Bill/SFNM,
Pete-zza is right about the Biazzo and all of his other points as well. For a complete understanding of my position on Biazzo, the next couple of paragraphs are a cut and paste of my position regarding Biazzo from another post I made in the Pizza Raquel thread:
"I happen to think Biazzo Fresh mutz is a good value and a solid choice for elite NY style (Patsy's, Grimaldi's Lombardi's, etc.) home pie making. I prefer it to more expensive yellowish whole milk mutz such as Grande which may be better for NY street style pizza (think greasy, gooey, run-down-your-arm type pies). It is clearly not the finest example of fresh mutz, but I would rank it as a top tier cryo packed fresh mutz which is generally available to home pizza makers.
With a little tinkering here and there, such as freezing it ever so slightly before placing on a skin (to lessen the chance of burning), it is more than manageable. From a cost perspective it is hard to beat at roughly $2.25lb through Sam's Club. I have noticed that it doesn't perform quite as well when sliced in thin strips for some reason. The best performance I have been able to coax out of it has been when I rip small chunks off the ball and place it randomly on the skin. That way the stringy strength of the cheese remains intact and it seems to melt in place with a blotch without burning as easily."
From the comments above, you can see that I have my reservations of using it right out of the package. But with a few adjustments, it seems to be serviceable. I will add that I've also been favorably impressed by lightly dressing the cheese with EVOO and Sicilian sea salt after grilling. It brings out the flavor and that is what this hobby is all about. With your outdoor oven I'm sure you have a heat perspective that the rest of us mere mortals don't have to contend with. Just out of curiosity, did you slice it or chunk it on your pies? I have found chunking to be a winner.
My overarching goal with Pizza Raquel is to make the very best traditional NY Style pizza I am capable of with the ingredients available in the home. A NY style pizzeria pie only with high quality ingredients. Raquel represents the absolute best tasting NY style pie I can make without an outdoor oven like yours. Baking Raquel in a true Neapolitan oven would be the last major identified step in my evolution as an artisan home pizza maker. It would be the culmination of maxing out every facet of traditional NY style pizza - only in the home.
With Pizza Sophia, I feel that I am trying to create a new category of home spun pizza. It seems to me that there is a sizeable gap between NY styles and Neapolitan styles. NY styles tend to use high gluten flour and Neapolitan styles tend to use 00 flour as you well know. My efforts with Sophia are centered around trying to take the best of NY and combine it with the best of Italy. A true NYapolitan style, if you will.
To my knowledge, it has not been well documented in the past, if at all. Every elite pizzeria that uses 00 flour tries to make their version of an authentic Neapolitan pie. I want to make an authentic NY style pie only with 00 flour. My motivation for all this? Well, as much as I profess my love for Raquel, Sophia simply tastes better. Bill/SFNM, I believe pizza is mostly about the crust (like you do) and the crust flavor on Sophia is flat out superior to Raquel. What I didn't realize and feel like kicking myself over, is how much more important sauce is than cheese. I have spent way too much time trying to find a great fresh mutz when the impact is negligible compared to dialing in the sauce. If pizza taste is 70% crust then the balance is 20% sauce (with proper spices) and only 10% cheese.
So there you have it. My take on what drives me in this hobby. One last point - my other hobby is golf so I must be in real trouble...
