Congratulations Bob!  I look forward to also trying your sauce recipe.  I noticed you went with Romano over Parmesan this week.  How would you compare the two and do you have a preference?

Thanks Ted.  I also prefer Romano over Parmesan, but will substitute parm if that's what I happen to have pre-grated.

I had the good fortune of being able to watch the Tommy's Arlington crew make my pizza last night. Surprisingly, they pulled a stack of skins out of the cooler, each on a pizza-pan. 

Dress the pizza... straight in the oven. It occurred to me that the oven must be pretty darn hot to cook a pizza on a cold pan. It was delicious, crispy, etc.

Hi Chris,

Great post, thanks for posting, and more interesting insights into how Tommy's makes their pizza.  I have a few questions for you.  First, which location did you go to?  Second, were the pans solid or did they have holes in them?  Next, did the skins already have pizza sauce on them?  Was your pizza cooked in a deck oven or a conveyor oven?
I'm asking based on comments others have made in the past about how Tommy's makes their pizzas.

Someone who says they worked at the UA location posted that they cook at 510F.

Thanks!

Hi Chris,

Great post, thanks for posting, and more interesting insights into how Tommy's makes their pizza.  I have a few questions for you.  First, which location did you go to?  Second, were the pans solid or did they have holes in them?  Next, did the skins already have pizza sauce on them?  Was your pizza cooked in a deck oven or a conveyor oven?
I'm asking based on comments others have made in the past about how Tommy's makes their pizzas.

Someone who says they worked at the UA location posted that they cook at 510F.

Thanks!

This was the Upper Arlington location. Skins were on solid pans; not pre-sauced.  Cooked in a conveyor oven.

PS Tasted on its own, I found Tommy’s sauce unremarkable. They just use a lot of black pepper. Love it on the finished product, though!

11/23/2021 Dough

410 g Mondako bread flour
176 g water (43%)
28 g SCP Shortening
9 g malt syrup
6 g IDY
6 g salt

Dough Prep
3 hour RT ferment, loosely mixed dough formed into a single ball, then divided into 2 smaller dough balls which were refrigerated in zip lock bags for
4 days. Dough warmed at RT for 2 hours.

Sauce
1 + 1/2 cups Stanislaus Tomato Magic ground tomatoes (strained)
3/16 tsp garlic powder
7/32 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp oregano
1 tbsp Romano cheese
1/32 tsp salt
1/32 tsp lemon juice
1/32 tsp sugar

Cheese
1 + 1/4 cups Grande Mozzarella/Provolone Blend + Romano

The Bake
6.5 min par bake (parchment on steel @ 475) + 6.5 minutes @ 475, fully dressed (screened on oven rack)

Results
I took my pizza making "on the road" for a football party.  I par-baked the skins at home to avoid having to bring my pizza steel to my friend's home - I've followed this process in the past and I find it works really well. Not too many pictures to share this time, but the pizzas turned out great. 

The sauce recipe was modified slightly by increasing the black pepper from 1/8 tsp to 7/32 tsp.  Tommy's sauce has even more pepper, I think.

Hi Bob,

I've never tried the Stanislaus Tomato Magic ground tomatoes, how do they differ from the Stanislaus 7/11 ground tomatoes which I currently have?  Would you add the same ingredients and quantities to the sauce or would you make some modification?

Great tip on traveling with parbaked skins!

Hi Bob,

I've never tried the Stanislaus Tomato Magic ground tomatoes, how do they differ from the Stanislaus 7/11 ground tomatoes which I currently have?  Would you add the same ingredients and quantities to the sauce or would you make some modification?

Great tip on traveling with parbaked skins!

Basically the same, 7/11's contains bits of skin and contain more tomato pectin than Tomato Magic.

Hi Bob,

I've never tried the Stanislaus Tomato Magic ground tomatoes, how do they differ from the Stanislaus 7/11 ground tomatoes which I currently have?  Would you add the same ingredients and quantities to the sauce or would you make some modification?

Great tip on traveling with parbaked skins!

My understanding is that 7/11 tomatoes are ground unpeeled and Tomato Magic are peeled, then ground.  It had been a while since I have used them, so I decided to try them again.  I don't think I could say which is better without doing a side-by-side comparison.

