Matt's NY Pizza, by HammettJr

[jkb]

I've never used or seen those tomatoes, but I'd think that it's be hard to use a strainer for tomatoes with skin. I'd probably use a food processor.

I don't like to incorporate air.  I prefer a submerged stick blender or a food mill.

[hammettjr]

Mutti are a massive Italian brand, I'm a little suprised you don't see them more widely over there. They're in all the major and independant supermarket chains here. They've become my goto brand lately. They do San Marzanos plus several other varieties. I've used their Polpa, fine chopped a few times lately in combination with their Passata. I'm on the fence about sauces lately after so many years and so many permutations. But have only just seen FeelingFoodish's sauce, I'm very tempted to give that a try next. Alternatively I may go right back to Mutti San Marzano's through the food mill.

Yeah, Mutti isn't very widely available here. I did have the whole peeled Mutti at a friend's house once before (but not the skin on cherry tomato that Pete mentioned). I've considered trying them as a replacement for Alta Cucina because Mutti comes in small cans that I can open fresh instead of freezing the number 10 cans of Alta. But I've been happy with the frozen Alta so never bothered.

[OrlandoPete]

I haven't. But I also think an issue you may have is straining the big chunks. That's more of a food processor or mill thing. The strainer was good to remove seeds and bits of skin from a crushed tomato product.

Got it, thanks for the tips!

[nickyr]

Interesting question because the specific style that I'm inspired by (what I'll call "Queens Style"), uses a screen, therefore there are no launch concerns. But, I think my pizza could be launched fine.

Yeah I've launched it it's fine! You do need to be careful you don't slosh any sauce onto the peel though or stuff will start to stick bad. Matt uses a lot of sauce so it is easy to slosh it.

[hammettjr]

Yeah I've launched it it's fine! You do need to be careful you don't slosh any sauce onto the peel though or stuff will start to stick bad. Matt uses a lot of sauce so it is easy to slosh it.

Put enough cheese on top and the sauce can't slosh 

I've actually reduced my sauce and cheese amount recently, though I'm still on the heavier end of the spectrum. For a 14" pie I'm currently using:
- Sauce: one spoon less than 3/4 cup (down from 3/4 cup + 2 spoons)
- Mozz: 8.5 oz (down from 9 oz)

[amolapizza]

FWIW, I'm very impressed by the simple Mutti pomodori pelati.  I used to use their San Marzano a few years ago, but once when the year changed on the cans, all of a sudden it was expensive and aweful.  I tried various brands, but zeroed in on the Mutti pelati, IMO a very good product.

[foreplease]

FWIW, I'm very impressed by the simple Mutti pomodori pelati.  I used to use their San Marzano a few years ago, but once when the year changed on the cans, all of a sudden it was expensive and aweful.  I tried various brands, but zeroed in on the Mutti pelati, IMO a very good product.

Agree re Mutti pomodori pelati. This was recently and briefly discussed here too: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=75276.0[

[OzPizza]

Yeah, Mutti isn't very widely available here. I did have the whole peeled Mutti at a friend's house once before (but not the skin on cherry tomato that Pete mentioned). I've considered trying them as a replacement for Alta Cucina because Mutti comes in small cans that I can open fresh instead of freezing the number 10 cans of Alta. But I've been happy with the frozen Alta so never bothered.

Yeah that's one case that's a head scratcher for me, kind of akin to if Barilla Pasta wasn't widely available either and actually Mutti writes more global revenue than Barilla Pasta. Anyway, they seem to have somewhat similar product offerings and  the same version of product consistency as an Italian product to what the Stanislaus US products do. Yeah, Mutti do offer the small standard consumer 15oz equivalent for most of their products as opposed to be more commercial size orientated like Stanislaus. Yeah I can't see using the Mutti Cherry Tomatoes either personally, but their San Marzano's have been pretty good for me. But mind you if I had the authenticity of Alta Cucina on hand, I wouldn't be too worried about seeking out Mutti tomatoes either frankly . At our end I'd be worried if I didn't have a good option like Mutti here as it's pretty expensive importing Stanislaus Products (trust me I did several years ago).

