Bill,
Some time ago, I conducted Google searches to see if I could identify the typical or most common sizes of NY style pizzas. I did this mainly through searches of menus of NYC pizza operators located in NYC. I intentionally excluded places outside of NYC. Since you have had so much experience eating NY style pizzas, can you tell me the most common sizes used for such pizzas? Also, is there a particular size pizza that is used for slices? And are there size differences between the street NY style and the elite NY style?
Peter
Peter,
The best knowledge I have from NY slices,most of them were about 18 inch pies.It depended on where you went.A lot of NY street places,will make a bunch of different topped pizzas and put them on display,so you can choose which ones you wanted a slice from,to reheat again.My favorite places had 18 inch pies ready to reheat as slices.Some had 16 inches,but most of the time it was 18 inches around.
I cannot recall anyone having it smaller than 16 for slice sales for street slices.
As far as the thickness goes,I have no idea what is the ballpark right now.I'm kicking myself because today,I went to Harbor Freight tool store,to check out some sales.I was planning on getting a hand held digital caliper,to take thickness sizes for my favorite pizzas I make at home,that are the clones of my favorite NY places.
While I was there at HF stores,it was so crowded,because of a sale going,I forgot to look for it and I ended up leaving without buying anything else.
Even if I use a Lehmann's formula of a thickness factor of .10 or something,I honestly do not know if I'm thicker or thinner when stretching the dough.I'm still hit and miss at times.
Gschwim took some nice pics of a NY style slice.Those looks about typical right there.We need to keep in mind though,not all places are the same or consistent every time.It sometimes depend on the person making the pies for that work shift.There are sometimes a few workers that make them a little smaller,dont stretch them out as large,affecting how thick the slices are going to be.
As far as more elite NY style pies go,The few I can recall,were always a bit thicker than the NY street style pies.
Of course they did not always advertise themselves as Neo or elite or anything other than their store name,"Blank-Pizza".I actually never heard of the term until I joined the PM forum.
There was a place I really liked,They DID made/advertised their pizzas as Neapolitan style pies.The pies were smaller and a little thicker than the NY street slices you can get anywhere.Their largest was 15 inches or less.I cannot recall,but it was not as big.Slices were thicker but still fantastic.
