Matt's NY Pizza, by HammettJr

[HansB]

That looks really good Matt!

[hammettjr]

My schedule was going to be messed up this weekend, so I went out for pizza Friday night (see posts above). I decided to do a Sunday afternoon bake. My kids each made small pizzas, and I made an experimental one.

Loads of changes (and accidentally overstretched again), but the flavor is still all about the sauce.

Changes:
- Added a bit of romano to the sauce, replacing 1 tsp of parm with romano. This was awesome. It wasn't romano overload, but was there in the background. Will do this again.
- No garlic in the sauce and didn't miss it.
- Raised bake temp to 535, stone temp 515-530. Seemed good, hard to fully judge given some of the other changes. Bake time was 8:15 with 6:45 on the screen.
- Intended a TF of 0.085, but it overstretched on me, 16" at 371 grams is TF of 0.065. This was too thin, but still enjoyable.
- Changed my dough to 62% water, 0% oil (from my usual 54% water, 4% oil). Also only 12 hour CF. I really have no idea what the impact of this was. The crust was so thin I didn't even notice it.
- I didn't want to defrost my regular cheese. Ended up with 50% grande low fat and 50% whole milk grocery store Galbani. Seemed ok. This was a sauce-heavy pie as I only had so much cheese ready and I overstretched. I'd guess it was 10oz of mozz

Next time:
- Same romano/sauce
- Similar bake temp
- Try again for 14"

[Dangerous Salumi]

I’d eat the last two pies even if they fell on the floor.

Are you trying to make an NYC street slice at home?

[hammettjr]

I am indeed!

[Dangerous Salumi]

I am indeed!

I cant taste them from here but if they do taste as good as they look I’d say the project is finished.

[hammettjr]

Thanks! Several bakes ago I proclaimed victory,  saying that I achieved everything I was looking for. But only a couple days later I was already planning changes.

Sauce is something I'll always tinker with. For one thing, I have a love/hate relationship with romano and can't make up my mind. (And my taste is evolving at the same time.)

Where I have the most work to do is the crust. It's always been an afterthought for me.

[Dangerous Salumi]

Thanks! Several bakes ago I proclaimed victory,  saying that I achieved everything I was looking for. But only a couple days later I was already planning changes.

Sauce is something I'll always tinker with. For one thing, I have a love/hate relationship with romano and can't make up my mind. (And my taste is evolving at the same time.)

Where I have the most work to do is the crust. It's always been an afterthought for me.

I will buy a bag of Romano. Ive been using Parm/Rom mix.

[jvp123]

I cant taste them from here but if they do taste as good as they look I’d say the project is finished.

 .  You've got the melt down pat and the thin rim too.  Even the bottoms that have the iconic queens screen stamp on them.

[Essen1]

Matt,

I liked your write up.

Hopefully, those visits gave you some valuable insight in your quest to replicate those iconic slices at home. Despite that you favor mesh screens

Your last pie looked a whole lot better than the previous efforts.

I especially like the color of the rim, even though I think the rim should be a bit more pronounced....and browned. Maybe consider going a bit higher in dough ball weight, and move out of your comfort zone of creating these extremely small rims.

As always, no offense, and I hope you don't take it as such. 

[hammettjr]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions Mike

[hammettjr]

As a note for myself for future reference and anyone reading through this thread, last weekend I went to 2 pizzerias, which was a great learning experience and gave me alot to think about.

NY Pizza Suprema inspired me to start experimenting with romano again, and Joe's has me thinking about my crust.

Below is a link to my review, pictures, and subsequent debate about the pizzerias.
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=55305.msg555629#msg555629

[Dangerous Salumi]

As a note for myself for future reference and anyone reading through this thread, last weekend I went to 2 pizzerias, which was a great learning experience and gave me alot to think about.

NY Pizza Suprema inspired me to start experimenting with romano again, and Joe's has me thinking about my crust.

Below is a link to my review, pictures, and subsequent debate about the pizzerias.
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=55305.msg555629#msg555629

 

[quietdesperation]

Matt, my mom was a writer and she maintained that a great writer needed to do a lot of reading. I think the same holds true for pizza: to make great pizza, you need to eat a lot of other people's pizza.

best,

[Dangerous Salumi]

Matt, my mom was a writer and she maintained that a great writer needed to do a lot of reading. I think the same holds true for pizza: to make great pizza, you need to eat a lot of other people's pizza.

best,

 

[Josh123]

Matt,

I liked your write up.

