Author Topic: Tommy's Pizza (Columbus OH) - Any recipe ideas (Read 27038 times)

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #120 on:** August 14, 2012, 05:28:11 PM »

Here are some pics of a pizza I made on August 2, 2011. As far as I know, I don't really have any notes about this pizza. (If I did, they'd be on this thread.) Just this one post, which doesn't really say much: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12446.msg148640.html#msg148640. (Keep in mind that the post I've linked to here is essentially useless and basically wrong.)

One thing I can tell from these pics is that this was a very young dough. However, it's difficult to call it a young dough because I know approximately half of the dough consisted of scraps from the previous batch. So I guess I'm saying I made this pizza very soon after mixing the final dough. Interestingly, the two pics of the crust remind me of my memory of Tommy's from 25 or 30 years ago, but this crust looks nothing like Tommy's of today.

I'm wondering if anyone else has the same memories of Tommy's.

The other pics mainly just show the lamination. I really like the looks of this pizza. Wish I had left a better record of how I made it.

chrisgraff · « **Reply #121 on:** August 19, 2012, 06:04:43 PM »

Pretty spot on to the original!

...and nothing like what they make today.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #122 on:** August 20, 2012, 02:45:51 PM »

Thanks, Chris. I kinda feel the same, although those pics certainly don't look like what you'd get if you went there today.

Between the third and fourth pics, I assume you're talking about the fourth one. Correct?

Don K · « **Reply #123 on:** August 20, 2012, 04:21:20 PM »

I think that I only went to Tommy's a couple of times in the '80's and I don't really remember that much about it. Both times were after a night of bar hopping on campus so it's not surprising that I don't remember. From what I have heard from people that I am still in contact with in Columbus is that today's Tommy's is not nearly as good as it used to be.

A old friend of mine (who coincidentally is named Tommy) used to work at Tommy's and lived right around the corner from it. I just sent him an email and asked him to look at this thread and maybe comment.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #124 on:** August 20, 2012, 04:39:25 PM »

Cool. Thanks. Sometimes it can be really frustrating trying to clone a pizza that most people have never had. I hope your friend Tommy can offer a little insight.

chrisgraff · « **Reply #125 on:** August 21, 2012, 12:05:32 PM »

Quote from: AimlessRyan on August 20, 2012, 02:45:51 PM

Thanks, Chris. I kinda feel the same, although those pics certainly don't look like what you'd get if you went there today.

Between the third and fourth pics, I assume you're talking about the fourth one. Correct?

Exactly.

By the way, did you ever have Rubino's (Bexley) back in the day?

Last "Central Ohio pizza" I had (excluding Donatos) was Iaconos on Sawmill Rd. Really good. No longer in business, unfortunately.
[edit: I hadn't read your the recent posts re: Iaconos. Let us know when you try it!]

Although the best recent example of that style was a place on the backside of Golden Bear shopping center on Riverside. Only had it once (2003 or so)....also don't remember the name; but it was GREAT!

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #126 on:** August 21, 2012, 01:03:05 PM »

Cool. Glad to get a confirmation. Even though I'm not actively trying to clone Tommy's right now, I think my current unleavened project may be teaching me a lot of new tricks that may be used in Tommy's dough management (such as a ton of yeast and same-day dough).

Quote from: chrisgraff on August 21, 2012, 12:05:32 PM

By the way, did you ever have Rubino's (Bexley) back in the day?

Huh uh. I think someone mentioned it in a Donatos thread about a year ago, though (may have been you?), but that's probably the only time I've heard of it before now. I've always been a stranger to the east side. I might have to try it soon or suggest it for one of Weemis's monthly pizza outings.

weemis · « **Reply #127 on:** August 21, 2012, 02:11:54 PM »

Quote from: AimlessRyan on August 21, 2012, 01:03:05 PM

I might have to try it soon or suggest it for one of Weemis's monthly pizza outings.

already went there. i'm not the biggest fan of thin crust pizza, but it wasn't bad. we pretended it was our friend's birthday because someone had a melting ice cream cake. it was a hoot! friendly folk, too!

