Reverse Engineering L&B Spumoni Gardens' Square pie

[9slicePie]

^^ I understand people getting mad about their sauce recipe being stolen.

But what I dont understand is, NOBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD can put sauce on TOP OF the cheese for a square pie and sell it?  Only THEY can do it?  Is there some sort of a copyright on putting sauce on TOP of the cheese?

For example, let's say a place sells cheeseburgers but they put their cheese UNDERNEATH the beef pattie.  NOONE ELSE in the world can also sell cheeseburgers with cheese below the beef pattie??


Can there be legitimacy to getting upset that other establishments also put their sauce on top of the cheese for a square pie?

[Swinger-mike]

^^ I understand people getting mad about their sauce recipe being stolen.

But what I dont understand is, NOBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD can put sauce on TOP OF the cheese for a square pie and sell it?  Only THEY can do it?  Is there some sort of a copyright on putting sauce on TOP of the cheese?

For example, let's say a place sells cheeseburgers but they put their cheese UNDERNEATH the beef pattie.  NOONE ELSE in the world can also sell cheeseburgers with cheese below the beef pattie??


Can there be legitimacy to getting upset that other establishments also put their sauce on top of the cheese for a square pie?

I think they wouldnt mind if a random shop did that who had no ties to them.

But if you worked there and do it i guess its different.

Not saying the whole story is beyond ridicolous anyway

[Santo]

I have been making this style of pizza lately but I am struggling on my reheats. How can i reheat it without drying out the crumb? Also, As some other people have said in this thread, sometimes the bottom can feel a little dry if it gets too much heat.

How do you get that crispy bottom but moist (slightly underdone?) crumb in the middle? Any idea on how to reheat while retaining the moisture of the bottom and middle, and also getting that large amount of sauce to heat up?

Also, does anyone also finish with additional pecorino post bake? Or is it all pre-bake?

Anybody experiment with adding any interesting, possibly non-traditional L&B style toppings onto a pie like this?

[Billium]

Hi folks I am trying to make this pie. I have a dough using a recipe from “Famous original slice” (with 2 mods, double the yeast since it didn’t rise much last time and no diastatic malt since I only just ordered that today) that’s been sitting in the fridge for 2 days.

I’m good on making the sauce and have the boar’s head cheese. But I’m stuck on where to go with the dough once I take it out of the fridge.

In one of the L&B videos, I see they flatten the dough and put it in the pan. Possibly it looks like they do it in 2 layers. And I see some of you have rolled it out as well. But in the Famous original recipe, the serious eats recipe, and the tony gemignani recipe I found on Zimmern’s site they make a lot of effort to be gentle with the dough and not de-gas it so the bubbles stay there.

I’m hoping to make this tomorrow and have a few questions.

1) What’s the consensus here - roll it flat and get rid of those bubbles? Or be gentle to avoid that happening?
2) If it’s two layers of dough on top of each other, do you press them on top of each other so they “stick”?
3) It looks like they leave the dough sitting out with cheese in a warm-ish area. I’m not sure how to do that - any advice on how to get something like 100 degrees for a couple hours?
4) What affect will parbaking it have here? I’ve had better luck with Sicilians in the past when I parbake it because otherwise the dough doesn’t develop a good crust in the bottom but it seems folks are against that in this thread. And if I parbake do I do it at a lower or higher temp?
5) last time I used an aluminum (cookie) tray that had been seasoned over time and the crust was ok but not great. I also have a nonstick aluminum tray with high walls I could use. I’ll be ordering a steel tray soon but in the meantime do you folks recommend one of these before the new one arrives?

Apologies if I ask anything too silly. I think I can get there but I just want to learn some of these basics.

[nickyr]

Hi folks I am trying to make this pie. I have a dough using a recipe from “Famous original slice” (with 2 mods, double the yeast since it didn’t rise much last time and no diastatic malt since I only just ordered that today) that’s been sitting in the fridge for 2 days.

I’m good on making the sauce and have the boar’s head cheese. But I’m stuck on where to go with the dough once I take it out of the fridge.

In one of the L&B videos, I see they flatten the dough and put it in the pan. Possibly it looks like they do it in 2 layers. And I see some of you have rolled it out as well. But in the Famous original recipe, the serious eats recipe, and the tony gemignani recipe I found on Zimmern’s site they make a lot of effort to be gentle with the dough and not de-gas it so the bubbles stay there.