Hopefully, those visits gave you some valuable insight in your quest to replicate those iconic slices at home. Despite that you favor mesh screens

Your last pie looked a whole lot better than the previous efforts.

I especially like the color of the rim, even though I think the rim should be a bit more pronounced....and browned. Maybe consider going a bit higher in dough ball weight, and move out of your comfort zone of creating these extremely small rims.

As always, no offense, and I hope you don't take it as such. 

The small rim is very common in Queens style street pizza.

[hammettjr]

Matt,

I liked your write up.

Hopefully, those visits gave you some valuable insight in your quest to replicate those iconic slices at home. Despite that you favor mesh screens

Your last pie looked a whole lot better than the previous efforts.

I especially like the color of the rim, even though I think the rim should be a bit more pronounced....and browned. Maybe consider going a bit higher in dough ball weight, and move out of your comfort zone of creating these extremely small rims.

As always, no offense, and I hope you don't take it as such. 

Thanks. Keep in mind my current goal is to replicate Queens style pizza, not Joe's. Although while I was thinking that I'd eventually finish the Queens quest then move on to something else (faster/thinner slices or grandma or fresh mozz etc), I am starting to weave a bit where I'm taking bits and pieces from different pizzerias and styles to create something tailored to my own preferences.

I wouldn't say that I favor the mesh screens. But in addition to keeping with the Queens style, I've had good melts with them, and I like that they will allow me to bake a pie larger than 14" in my 16" oven. (I'll admit too that while my launch skills were solid, knowing that I'll have a round pie and no launch issue is a nice perk of using a screen.) I'm also not convinced that the screen is better than baking directly on stone. I suspect I'd get a better crust on stone, but I don't want to mess with my melt. I will experiment with stone bakes at some point though.

I don't know why you say my rims should be larger and more browned. I know that you (and many here) favor that style, but it's personal preference. Below are some examples of Queens pies where the rims are not large or brown. But more importantly than that, I'm simply not a fan of rims and so it is not a focus of mine. I love sauce and melted cheese, and I've always thought that eating the rim is a negative as I'll get to eat less sauce and cheese. (May be an unusual philosophy, but it reminds me of when I was a kid I'd always choose 2 hamburgers over 1 hamburger and fries.) While growing up maybe half the pizza I ate was party cut, and I always went for the rim-less center squares. Just my preference.

Below are pics from Lucia, Amore and Dani's

[hammettjr]

Today I received sauce from another of my local pizzerias, and again it was well seasoned. This place has been around since 1966 (though I don't know how it's changed over time.) The most dominant seasoning visually was fresh basil. I think I found some dried oregano, and maybe a bit of fresh oregano too. I can never identify the small dark specs. I suspect they are just really small pieces of fresh basil, but it's hard to say.

[Dangerous Salumi]

Today I received sauce from another of my local pizzerias, and again it was well seasoned. This place has been around since 1966 (though I don't know how it's changed over time.) The most dominant seasoning visually was fresh basil. I think I found some dried oregano, and maybe a bit of fresh oregano too. I can never identify the small dark specs. I suspect they are just really small pieces of fresh basil, but it's hard to say.

Honestly I use a spiced up thickened sauce for my Detroit pizza. There are so many overpowering flavors going on there.

However,  I want to taste the sourdough, cheese and tomatoes when I’m making NYC pizza. That’s why I really prefer it to other styles. I use 7/11 right out of the can. I’ll soon make my NYC pies with different cheeses and different pepperoni. I’d even drive up to Vermont Smoke to get some of their good stuff. Ill call them on Monday.

[Little bean]

Honestly I use a spiced up thickened sauce for my Detroit pizza. There are so many overpowering flavors going on there.

However,  I want to taste the sourdough, cheese and tomatoes when I’m making NYC pizza. That’s why I really prefer it to other styles. I use 7/11 right out of the can. I’ll soon make my NYC pies with different cheeses and different pepperoni. I’d even drive up to Vermont Smoke to get some of their good stuff. Ill call them on Monday.

Can you link to your New York style pies

[hammettjr]

Honestly I use a spiced up thickened sauce for my Detroit pizza. There are so many overpowering flavors going on there.

However,  I want to taste the sourdough, cheese and tomatoes when I’m making NYC pizza. That’s why I really prefer it to other styles. I use 7/11 right out of the can. I’ll soon make my NYC pies with different cheeses and different pepperoni. I’d even drive up to Vermont Smoke to get some of their good stuff. Ill call them on Monday.

To each his own. For me, oregano is a key flavor that I miss when it's not there.