Pizza Questions

[pipesmokingtom]

I'd be interesting to comparing your scaled-down recipe to my own to see what if any difference might be there.
I think I can guess where your experience comes from, and I don't recall their pizza being a spot-on match to a NY Pizza, but it IS certainly close.
My stand mixer at home vs. the food processor even with gram-for-gram the same recipe are remarkably different, with the food processor's final texture coming closer, in my opinion. I think a faster knead keeps the heat down and my stand mixer needs too much time on the hook to get the gluten formed without "over heating" the dough.
You portion before proofing? I two-step proof with the whole batch proofing before dividing and further cold-proofing.

 

[cynicismandsugar]

My stand mixer at home vs. the food processor even with gram-for-gram the same recipe are remarkably different, with the food processor's final texture coming closer, in my opinion. I think a faster knead keeps the heat down and my stand mixer needs too much time on the hook to get the gluten formed without "over heating" the dough.

Makes sense. I tried the food processor route (many) years ago, and didn't care for the result. Of course, things change, including technology. In the franchise kitchen, we used iced water in the base (spun for several minutes in the industrial mixer) before adding the flour (and other dry ingredients). I can't remember if in the scaled-down version I did a variation on this or not.
I really need to find my private recipe collection/notes; my oldest daughter stole it a while back. If I can locate it, I will share... but, at the rate my private things disappear around here, I make no promises.
I believe the portions were 4 oz (calzone size) 8 oz (medium-ish) and 12 oz (large-er).

 

[indianafrank]

pipesmokingtom

I can make a GREAT pizza at home - I do it all the time. But my problems in recreating NY Pizza persist.

First, As I mentioned earlier, being Italian, and only eating my own homemade pizza, as well as growing up with my grand mothers and my mother's pizza I'm biased. First, what is NY Pizza?
I've lived in NY State my entire life. Been eating homemade pizzas since the 1950's. Is NY pizza a copy of my families pizza?
As for how and what to do to recreate another's pizza. It can't be done. I've been trying to recreate my mothers sauce and can't do it. I use the same ingredients, and I cook the sauce and the meats the same way. My pizza people LOVE, but it's not my mothers. I can't copy her pizza either.
The dough questions are interesting. What's right? What's wrong? Here's what I do. Just like my mother and grand mother did.
I don't use a blender, food processor, etc. The consistency of the dough is all in the feel. It really is. I need to feel the dough as I knead it. As I knead it, I can tell what more is needed. I can make my dough blind folded.
Also, I still use the same wooden board my mother used to make dough. It's more than 100 years old. Well preserved with all of the wonderful years of loving care.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

First, what is NY Pizza?
I've lived in NY State my entire life. Been eating homemade pizzas since the 1950's. Is NY pizza a copy of my families pizza?

By NY Pizza, I of course mean the style of pizza that developed in pizzerias in the NYC area from the early 1900's onward. The style you buy by the slice, which are served on paper plates and can be eaten as you walk down the street.
I doubt NY Pizza is a copy of your family's pizza, but I wonder how similar they may be. NY Pizza is fairly close to the original Italian incarnation in some ways, but if your pizza is a homemade, hand-kneaded style, they're probably fairly different.

 

[prairiedruid]

Hmmm pizza left on the counter leads to a very happy lab and pitbulls; if I want pizza to survive until morning it goes in the oven.
P.S. The gas my dogs get from pizza will remove wallpaper!

 

[balkisobrains]

I'm sure plenty of areas have water close enough to NYC water. If you're trying to work with purified water or well water, then things might be different. Places around here on individual wells or to a lesser degree the municipalities who have well-distribution built into the municipal water supply have hard water with high PH and it stinks like sulphur.

 

[jkrug]

Leave it in the box on the counter and eat it at room temp right out of the box the next day.

If it last more than the second day which is rare it will then go into the fridge in a container of some sort.

Whether fresh and hot or cold the next day I like to douse it liberally with Sriracha hot sauce.
Will have to try reheating it in a cast iron skillet next time as that does sound like a good idea to me. ::

 

[cynicismandsugar]

You portion before proofing? I two-step proof with the whole batch proofing before dividing and further cold-proofing.

Sorry, I misread this earlier.
Yes, I roll tight dough balls (measured to final weight) cover, and leave to cold proof in the fridge. It was done this way when I worked prep, so I adopted it.
It differs from other traditional bread recipes in the lack of two proofing phases, or a proofing and punching down phase.
Sorry again if this doesn't make much sense, it's getting late here.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

I make lots of bread, so that all makes sense to me.
My dough method differs in that when I do pizzas, I'm making multiple "loaves", so I proof the whole batch, then divide, then cold proof the individual portions. I've tried to cold proof right from the mixer, and it hasn't worked for me in small batches. I'm not opposed to trying that again, since I haven't since I moved to the food processor.

 

[didimauw]

Pizza is like sex. When it's good, it's really damn good, but when it's bad... it's still pretty good.

Pizza's much better.
Yeah but I'm married, so pizza is at least a guarantee once and a while

 

[cynicismandsugar]

Yeah but I'm married, so pizza is at least a guarantee once and a while

:rofl:
Have you tried "ordering out?"

 

[jpmcwjr]

What is NY Style pizza??
From Wiki:

New York–style pizza is a style of pizza characterized by large hand-tossed thin-crust pies, often sold in wide slices to go. It has a crust which is crisp along its edge yet soft and pliable enough beneath its toppings to be folded in half to eat.

Kinda like Rome style, but much, much larger. I've had slices in NYC that were almost as large as a single Rome style pie.

 

[jazz]

If any gets left it goes in the fridge and gets reheated in the oven. Using a microwave results in a sweaty and sloppy mess.
The truth is though that it makes no difference if I eat it all fresh or it goes in the fridge and is reheated, take away pizza from the big 3 always upsets my stomach. I spend enough time on the throne in the middle of the night or the following day to read a novel.
It also seems to be very little to do with pizza as far as I can tell. The domino's in my area does not have anchovies as an option but has chicken tikka and other absurdities.
These factors and the insulting cost of this dysentery on toast means that take away pizza almost never makes into my house. The only pizza that does make it through my door is pizza from the Italian restaurant near me which is much more like I would expect pizza to be and cheaper than the big 3 pretenders. Or, pizza I would make myself.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Chicken tikka pizza?! Is nothing sacred?!

 

[oldreddog]

There's an Irish breakfast pizza round my way.

I just make me own.
By the way fruit has no place on pizza.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Tomato is a fruit 8)

 

[indianafrank]

pipesmokingtom, I was kidding about NY pizza copying my families recipe. :D

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'm not fond of vegetables on a pizza, excepting some artichoke heart and pineapple in small amounts.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

pipesmokingtom, I was kidding about NY pizza copying my families recipe.

Ha. I know. It may not be far off!

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'd suspect NYC air before the water! Air contains all those good and bad microbes (as can water, though municipal water is generally treated).