I’m hoping to make this tomorrow and have a few questions.

1) What’s the consensus here - roll it flat and get rid of those bubbles? Or be gentle to avoid that happening?
2) If it’s two layers of dough on top of each other, do you press them on top of each other so they “stick”?
3) It looks like they leave the dough sitting out with cheese in a warm-ish area. I’m not sure how to do that - any advice on how to get something like 100 degrees for a couple hours?
4) What affect will parbaking it have here? I’ve had better luck with Sicilians in the past when I parbake it because otherwise the dough doesn’t develop a good crust in the bottom but it seems folks are against that in this thread. And if I parbake do I do it at a lower or higher temp?
5) last time I used an aluminum (cookie) tray that had been seasoned over time and the crust was ok but not great. I also have a nonstick aluminum tray with high walls I could use. I’ll be ordering a steel tray soon but in the meantime do you folks recommend one of these before the new one arrives?

Apologies if I ask anything too silly. I think I can get there but I just want to learn some of these basics.

I haven’t made l&b Sicilian but I’ve made others.

3) you could preheat your oven for 30 seconds and then shut it off. That will make it warm. But I doubt you need the warmth, you could just let it sit at room temp longer (or use more yeast)

4) you won’t get the gum line effect between the sauce and the cheese. It’ll be good, but it won’t be like l&b. Your teeth won’t sink straight through the top. If you want more bottom crispness and you have a stone, you could not parbake and then put the pizza directly on the stone for the last few minutes. Or if you don’t have a stone you could get one and put the pan on it to transfer more heat to the crust

5) can the nonstick handle the temperature?

[Billium]

I haven’t made l&b Sicilian but I’ve made others.

3) you could preheat your oven for 30 seconds and then shut it off. That will make it warm. But I doubt you need the warmth, you could just let it sit at room temp longer (or use more yeast)

4) you won’t get the gum line effect between the sauce and the cheese. It’ll be good, but it won’t be like l&b. Your teeth won’t sink straight through the top. If you want more bottom crispness and you have a stone, you could not parbake and then put the pizza directly on the stone for the last few minutes. Or if you don’t have a stone you could get one and put the pan on it to transfer more heat to the crust

5) can the nonstick handle the temperature?

I have no idea why I didn’t even think to look at the temperature safety. I really appreciate you pointing that out.

I made a pie tonight and it looked quite nice. But tasted nothing like I remember l&b tasting like. It didn’t have enough moisture or that sweetness. Gotta keep trying

[WarrenOates]

I’ve made this clone about ten or so times now, and parallei’s recipe is pretty on the money.

My bottoms could be crispier, but that may be attributable my to lack of stone.  Otherwise, his calculations are right-on in terms of flavor and toothsome quality.

Far as sauce goes, go simple: a good crushed tomato with heavy purée (28 ounces), 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, 2 tsps oregano, cook on medium heat until bubbles start to form, then give it a six minute simmer, stirring occasionally.  Salt to taste (but you’re probably not going to want to go above 1/2 tbsp).  Use all your sauce.

[TXCraig1]

Looks great from this angle.

[9slicePie]

I’ve made this clone about ten or so times now, and parallei’s recipe is pretty on the money.

My bottoms could be crispier, but that may be attributable my to lack of stone.  Otherwise, his calculations are right-on in terms of flavor and toothsome quality.

Far as sauce goes, go simple: a good crushed tomato with heavy purée (28 ounces), 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, 2 tsps oregano, cook on medium heat until bubbles start to form, then give it a six minute simmer, stirring occasionally.  Salt to taste (but you’re probably not going to want to go above 1/2 tbsp).  Use all your sauce.

wow, can you post a link to that recipe?

[zlindner]

Is anybody able to figure out what Parallei or WarrenOates did here? Thanks!!

[graystones11]

wow, can you post a link to that recipe?

Is anybody able to figure out what Parallei or WarrenOates did here? Thanks!!

Yeah, finding things in these threads can be quite an archeological expedition. I tried to distill a bunch of recipes in another thread that could be updated as the collective knowledge changes over time, but it seems they implemented restrictions on posts so we cannot edit them after a short period.

I think the Parallei recipe starts here:
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=17168.msg479697#msg479697

and then was updated here:
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=17168.msg480208#msg480208

As to which version is being referenced, your guess is as good as mine.