Pomo's cracker-style pizza anyone?

[donstavely]

I have spent some time in the Phoenix area, which has a surprising number of good pizzerias.  In my opinion, Pomo is maybe second only to Bianco.  While Bianco is more "artisan style", Pomo is known for true certified Neapolitan pizza.  But they also make what they call a "Rimini" pizza.  These are very much cracker-style, with a crust that shatters and leave crumbs in your lap.  (BTW I was told that the name is just made up - there is no "Rimini style" from the coastal Italian town of that name.) 

I have had my share of thin and crispy pizzas, but this was a different animal (or should I say vegetable)!  It was quite a revelation.  Has anyone tried these?  I would love to try to replicate.  There is a ton of information on cracker crust here, but frankly it is pretty confusing - what with the difference between simple T&C, laminated vs rolled, parbaked or not, docked or not, super-low hydration or not, high temp (600F) or not (450F), etc.  Any advice would be appreciated!           

[jsaras]

Tony Gemignani posted this: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/rimini-51255810

[donstavely]

Here is an article I found about it:
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/pomo-pizzeria-new-pizza-style-phoenix-scottsdale-10545915
I thought that this quote from founder Stefano Fabbri was intriguing:
"We use the same ingredients as the pizza Neapolitan; the only thing that changes is how we toss the pizza."
Do you think he literally means the same dough?  Pretty sure it is the same oven, at 900F.  It would make sense to keep their workflow simple.
I will be going back in a few weeks.  I will ask a lot of questions and watch it get tossed and baked.

[donstavely]

I just returned from Arizona, and got a chance to ask the guys at Pomo some questions and watch them make some cracker-style "Rimini" pizzas.  As I suspected, they do use exactly the same dough, sauce, toppings, and the same wood-fired oven that they use for their certified Neapolitan pizzas. The only difference is how they handle the dough.  First, they pull a standard ball from the tray and press it out with a LOT of bench flour.  Then they pass it through a sheeter three or four times, each time dusting with a liberal amount of bench flour.  They do a final hand stretch over the edge of the table (for some gravity assist).  The sauce it, top it, and bake it just like their normal pies.  (No docking, no parbaking.) 

I verified with them that they use so much bench flour specifically to incorporate more into the dough.  So they are effectively lowering the hydration of the dough for their cracker-style as they work the skin!  I think this is a takeaway that can be useful to us home pizza guys.  Why not stick with our normal 60% or 65% hydration dough, and just work as much more flour as possible when rolling?  This seems way easier and more efficient than having to mix, knead, and stretch a less-than-50% hydration dough just for cracker-style.  And how cool is it to be able to throw in a C-S pizza or two during the same session with my normal thicker, conicione-edged pizzas?     

[donstavely]

I had a very successful experience making a cracker-style pizza per my previous post:  I used my standard "artisanal" dough (330g, 65% hydration, 3% salt, 1% sugar, 1% olive oil), which I divided in two.  I rolled one out with a lot of bench flour, flipping and dusting it several times to incorporate more flour.  It was very easy to roll it out to 14" by about 1/16" using a straight "dowel style" rolling pin.  I docked it with a serving fork and parbaked it on a steel at 500F till just stating to color.  Topped with whole mozz, crimini mushrooms and kale massaged with olive oil, coarse salt, and crushed garlic. (My wife can't eat tomatoes or cured or processed meat right now.)  I let it rest on a wire rack before cutting to keep the bottom crisp.  It was great! 
I made simple mozz/tomato sauce/pepperoni pie with the other dough ball.  Frankly, I liked the white pizza better than the red.  I either need to work more on the red or just stick with white for future crackers.
I love the fact that I am I can eat great pizza with half the carbs.  (I had tried many low-carb and keto dough recipes that were all terrible.)  The cracker cornicione is just as satisfying as my normal chewy "bones" - my favorite part!

[pizzard]

I have spent some time in the Phoenix area, which has a surprising number of good pizzerias.  In my opinion, Pomo is maybe second only to Bianco.  While Bianco is more "artisan style", Pomo is known for true certified Neapolitan pizza.  But they also make what they call a "Rimini" pizza.  These are very much cracker-style, with a crust that shatters and leave crumbs in your lap.  (BTW I was told that the name is just made up - there is no "Rimini style" from the coastal Italian town of that name.) 

I have had my share of thin and crispy pizzas, but this was a different animal (or should I say vegetable)!  It was quite a revelation.  Has anyone tried these?  I would love to try to replicate.  There is a ton of information on cracker crust here, but frankly it is pretty confusing - what with the difference between simple T&C, laminated vs rolled, parbaked or not, docked or not, super-low hydration or not, high temp (600F) or not (450F), etc.  Any advice would be appreciated!         

It has been a few years since I’ve had Pomo (I am out of area) but at the time they only had Neapolitan style which was amazing. Their gnocchi alla Sorrentina on the other hand was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.