[RHawthorne]

Agree re Mutti pomodori pelati. This was recently and briefly discussed here too: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=75276.0[

Those have been my favorite for quite some time. They sell them at the World Market store in my town. I wish I could get them elsewhere because I rarely have occasion to go there for any other reason.

[hammettjr]

Finally got a picture of my bubbles mid-bake. I popped them with a knife. Ok pie, seemed like too much cheese, not sure if it's bc I'm using a bit less dough and sauce. Will try going lower cheese next time.

[OrlandoPete]

Hey Matt, have you found that higher hydration affects the melt at all? I noticed you use lower than 60% hydration, which isn't very common amongst the NY style formulations I've seen. Just curious why the lower hydration. I don't think I've tried anything lower than 62% yet.

[hammettjr]

Hey Matt, have you found that higher hydration affects the melt at all? I noticed you use lower than 60% hydration, which isn't very common amongst the NY style formulations I've seen. Just curious why the lower hydration. I don't think I've tried anything lower than 62% yet.

Hi Pete, I've actually been using 60% for a while, but was a bit lower. And many believe that typical slice shops are somewhere in the 50s.

I've never really thought about a connection between hydration and melt (that I remember), though I suspect hydration would be really low on the list of impacts.

[hammettjr]

First 18" pie in a while. Was pretty good, experimenting with less dough (631 grams) and less on top (sauce 1 cup + 1 spoon, cheese 12 oz). For some reason it was in the direction of doughy, just didn't bake as well as my recent smaller pies. Would like a touch more sauce next time too.

[9slicePie]

First 18" pie in a while. Was pretty good, experimenting with less dough (631 grams) and less on top (sauce 1 cup + 1 spoon, cheese 12 oz). For some reason it was in the direction of doughy, just didn't bake as well as my recent smaller pies. Would like a touch more sauce next time too.

I'm curious: why were you going for a smaller pie prior to going back to 18"?


EDIT: the pie/slices above are amazing!

[hammettjr]

I'm curious: why were you going for a smaller pie prior to going back to 18"?

My old oven maxed out at 16", and I got used to making 14". Real reason is 18" is alot of pizza.

[hammettjr]

So this dough fermented more than my recent doughs and the bubble problem went away. It seems I was in some middle no man's land of fermentation. Nice pie, only challenge was that my parm is very old and almost tasteless. Happy 4th!

[foreplease]

My old oven maxed out at 16", and I got used to making 14". Real reason is 18" is alot of pizza.

Matt, do you have an 18" screen of the same type you use for 14s? Today's bake looks great.

[quietdesperation]

matt, havent looked in on your thread for a bit, probably because your pizza is so consistent bake to bake. couple of thoughts, had some conversation with jackie tran on hydration and he's settled at 62% with kabf, it's worked well for me too, might want to give it a shot.

the other thought is that while the pizza still looks wonderful, to my eye there's been some sort of fundamental change? have you increased bake time or temp?

best,

[hammettjr]

Matt, do you have an 18" screen of the same type you use for 14s? Today's bake looks great.

Yep. I use an 18" (for 18" pies) and a 16" screen (for my usual 14" pies).

[hammettjr]

matt, havent looked in on your thread for a bit, probably because your pizza is so consistent bake to bake. couple of thoughts, had some conversation with jackie tran on hydration and he's settled at 62% with kabf, it's worked well for me too, might want to give it a shot.

the other thought is that while the pizza still looks wonderful, to my eye there's been some sort of fundamental change? have you increased bake time or temp?

best,

Hey QD, thanks I'm currently using 60% water plus 6% butter...not sure what the total hydration equates to, but we're in the same ballpark. I have a lot more to learn and experiment with when it comes to dough.

My 2 biggest changes are baking at 550 (vs 500 in my old oven) and  increased fermentation. Both are contributing to a darker rim...maybe that's what you're noticing?

Edit: 2 additional changes relevant given we're online are 1) phone pics instead of my camera, and 2) this last pie had photos taken at a different spot of my kitchen.

I also used 8oz of mozz on this pie, while I had been using 9oz. Was still sufficient.