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #128 on:** August 24, 2012, 11:22:53 AM »

I'm gonna be making a Tommy's clone today, but I'm doing a bunch of things differently than normal. For starters, I'll be using a same-day dough, bulk-fermented for several hours at room temperature, rather than using my usual 2-day or 3-day refrigerated dough. Also, I won't be using any scrap dough. I bumped the ADY way up, from 0.6% to 2%. Salt went from 0.5% t0 1%. And I'm gonna be shooting for TF=0.13 oz of dough per square inch (12.35 oz of dough for an 11" pizza).

Here's today's formula:

100% KAAP flour
51 % Water
2% ADY
1% Salt

I mixed for about 3-1/2 minutes in a KitchenAid Professional 5 mixer with a spiral dough hook. Took a picture right after mixing (at about 10:30). I'm currently letting the dough bulk ferment.

My decision to use a ton of yeast and make it a same-day dough was inspired by some dialog and experimenting over on my unleavened pizza thread. This pizza probably belongs on that thread more than it belongs here, but I have my hopes up that it will belong in both threads.

Here's a pic of the dough right after mixing.

Don K · « **Reply #129 on:** August 24, 2012, 11:37:24 AM »

Unfortunately, the e-mail to my friend Tommy bounced. I haven't communicated with him for a few years. I am going to ask a mutual friend if he knows how to contact him.

Is 51% hydration what you have used in the past?

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #130 on:** August 24, 2012, 12:32:45 PM »

Quote from: Colonel_Klink on August 24, 2012, 11:37:24 AM

Unfortunately, the e-mail to my friend Tommy bounced. I haven't communicated with him for a few years. I am going to ask a mutual friend if he knows how to contact him.

Is 51% hydration what you have used in the past?

Well, that sucks (at least for now). Have you searched Facebook?

I arrived at around 51% hydration a while back, after gradually working my way up from the upper or mid 30s. That increase was concurrent with (and directly related to) gradually decreasing the oil percentage from maybe 15% to zilch. It's been a while, but I think I've probably settled into the lower 50s for hydration, and I don't anticipate using any oil. An important thing to remember, though, is that I might do a 180 at any time.

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #131 on:** August 24, 2012, 02:42:06 PM »

Quote from: AimlessRyan on August 24, 2012, 11:22:53 AM

I'm gonna be making a Tommy's clone today, but I'm doing a bunch of things differently than normal. For starters, I'll be using a same-day dough, bulk-fermented for several hours at room temperature, rather than using my usual 2-day or 3-day refrigerated dough. Also, I won't be using any scrap dough. I bumped the ADY way up, from 0.6% to 2%. Salt went from 0.5% t0 1%. And I'm gonna be shooting for TF=0.13 oz of dough per square inch (12.35 oz of dough for an 11" pizza).

Here's today's formula:

100% KAAP flour
51 % Water
2% ADY
1% Salt

I mixed for about 3-1/2 minutes in a KitchenAid Professional 5 mixer with a spiral dough hook. Took a picture right after mixing (at about 10:30). I'm currently letting the dough bulk ferment.

My decision to use a ton of yeast and make it a same-day dough was inspired by some dialog and experimenting over on my unleavened pizza thread. This pizza probably belongs on that thread more than it belongs here, but I have my hopes up that it will belong in both threads.

Here's a pic of the dough right after mixing.

Now you're talk'in....this is the one I've been waiting for.

Are you going to laminate this Ryan? Is that your reason for no oil?

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #132 on:** August 24, 2012, 03:00:44 PM »

A few notes for myself, so I don't forget:

The dough finished mixing at about 10:30 this morning, and I immediately put it in a bowl for a four-hour bulk ferment. At 2:30 I removed the dough from the bowl and divided it into two pieces before rolling the dough (details and pics in a later post). I finished rolling and trimming the dough by 2:45. I then gave the pan a very light coating of non-stick spray before placing the skin on the pan and refrigerating immediately. The dough skin ended up weighing about 11.75 oz (TF=0.124 oz of dough per square inch), although I was shooting for 12.35 oz (TF=0.13).

I'm gonna sauce and cheese the skin as soon as I post this. (Or maybe not; I haven't decided yet.) Then I'm gonna leave the dough in the fridge for an hour or two before I use it.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #133 on:** August 24, 2012, 03:07:18 PM »

Quote from: Chicago Bob on August 24, 2012, 02:42:06 PM

Are you going to laminate this Ryan?

Done. Laminated. Two layers of nine laminates, with a little bit of bench flour in between each layer and laminate.

Quote from: Chicago Bob on August 24, 2012, 02:42:06 PM

Is that your reason for no oil?

