pizza joint within a 2-hour radius of Albany. Every. Single. One.

I’ve eaten at 95% of pizzerias that have a wood oven in the area (that I’m aware of), and at most of the wood-fired pizza trucks. If I discover a pizzeria that has a wood oven and I haven’t been, I usually go immediately.

I’ve eaten pizza at well more than 100 local places and counting.

I just spent a weekend in Buffalo, the primary impetus to go there was to eat the pizza at Jay’s Artisan, a fantastic Neapolitan style pizza joint.

I once talked my wife into spending a weekend in Syracuse to go shopping at its giant mall, but I secretly wanted to go to eat pizza.

I put all of that out there not to toot my own horn, but to list my credentials. My opinions are based on a fair amount of experience. One can disagree with me (and you should!), but my opinions are not born out of ignorance.

Continue reading “Random Thoughts on Pizza” →

Bad Chain Restaurants XIII – Domino’s Deception​

~ Steve N. ~ 3 Comments

I had a good friend who worked at Domino’s Pizza in the mid-’90s. He worked the late shift and was left in charge. On occasion, he’d invite me to hang out with him. I got to spend time behind the counter watching the delivery drivers come and go, watch my buddy make the pizzas, and he’d also let me make my own pizza. I’ll never forget the contraption they used that would apply the cheese pellets (and they were indeed pellets). You’d load the proper amount of cheese into an elevated cone, then slide the pizza under, press the release button, and bam! A perfectly cheesed pizza.

At the time, I ate Domino’s pizza and would order a pie for delivery now and then.

But that was more than 20 years ago, and it wasn’t too long after that I met my wife, who was instrumental in nudging me toward learning to appreciate better food. She loathes Domino’s, and I haven’t eaten it since.

Recently, I decided it was time to revisit the chain. Admittedly, I fell victim to their marketing, and the idea of eating a pizza with a soft doughy crust, that’s sweetly sauced, and with a generous amount of cheese appealed to me.

I may have temporarily lost my mind. Continue reading “Bad Chain Restaurants XIII – Domino’s Deception​” →

Pizza Pilgrimage V – Six Days in the Fridge

~ Steve N. ~ 3 Comments

Have you seen the video series Upstate Old School Vic Christopher is doing for Two Buttons Deep? In the first episode, he visits O’Scugnizzo’s Pizzeria in Utica. O’Scug’s makes a form of Utica tomato pie, and the place is the second oldest continually operating pizzeria in the US. The video is less than four minutes long. It’s worth a watch.

Barely one week after Vic’s video was posted, Daniel B. and I had some business together in Central NY (more about that at a later date), and after seeing the video, both of us were curious to visit O’Scug’s and experience the pizza.

I was not impressed, and frankly, perplexed as to why O’Scug’s is popular.

Continue reading “Pizza Pilgrimage V – Six Days in the Fridge” →