NY PIZZA

[jond36]

I have been taking a break from the outdoor pizza oven and Neapolitan style pizza for a bit to try my hand at indoor NY pizzas. I would provide a recipe, but I am genuinely considering opening a pizza shop or a side gig with pizza on the weekends or something. I would call it Freedom Pizza or American Pizza. Something patriotic with a lot of tributes to Medal of Honor recipients and each branch of the service. I wanted to share some pictures of some of my experiments to gain some honest feedback. Harsh is fine with valid merits. I have tough skin.

I have been conducting several experiments from temperature and time to ingredient proportions and hydration rates. The pizzas I make are 16", but I will begin 18" this weekend and update everyone.

These pies have cornmeal on them, and they are cooked on screens instead of a stone or steel. I actually think I prefer flour only instead of cornmeal. What do you think? I mainly only do cheese right now to minimize variables while experimenting, but one mushroom and olive snuck in. I will say frying the toppings and herbs separate from the pizza gives a better crunch and enhanced flavor.
ENJOY

 

[DRKsmoking]

They all look good. Your screen seems to give you a nice colour on the bottom. And your top cooked colour is right also.

So I will say a good looking pizza. I will say that a great pizza is told really by your sauce flavour and your choice of a good mozza cheese ( fat content )

The only toppings that I cook ahead of time is bacon and hamburger to remove some of the fat content so not on the pizza, other then that everything is fresh on top. Only spice I add is in the sauce and on the burger when I precook it.

Now , this is just me . I do not care for cornmeal on the bottom of my pizza ( but I eat any kind of pizza ) and not a heavy powder of flour on the bottom. I do use flour to help slide of my board, but just a dusting and a little blow under and a twist to remove and onto the hot stone.

Like I said this is my way . And like I mentioned I love pizza and will eat any way they are cooked ( as long as I like the toppings lol, no anchovies for me )

Every pizza I have made is all hand streached and or tossed.

Also I have made many thousands of pizza's over the years , and this is just my opinion.

David

 

[yankee2bbq]

That pizza looks good! I like using cornmeal when I make my pizzas. Also, I prefer the crust to be crunchy. Anyways, that’s awesome you want to maybe someday have a pizza place and dedicate it to Medal of Honor recipients!

 

[BandCollector]

Pizza looks fantastic. Crust looks like fermentation and hydration was perfect. I prefer to use a 50/50 mixture of flour and Semolina when placing my dough on the peel. The Semolina acts like tiny ball bearings and avoids dough sticking to my peel and baking steel.
If it tastes as good as it looks. . . You have got a winner!

John

 

[JLinza]

Looks pretty darn good to me. I use semolina for mine, same as BandCollector , but I think DRKsmoking is right... for me the sauce makes or breaks a pie. Good luck opening up shop, I'll be happy to be a taste tester for ya lol.

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Oh man that looks good. Crust looks amazing any chance of sharing the recipe?

 

[clifish]

This New Yorker says it looks good to me! Some places use corn meal on the bottom others do not. They all use a screen for a while, then remove it and finish the cook in the oven. In your first pic, what kind of cheese is on the bottom that is round?

 

[jcam222]

Pretty amazing looking pizza

 

[Steve H]

Looks really good from another NYer. Though. Like Clif. I'm curious about the cheese as well.

 

[jond36]

This New Yorker says it looks good to me! Some places use corn meal on the bottom others do not. They all use a screen for a while, then remove it and finish the cook in the oven. In your first pic, what kind of cheese is on the bottom that is round?

Thin sliced provolone. I usually do a combo of mozzarella, Muenster, fontina, pecorino, and provolone.

The first pizza only had mozzarella and provolone. I weigh things out by oz for cheese. 8 oz mozzarella and 2 oz provolone.

 

[nomoreusmc]

I've been playing with my pizza oven too and I use semolina instead of cornmeal. It rolls a lot better and it wheat so it is made of the same stuff as the crust. Love the medal of honor\patriotism. For me the perfect pizza has to have fermented pepperoni that semi dried at least. Gotta have that taste. And of course the high quality mozzarella making me hungry

 

[Humo18]

Those pies look great and just the way they should for an expertly crafted pizza.
I do not like the gritty feel of cornmeal, but having said that, my favorite pizza joint uses cornmeal and I still frequent that place often when I'm feeling lazy.

