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Crust
½ cup Water (or 120 g) 90° – 95°
90° — 95° is what those little yeast cultures love. They're only going to live for a day or two, so let's make their lives better.
Buy on Amazon1 tsp Sea Salt
It doesn't necessarily need to be sea salt — just make sure it doesn't have nasty tasting iodine in it. It's not 1923 anymore and Americans get iodine from plenty of other food sources so it's weird that a lot of salt is still fortified with this gross stuff.
Buy on Amazon0.1 g (¼ of ⅒ tsp) Instant Dried Yeast
Buy your yeast in bulk. One bag or jar will save you many many monies over the tiny packets.
Buy on Amazon170 g (≈ 1 ⅓ cups) White Bread Flour (or 00)
00 (Doppio Zero) is very finely ground flour. It's hard to find and really not necessary to get started. For starting out, I recommend using a decent quality bread flour. After you've gotten comfortable with a few pies, take your pizza game to the next level with 00 flour. It imparts a unique softness to the crust.
Buy on AmazonSauce & Toppings
28 oz Can of Whole Pealed Tomatoes
Sorry, San Marzanos aren't actually the best. I recommend Stanislaus or Trader Joe's whole tomatoes. Look for brands with no calcium chloride.
Buy on Amazon8 oz Can of Tomatoe Paste
This is the cheat for NYC style sauce. Rather than blend and then reduce your sauce via cooking for hours, bust one of these cans open and mix it with the crushed whole tomatoes and you'll barely be able to tell the difference.
Buy on Amazon1 Onion, skin removed and halved
The onion will cook with the sauce and impart an amazing flavor. Take it out when you're done.
Buy on Amazon2 tbsp Butter
Sorry to get all Paula Dean on you, but a little butter will give your sauce that extra something.
Buy on Amazon1 ½ tsp Salt
Again, It doesn't necessarily need to be sea salt — just make sure it doesn't have nasty tasting iodine in it. It's not 1923 anymore and Americans get iodine from plenty of other food sources so it's weird that a lot of salt is still fortified with this gross stuff.
Buy on Amazon2 tbsp Oregano
If its the cheap stuff, use a little more.
Buy on Amazon90 g Fresh Mozzarella
Pre-shredded bagged cheese has anti-caking agents (wood dust) that will make your cheese brown up too early. So, whether you slice or shred it, fresh mozzarella is the way to go.
Pro tip for shredding mozzarella: put a solid ball of it into the freezer for 20 minutes prior to shredding. Semi-frozen fresh mozzarella will grate much easier.
Pecorino (or Parmasean) Cheese
Pecorino has just a little more kick to it parmesan. Commit to the pecorino lifestyle now and buy a big wheel to shred off of for the next few years.
Buy on AmazonCrust
Do all of this 24 – 48 hours before you make your pizza. This recipe makes a dough ball for one 10 inch pie. Scale this recipe up based how many people will be eating. One pizza = 1 person. Multiply the Ingredients by the number of pizzas you want to make.
Pour the 90° – 95° water into a large bowl and then mix in the sea salt until it’s dissolved. Add yeast and let it sit for a minute before swishing the water in the bowl to dissipate everything.
Add the bread or 00 flour and mix by hand (or big spoon) until the dough is roughly consolidated mass. Cover with film and let rest for 20 min.
Lightly dust a large surface with flour. Stretch and fold the dough the dough by pulling one corner outward and then folding it back into the center. Rotate and repeat this motion for about 30 seconds until it becomes difficult to stretch.
Leave the dough aside and clean the mixing bowl. Lightly oil the bowl and place the dough back into it (smooth side up). Cover with film and let ferment at room temperature for 2 hours.
Flour the large surface again and gently coax the dough out of the bowl and onto the surface. use a butter knife to divide the dough into as many parts as pizzas you’ve planned for.