Would you add the same ingredients and quantities to the sauce or would you make some modification?

No modifications needed when using 7/11 tomatoes vs Tomato Magic. 

No modifications needed when using 7/11 tomatoes vs Tomato Magic.

Thanks Bob!  I made your sauce Saturday using the 7/11 tomatoes.  Excellent result although I unfortunately can't do a side by side with Tommy's.

12/09/2021 Dough

410 g Mondako bread flour
176 g water (43%)
28 g SCP Shortening
9 g malt syrup
6 g IDY
6 g salt

Dough Prep
3 hour RT ferment, loosely mixed dough formed into a single ball, then divided into 2 smaller dough balls which were refrigerated in zip lock bags for
4 days. Dough warmed at RT for 3 hours.

Sauce
1 + 1/2 cups Stanislaus Tomato Magic ground tomatoes (strained)
3/16 tsp garlic powder
7/32 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp oregano
1 tbsp Romano cheese
1/32 tsp salt


Cheese
1 cup Grande Mozzarella/Provolone Blend + 1/4 cup Bel Gioioso Mild Provolone + Romano

The Bake
6.5 min par bake (parchment on steel @ 475) + 6.5 minutes @ 475, fully dressed (screened on oven rack)

Results
Standard dough recipe this iteration.  I omitted the lemon juice and sugar in the sauce and thought it was still great.  The strained tomatoes had been sitting in a glass container in my refrigerator for a week.  My brother had observed that the flavor of canned tomatoes improve if allowed to rest outside of their can for an extended period of time and I think he's right.  To me it seems like the tomatoes lose the residual metallic flavor imparted by the can. 

I used Ezzo Supreme pepperoni on pizza #1 (baked non-convection) vs Ezzo Giantonio pep on pizza #2 (baked with convection setting).  While I slightly prefer the flavor of the Supreme's, I find they blacken excessively when baked using the convection setting. 

12/28/2021 Dough

410 g Mondako bread flour
175 g water (42.6%)
31 g soybean oil
4 g sugar
6 g IDY
6 g salt

Dough Prep
1 hour RT ferment, loosely mixed dough formed into a single ball, then bagged and stored in fridge for 4 days. Dough warmed at RT for 2 hours.  Dough balls formed just prior to rolling out.

Sauce
1 cup Stanislaus Full Red Super Heavy Tomato Puree
1/2 cup Stanislaus 7/11 ground tomatoes
1/4 cup Peroni beer
1/4  tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp Romano cheese

Cheese
Grande Mozzarella/Provolone Blend + Tillamook Mozzarella  + Romano

The Bake
7 min par bake (parchment on steel @ 475) + 7 minutes fully dressed (screened on steel @ 475).

Results
The last pizzas of 2021, made for a NYE gathering.  I have not been motivated to make pizzas recently, so I threw this dough together as simply as I could using sugar and oil. Wasn't motivated to crack open a new can of Stanislaus either, so I made my original sauce recipe using frozen tomatoes that had been in my freezer for who knows how long.  Contrary to my half-hearted effort, the pizzas still turned out excellent.  It's a testament to the collaboration that's taken place over the years and Ryan's original effort 12 years ago.  Cheers!

4/26/2022 Dough

410 g Mondako bread flour
184 g water (45%)
28 g SCP Shortening
4 g sugar
6 g IDY
6 g salt

Dough Prep
2 hour RT ferment, loosely mixed dough refrigerated in zip lock bag for
2 days. Dough warmed at RT for 4 hours, then balled just prior to rolling out.

Sauce
1 + 1/2 cups Stanislaus Tomato Magic ground tomatoes (strained)
3/16 tsp garlic powder
7/32 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp oregano
1 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/32 tsp salt


Cheese
Grande Mozzarella

The Bake
6.5 min par bake (parchment on steel @ 475) + 6.5 minutes @ 475, fully dressed (screened on steel)

Results
First pizzas of 2022.  Sorry - no pics this time.

My bottle of malt syrup had gone bad, so I used sugar in the dough recipe.  The malt syrup detour was a worthy experiment, but I don't know it makes enough of a difference to warrant spending $45 for a second bottle. 

The sauce recipe was my "revised" version (strained tomatoes, no beer).  Parmesan was substituted for Romano simply because that's what I had on hand.