I almost always make a 16 hour poolish and the baked pizza dough comes out truly tasty.
I get good results using semolina rimacinata which is quite fine and helps to slide the pizza into the oven. I also use it as bench flour when I first take out the fermented dough balls from their container.

As far as I can tell those are great looking pies and I bet just like in NY, they are foldable without cracking and soft but not too limp that they hang down. Good job!

 

[jond36]

Ok. I had an interesting pizza afternoon. First off, if the toppings look odd, its because I was experimenting with cheeses (I did not have enough mozzarella) and cut of pepperoni. I prefer pepperoni cut smaller. It gets crisper and does not become a cup of grease.

Anyways, the pizza turned out very pale today with all things being even except one factor. Bread flour! I always use 00 flour, but today I tried bread flour. It goes without saying. Paying for 00 caputo flour provides a better end product for me. It didn't taste bad at all, just not attractive.

Yes, its pineapple. My young kids think its the best topping ever.

 

[clifish]

Thin sliced provolone. I usually do a combo of mozzarella, Muenster, fontina, pecorino, and provolone.

The first pizza only had mozzarella and provolone. I weigh things out by oz for cheese. 8 oz mozzarella and 2 oz provolone.

That is not a NY cheese mix...lol but I am sure it was great. I think you need to send me a few pies for an "authentic" taste test...lol

This was a deep dish pie from a local place about 2" thick. Yes that is pineapple on the left...I love it on a pie.

This was one I made with a wood fired pizza oven I have in PA. There were habaneros on it and the sauce had some of "Da Bomb" hot sauce/extract mixed in.

This was my brother that "used" to have an "asbestos" stomach for hot food after 1 bite......I ate 3 full slices but did pay for it the next day on the bowl with what I call the "ring of fire"..lol

 

[jond36]

Update

I made another pizza today and will be making another pizza tomorrow. Today was a ham and pineapple pizza. The ham was thin and deli sliced. This is the proper way to do it as opposed to some other methods I have tried previously. The ham crisps nicely when thin.

The dough was off. Not terrible but off. I substituted the water with 2% scalded milk. I do not recommend this as it firmed the dough to the point where the texture was fluffy but weird on the outside. Moreover, it was near impossible to stretch properly.

The cheese was pretty good. 8oz mozzarella, 1 oz muenster, and 1 oz provolone. The pizza was topped with fresh shaved pecorino.

The single cheese slice was for the little ones.

 

[jond36]

Who's right here? I need opinions.

I am trying to compare to a local pizzeria

My pizza is on the right. Their pizza is on the left. My pizza has a crispy bottom, but pale top crust. Their pizza is more browned on top, but not as crisp or dark on the bottom. Are we both wrong? Also they placed way too many toppings on in my opinion. It makes it hard to taste the actual pie, but I may be in the minority there.

 

[JLinza]

My honest opinion is, I think perhaps if you split the difference between the 2 you would be right in my wheelhouse. If you met in the middle of the bottom crust, that in my opinion would be perfect . He definitely had to much pineapple, but think you could add a couple. And a brush of olive oil could brown your top crust... if that's what you're after. Hope you don't mind a little constructive criticism. But that's my 2 cents . Either way I think it looks good.

 

[clifish]

Who's right here? I need opinions.

I am trying to compare to a local pizzeria

My pizza is on the right. Their pizza is on the left. My pizza has a crispy bottom, but pale top crust. Their pizza is more browned on top, but not as crisp or dark on the bottom. Are we both wrong? Also they placed way too many toppings on in my opinion. It makes it hard to taste the actual pie, but I may be in the minority there.

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Dude, I would chow that down in a NY minute!

 

[bmudd14474]

Looks like the pizza joint was firing their pizza around 500° which is why the toppings browned more than the crust.

They both look good. If I had to choose id go with the lighter bottom and caramelized toppings. But like was stated before me a happy medium between the 2 is winner winner chicken dinner.

Great job.

 

[millerbuilds]

Great looking pizza! Good luck on opening your own place, I love the name and theme ideas you have. I use corn meal lightly on the peel, when cooking directly on a stone, but not when using screens (I use a wood fired Ooni Oven). Mine never look that perfect!

- Jason