“Skater’s Party” with Steve’s Lehmann dough pizzas in his BBQ grill mod

[Don K]

I think I found another picture of you Craig...

[TXCraig1]

Nothing to do with hunting laws, but aren't you supposed to eat squirrels an rabbits only when the were killed in certain months of the year? Thought I heard that once...

Supposedly only in months with an "r" for rabbits. I can't say I often eat them in months that don't have an "r". About the only time I hunt rabbits is before a goose hunt or sometimes when we are deer hunting. I don't eat a lot of squirrels any more. Occasionally when deer hunting.  

[Chicago Bob]

Looook into my eyes....

[TXCraig1]

I think I found another picture of you Craig...

How did I know that was coming?

"I want you to kill every gopher on the course! ... Check me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key...Gophers, ya great git! The gophers! The little brown furry rodents! ... We can do that; we don't even have to have a reason."

[TXCraig1]

Sorry Norma. I don't think this thread is ever going to return to the original topic...

[scott123]

Sorry Norma. I don't think this thread is ever going to return to the original topic...

I'll take a shot. I've been incubating some ideas about Steve's event for a couple days and am ready to share them with Norma.

The pizzas Steve made reminded me of Neapolitan pies in that they were super tender, but they had a crispness on the bottom that I had never tasted before.  They were half way between Neapolitan and NY style pizzas in my opinion. 
...

His modification of a BBQ grill he found sure works great and makes the best Lehmann dough pizzas I have ever eaten.

Norma, with the exception of the thickness factor, these pizzas are both incredibly close to what I make, as well as close to what many NY area pizzerias made when I was growing up and when the ovens were more powerful.  3 minutes is right on the outskirts, but I'm telling you, these are solid NY style pizzas, not hybrids- in any way. This might be a hybrid within the spectrum that NY pizza falls into now, but it is in no way a hybrid from a historical perspective, and, as I told Kenji the other day, NY style is a sum of both it's history and it's present (and also defined by it's best examples, not it's most mediocre).

I kind of jumped the gun when you first posted about enjoying Best, and I thought the Best experience would propel you into an obsession for shorter NY bake times, but, although Best has a respectable bake time, it drops the ball in other areas, and ended up being nothing to emulate- especially after our recent visit where I felt that the quality had dropped.  The fact that you're describing these as the 'best Lehmann dough pizzas' you've ever eaten proves to me that you might be nearing a point of understanding what 3 (and 4) minutes can do for a pizza.

Let me ask you this.  I know you describe yourself as being a bigger Neapolitan fan than NY style, but, if you had this pizza next to, say, a Keste pie, and you could only eat one slice, which would you go for?

[norma427]

Sorry Norma. I don't think this thread is ever going to return to the original topic...

Craig,

As I posted before, I don't mind if a thread I started goes off-topic.  It is all good with me.   

Norma

[norma427]

I'll take a shot. I've been incubating some ideas about Steve's event for a couple days and am ready to share them with Norma.

Norma, with the exception of the thickness factor, these pizzas are both incredibly close to what I make, as well as close to what many NY area pizzerias made when I was growing up and when the ovens were more powerful.  3 minutes is right on the outskirts, but I'm telling you, these are solid NY style pizzas, not hybrids- in any way. This might be a hybrid within the spectrum that NY pizza falls into now, but it is in no way a hybrid from a historical perspective, and, as I told Kenji the other day, NY style is a sum of both it's history and it's present (and also defined by it's best examples, not it's most mediocre).

I kind of jumped the gun when you first posted about enjoying Best, and I thought the Best experience would propel you into an obsession for shorter NY bake times, but, although Best has a respectable bake time, it drops the ball in other areas, and ended up being nothing to emulate- especially after our recent visit where I felt that the quality had dropped.  The fact that you're describing these as the 'best Lehmann dough pizzas' you've ever eaten proves to me that you might be nearing a point of understanding what 3 (and 4) minutes can do for a pizza.

Let me ask you this.  I know you describe yourself as being a bigger Neapolitan fan than NY style, but, if you had this pizza next to, say, a Keste pie, and you could only eat one slice, which would you go for?

Scott,

It is good to hear that, with the exception of the thickness factor, those pizzas Steve made in his BBQ mod are close to the NY pizzerias pizzas that you ate when you were growing up.  

I would also like to try a shorter bake time in my deck oven, (like Steve’s mod) but don’t see that it is possible with the type of deck oven I have now.  I am a very small pizza business so I don’t want to spend a lot of money to try and change my deck oven.  I think you know that when I tried to bake the preferment Lehmann dough at a higher temperatures in my deck oven the bottom crusts got burnt.  I think Best Pizza also has a shorter bake time, although I didn’t time the bakes.  I didn’t even taste the pizza at Best Pizza the last time we visited, because I had already tasted it before, so I am no judge of how it tasted when you, the others and I visited.  I thought Steve's pizzas were better than any NY style pizza I have ever eaten, even in NY.  

I have tasted Steve’s pies he makes in his home oven and also really enjoyed them, but the one in his BBQ grill mod are better, at least in my opinion.  I think I do understand what a shorter bake time is now.  The KASL flour did also make a great pizza.  

I would like to ask you a question about how you get your home oven to bake a pizza in 3 minutes.  What kind of set-up do you have that gets such a short bake time?  How did older ovens in NY get to higher temperatures and why did they stop using them?  Did NY pizzerias start using different methods of preparing the dough and use other shortcuts?  

I am now divided between being a Neapolitan fan and a NY style fan.  I really don’t think I could reply right now on what style I like best.  I also talked to Steve’s wife about the same thing, since she has also tasted all of Steve’s pie many times baked in all of his pizza ovens.  She said although she really loves the Neapolitan pies in their WFO, she thinks she likes the NY style pizzas made in his BBQ mod better.  I am right on the edge of not knowing what I really like.  Steve had a few leftover dough balls from his bakes in his mod and was going to try them in his WFO at a temperature around 650 degrees F on Saturday.  He also had thought about trying one dough ball at higher temperatures in his mod on Saturday, but time ran out and we were all full before he got to try those experiments.

Norma  

[pizzaneer]

I would like to ask you a question about how you get your home oven to bake a pizza in 3 minutes.  What kind of set-up do you have that gets such a short bake time?  How did older ovens in NY get to higher temperatures and why did they stop using them?  Did NY pizzerias start using different methods of preparing the dough and use other shortcuts? 
Norma   

Seconding the request, Scott.

[chickenparm]

Awesome Pizzas! Love the Post-Apocalyptic looking grill!
 

Kill the Rodents!
 

[Trinity]

Being 45 I don't skate anymore. But I still ride my PK Ripper a few times a month.

Pizza at at the park!!! YOU ROCK NORMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very cool of you to do that!

[norma427]

Being 45 I don't skate anymore. But I still ride my PK Ripper a few times a month.

Pizza at at the park!!! YOU ROCK NORMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very cool of you to do that!

Trinity,

It was pizza at church, and the skaters stuff and baseball, to outreach to teens that don't go to church all the time and also to teens that do go to Steve's church.  I only went alone to help and watch.  It is cool that Steve's does do this different times during the year.  

If I would ever do anything like what Steve did at my church I would never be able to keep up.  There are too many teens in my church for something like Steve did.  Steve is on the lookout for a BBQ grill lke his for me.  

Norma