I use no oil because back when I was using oil it just didn't seem like Tommy's. So I gradually decreased the oil from one batch to the next until I wasn't using any oil. It's been a while since I've made this stuff, but as far as I can remember, I've never had any reason to look back since omitting the oil.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #134 on:** August 24, 2012, 05:13:48 PM »

Pic 1: 43 minutes after mixing the dough.
Pic 2: 2 hours and 30 minutes after mixing.
Pic 3: 4 hours after mixing. Time to roll.
Pic 4: An 11" pan I've never used before today.
Pic 5: An 11" pan I'd still never used, but now somewhat seasoned.

Many more pics on the way.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #135 on:** August 24, 2012, 05:20:13 PM »

Pic 1: The dough batch divided into two 9.5 oz pieces of dough.
Pic 2: Smashed down into squares to get started with the rolling.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #136 on:** August 24, 2012, 05:27:20 PM »

Pic 1: Dough ball rolled out to about 12" x 12".
Pic 2: Lightly floured, then the lamination process begins.
Pic 3: And continues.
Pic 4: And continues.
Pic 5: And continues.
Pic 6: And then I roll the laminated dough just a little bit before I do the same process with the second piece of dough.

Throughout this process, I put a little bench flour on each exposed plane of the dough before folding. However, I should have used more bench flour with this dough.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #137 on:** August 24, 2012, 05:36:35 PM »

Pic 1: Two pieces of laminated dough. I call each of these pieces of dough a layer.
Pic 2: One layer on top of another layer. Time to roll them together and create the dough skin.
Pic 3: Once the skin is a little larger than my pan, I use the pan as a template to cut out a circle of dough.

After I cut out the circle of dough, I weigh it. This circle weighed 14 oz, so I rolled it a little bigger and used the pan as a template to trim a little more excess dough. After the second trim, the skin weighed 11.75 oz.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #138 on:** August 24, 2012, 05:47:40 PM »

After rolling and trimming the dough, I put the skin on the pan and left the dough in the fridge for about an hour and a half. Contrary to what I speculated in an earlier post, I did not put any sauce on the skin until after I removed the skin from the fridge, just before baking.

I let the oven heat up (on broil) for at least 45 minutes, with the stone about an inch below the heat. Shortly before baking, I moved the stone to the bottom rack and moved the top rack down to the second highest setting. I placed a sheet of aluminum foil on the top rack to buffer the top heat.

After the skin had been in the fridge for about an hour and a half, I removed the skin and topped it with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.

Pic 1: I don't know how much sauce I used. I guess I used about as much as you can see. It was Cento crushed tomatoes with some dried basil and just a pinch of dried oregano.

Pic 2: About 6.3 oz of mozzarella. (Tommy's uses provolone, but right now I have mozzarella, so I used mozzarella.)

Pic 3: 1.5 oz of Bridgford pepperoni (stick) because that's all I had available. I also sprinkled some parmesan or romano on top.

EDIT: I added the first few paragraphs of text because it belongs here instead of in the next reply.

AimlessRyan · « **Reply #139 on:** August 24, 2012, 06:30:13 PM »

I baked the pizza on the pan (on the stone) at 500 for 12 minutes. The top was mostly done after 12 minutes, but the bottom of the crust was not done, so I pulled the pan and let the pizza finish directly on the stone for another two minutes.

Um, this pizza didn't even kinda resemble a Tommy's pizza. It was way too thick and too bready. Surprisingly, it ended up a lot like Donatos thick crust (if they even still offer that crust). Not a big deal, though, because it was pretty good and I learned from it.

Lesson #1: 2% yeast is probably pretty ridiculous (way too much). It might work for other kinds of pizzas, but I don't think it can work for this kind of pizza because it makes all the layers and laminates disappear if you refrigerate the skin for as little as an hour and a half. There were no layers or laminates on this pizza.

Lesson #2: As I've suspected for a long time already, I think it's probably impossible to make a Tommy's pizza out of same-day dough.

So since I'm not going to use today's NY dough until Sunday, I'll probably make another one of these tomorrow. But instead of making the dough tomorrow, I'll probably make the dough tonight, with maybe 1% ADY and today's scraps added to it. I plan to refrigerate the dough all night.

I don't think I need to explain the pictures.

Sorry, Bob. No lamination today.