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[dan f.]

I was at a couple of unremarkable pizza places in New York (i.e. slice joints, not Neapolitan brick or coal oven pizza boutiques) and was impressed by how incredibly light the crusts were. Thanks in large measure to this website, I've become a journeyman home pizzamaker whose productions are not lead weights by a long stretch, but certainly don't have the feather-like weight of these commercial crusts.

I'm wondering how they do it and whether there are any techniques worth incorporating into my own repertoire. Any insights or analysis would be most welcome.

A photo of my latest production (VWG added to Gold Medal bread flour, mostly Trader Joe mozz on top, finished off with a minute under the broiler):

[Pete-zza]

dan f,

I am not sure which NY pizza joints you have in mind, but I suspect the characteristics you described are achieved through the use of a shallow deck oven with high thermal capacity and heat retention coupled with a dough that perhaps has little or no oil or sugar. The crust may also be quite thin and the flour may be bromated. The hydration of the dough is likely to be below 60%, so a high hydration is not a specific requirement to achieve the lightness you described. The oven temperatures need not be excessive and the bake times don't have to be super short.

Peter