Do businesses with a WFO(mobile or not), do any other type of pizza besides Neo?

[Chaze215]

Is the only reason to have a WFO is to do Neo pizzas? I have not seen anyone that has a WFO do any other style...maybe Im wrong. I realize that the heat that a WFO produces is best for Neo style that home ovens cant touch. Would one consider a mobile WFO business that offered NY style or thin crust in under 1 minute? Just curious. Thanks in advance!

Chaz

[TXCraig1]

There is another kind of pizza besides Neo??? 

In all seriousness, you can make other kinds of pizza in a WFO, but can't really make Neo without a WFO. Seems to me that if you wanted to do NY style catering, a WFO would be your best bet - you don't have to rely on gas or electricity plus you have the option to do Neo if you want.

[TXCraig1]

Would one consider a mobile WFO business that offered NY style or thin crust in under 1 minute? Just curious. Thanks in advance!

Just because you have a WFO doesn't mean you have to run it at 900F and do 1 minute pies. You can run them much cooler. Chau (Jackie Tran) makes some awesome NY style pies in his WFO, and I thin they were 4ish minute pies, if I remember correctly.

[Chaze215]

Is it possible to do a NY pizza at 900 in a minute or so or would the WFO need to be in the 600 range for it to come out right?

[TXCraig1]

Is it possible to do a NY pizza at 900 in a minute or so or would the WFO need to be in the 600 range for it to come out right?

I guess it depends on how you define a NY pie. Under most definitions, I think the answer is no. It isn't going to be crispy on the bottom. With the wrong flour, it might get very dark.

This is what a plain pie made with Caputo looks like in 60 seconds.

[scott123]

No, it's not possible to do NY pizza at 900 in a minute.  A minute bake will always produce Neapolitan pizza.  A malted NY dough will just give you an extremely small window between being done and burnt, because of the extra sugar generated from the enzymes.  It will also be a bit puffier, and, if it's bromated flour, it can be too puffy. It will still be Neapolitan pizza, though.

NY pizza doesn't start to become NY style until at least 2.5 minutes, and even that will be a bit too leoparded for people with limited palettes.  It doesn't get universally crowd pleasing until 4.

[patnugent]

Aside from the type of the delicious pie produced, I think that part of the appeal to a 900+ degree WFO for a catering business is the 60-90 second pie.  If you're hitting markets/fairs, time is money.

[TXCraig1]

A minute bake will always produce Neapolitan pizza.  

No, it won't always produce a Neapolitan pizza. It could be a burned up or soggy mess of slop... You have to do a couple things right to get a NP pie.

[Chaze215]

Since I dont have a WFO to do any experiments, what would happen if one threw some non Neo dough into a 900 degree oven for a bake? I guess it would just burn on the outside and not fully cook thru, but would a thin crust come out ok?

[shuboyje]

New York style pizza in a wood fired oven works fine for home use, but in a commercial setting it is a recipe for frustration and inconsistency.  I was in a great little place in Sarasota Florida last week struggling with this issue just like many others.  If you want to do mobile new York a propane fired deck oven would be the way to go.

[scott123]

Since I dont have a WFO to do any experiments, what would happen if one threw some non Neo dough into a 900 degree oven for a bake? I guess it would just burn on the outside and not fully cook thru, but would a thin crust come out ok?

What kind of oven? Are you talking about a cleaning cycle on a home oven? What kind of stone?

In a typical home oven cleaning cycle hack with a typical cordierite stone, at 900, the bottom will be done while the top and middle of the pizza will still be raw.

[scott123]

New York style pizza in a wood fired oven works fine for home use, but in a commercial setting it is a recipe for frustration and inconsistency.  I was in a great little place in Sarasota Florida last week struggling with this issue just like many others.  If you want to do mobile new York a propane fired deck oven would be the way to go.

While I agree that a propane deck oven is the best bet for mobile NY, if someone knows what they're doing, NY style can be very consistent and successful in a WFO.  Vesta, in East Rutherford, NJ, is a perfect example of this- NY done beautifully in a Stefano Ferrara.

And, while Bianco doesn't do a pure NY pie, he's not doing a Neapolitan bake either, and he's doing pretty well for himself.

I think the biggest problem is that a lot of WFO places don't understand WFO thermodynamics. This is a problem with lack of knowledge, not the oven's fault.