— pulling one corner outward and then folding it back into the center. Knead until the underside begins to firm up and then flip over do the smooth side is up. Use your fingers on the back side to push the dough inward, stretching the smooth top without tearing it. Stop when the dough ball surface feels somewhat firm.
Place dough balls (smooth side up) onto a large flour-dusted plate with plenty of space between each ball. Coat dough balls with light dusting of flour. Wrap the top of the plate in film and place in fridge for 24 – 48 hours.
Sauce & Toppings
Sauce: Blend or mill a 28 oz can of whole pealed tomatoes with the 1 ½ tsp Salt — just until blended. Add the two onion halves, oregano, and butter. Simmer it on the stove for at least an hour and then remove the onion. This is your classic NYC sauce. Just use a few spoonfulls per 10” pizza. You don’t want to soak your pizza. It'll keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.
Cheese, Olive Oil, & Basil: When we get to baking, we’ll do it in two stages. First, we’ll add a thin layer of sauce with the mozzerala for the initial 5 minute bake. When that’s done, add the basil leaves and drizzle 1 — 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil before the final broil.
Pizza Time...
Remove dough ball(s) 2 hours before baking pizza. Freeze unused dough balls for up to 2 weeks. Position the pizza steel (or stone) on a rack towards the top of the oven (keep a minimum of 6 inches of space under the broiler coils or jets) to Turn oven on to 550° for 45 minutes.
10 minutes before showtime, turn the broiler on high to heat up the pizza steel.
Lay a dough ball well-dusted large surface and press down with your fist in the center halfway. Pick the crust up and grip the crust. Rotate the crust around and around in your hands letting gravity stretch the disc out to 10". Aim to even out the crust while leaving a slightly thicker ½" lip on the outside.
Place crust on a lightly dusted wooden peel. Try to flick your wrist and slightly move the pizza on the peel. If it doesn't slide, redust. You’ll want to confidently snap that pie off the peel onto the steel when it’s time.
Put on your toppings. Turn the broiler off and the oven back on to 550°. Slide the pizza with a flick-jerk motion smoothly onto the pizza steel. Bake for 5 minutes and then put the broiler on high for 1 – 2 minutes to slightly char the edges of the crust.
When it looks done, pull out your pizza. Let it cool for a few minutes and eat!
La Storia della Pizza Parte 2
New York’s first pizzas were whipped up in 1897, by Gennaro Lombardi. Gennaro was an immigrant from Italy who sold pizza in his grocery store in Little Italy. Needless to say, it was a popular item. So much so that in 1905 he opened a separate pizzeria, Lombardi’s. The restaurant has been in business ever since.
In the next few decades, a few more pizzerias opened throughout the five boroughs. Because it was primarily poor immigrants who visited these pizza-slingers (also it was the Great Depression), few could afford to purchase an entire pizza. In 1933, Patsy Lancieri opened El Barrio in Spanish Harlem and sold his pizza by the slice. And there it is: a defining feature of New York pizza. Combine said slice with a paper plate and New Yorkers have been shoveling pizza down their gullets while rushing to catch the train ever since.
For most of the 20th century, pizza was considered an ethnic food, a treat to get if you find yourself in Little Italy or in an Italian restaurant. It wasn’t even a mainstay of New York streets until the 1960s. Of course now pizza is to New York, as hot dogs are to Chicago, rain to Seattle, and awfulness is to Phoenix.
So what’s unique about New York-style Pizza? First and foremost, it’s the hand tossed, thin crust. Then it’s a slow cooked sauce infused with copious amounts of garlic and oregano. Next sprinkle on some shredded mozzarella. Throw on some toppings if you’d like, it’s your life. Cut that pizza into large slices, serve them up on a paper plate and badabing, that’s some New York pizza.
The unique thing about New York-style pizza isn’t just in the ingredients, but in how it’s served and eaten: Preferably in large slices, on a paper plate, after sitting half baked under a sneeze guard and fully cooked when you order.
