Pizza rezept original
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Klassisch, italienischer Pizzateig.
Wer an Italien denkt, der wird auch sofort an die Pizza denken. Italien ist das Geburtsland der leckeren Köstlichkeit, die auch hierzulande einen immer höheren Stellenwert eingenommen hat. Die besten Pizzen sind die der italienischen Pizzabäcker. Aber auch selbst gemacht können sie zu einem wahren Genuss werden.
Wer den richtigen Pizzateig, die beste Soße und den passenden Belag hat, kann sich eine italienische Pizza selber machen.
Inhaltsverzeichnis.
Der italienische Pizzateig.
Damit die Pizza schmeckt, wie in Italien, muss das richtige Rezept her. Neben den Zutaten spielt die Geduld eine sehr wichtige Rolle. Die Zubereitung ist einfach, sodass das Rezept kinderleicht nachzukochen ist.
Zutaten für den italienischen Pizzateig:
500 Gramm Mehl 250 ml Wasser 10 Gramm Hefe, entspricht einem Päckchen Trockenhefe 1 Prise Salz 3 Esslöffel Olivenöl.
Im Idealfall sollte das Mehl gesiebt werden, bevor es verarbeitet wird. Alle Zutaten können zusammen in eine große Schüssel gegeben werden. Wenn frische Hefe verwendet wird, was bei dem Italiener immer der Fall ist, dann muss diese vorher in ein wenig Wasser aufgelöst werden. Danach kann sie in die Schüssel gegeben werden, ohne dass sich Klumpen bilden.
Entscheidend für einen guten italienischen Teig ist es, dass dieser richtig geknetet wird. Der Italiener macht es mit der Hand und braucht dafür gut 10 Minuten. Wem dazu die Kraft fehlt, der kann auch den Mixer benutzen. Erst dann, wenn es ein glatter und geschmeidiger Teig ist, sollte aufgehört werden.
Den Anschluss bildet die Ruhephase. Der Teig muss rund 1,5 – 2 Stunden gehen, damit die Hefe ihrer Aufgabe nachkommen kann. Der Teig ist dann fertig, wenn er etwa auf das Doppelte seines Umfangs aufgegangen ist. Am schnellsten ist es, wenn die Schüssel an einen warmen Platz gestellt wird.
Perfekt abgestimmt – die italienische Pizzasoße.
Die Ruhephase des Pizzateigs sollte dafür genutzt werden, den Belag zuzubereiten. Als erstes sollte die Pizzasoße gekocht werden. Dazu nimmt der Italiener:
1 Dose geschälte, ganze Tomaten 1-2 frische Tomaten 1 kleine Zwiebel 1 Knoblauchzehe Salz 1 TL Zucker Oregano Basilikum Natives Olivenöl.
Das Gemüse muss geputzt werden, und klein geschnitten werden, bevor es in einer Pfanne, mit einem Schuss Olivenöl angebraten wird. Die Zugabe des Zuckers lässt die Grundzutaten karamellisieren. Im Anschluss daran können die Dosentomaten in das Gemisch gegeben werden, und unter Rühren sollte das Ganze nun aufgekocht und weitere 15 Minuten köchelnd auf der Herdplatte verweilen. Erst dann werden die klein geschnittenen frischen Tomaten und die Gewürze dabei getan.
TIPP: Die Pizzasoße sollte vor dem Auftragen auf die Pizza noch einmal kurz erwärmt werden!
Zutaten für den Pizzabelag.
Die italienische Pizza kann mit allen Zutaten belegt werden. Selbst in Italien gibt es etwa 50 verschiedene Pizzen, die alle durch den Belag sich unterscheiden.
So ist der Fantasie keine Grenze gesetzt, was es für eine Pizza sein soll. Lieber klassisch, mit Salami oder Thunfisch? Ausgefallen mit Meeresfrüchten oder eine Gemüsepizza?
Wichtig ist es, dass die Zutaten miteinander harmonisieren. Jede Zutat hat ihren eigenen Geschmack, der sich nur dann entwickeln kann, wenn er nicht von anderen überlagert wird. Daher belegen viele die Pizza einfach und mit weniger Zutaten. Der Geschmack ist dabei besser, als wenn zu viel auf der Pizza ist.
Ein guter Käse, der einen eigenen Geschmack hat, gilt als Geheimrezept. Alleine dadurch kann die italienische Pizza schon punkten.
Pizza backen, wie der Italiener es empfiehlt.
Einen Pizzaofen wird sicher niemand zu Hause haben. Es ist auch nicht nötig, obwohl gerade hier die Pizza einiges an Aromen entwickeln kann. Der Backofen ist auch ausreichend. Doch sollte die italienische Pizza nicht einfach so in den Ofen geschoben werden. Entscheidend sind die Temperatur und auch die Backzeit, damit die Pizza gelingen wird.
Der Backofen sollte immer vorgeheizt werden, damit schon einmal eine Grundtemperatur da ist. Gebacken wird die Pizza bei 250° etwa 10 – 15 Minuten lang. Pauschal gesagt werden kann dieses aber nie, da die Pizza sehr unterschiedlich gegessen wird. Wer seine Pizza luftig und leicht möchte, der kann sie auch nach 10 Minuten aus dem Ofen holen. Eine knusprige Pizza hingegen sollte bei 200° langsamer gebacken werden. Die Backzeit kann sich dann auch um 5 Minuten verlängern.
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Pizza rezept original
Leckere Rezepte für den perfekten Pizzateig!
Kostenlos und nur für kurze Zeit.
Download unseres Pizzateig Rezeptes.
Unser beliebtes Pizzateig-Rezept direkt zum ausdrucken als PDF Datei.
Pizzateig selber machen, einfach und lecker.
Die Pizza ist immer mehr zu einem Gericht geworden, das gerne gegessen wird. Nicht nur bei Kindern ist sie beliebt, sondern wird sie eigentlich von Jung und Alt gegessen. Ob die Pizza nun tatsächlich Fast Food ist, oder nicht, lässt sich so einfach nicht erklären. Sicherlich kann der Pizzateig „schnell gemacht und gegessen“ werden. Sie kann aber auch als Essen für die Gäste serviert werden, sodass sie bei einem gemütlichen Abend das Highlight ist.
Einer der Gründe der Beliebtheit ist sicher der, dass die Pizzen so zusammengestellt werden können, wie es jeder möchte. Als Pizzabelag kann eigentlich alles gewählt werden, was das Herz begehrt.
Die Pizza bei dem Italiener ist für die meisten der Kosten wegen nicht immer möglich. Die Pizza als Tiefkühlvariante kommt bei den meisten geschmacklich nicht gut an. Und wird diese auch der ganzen Zutaten wegen als ungesund eingestuft. Eine Pizza selber zu machen, ist für viele nicht einfach. Dabei kann es einfacher nicht sein, den Pizzateig selber zu machen. Voruassetzung sind die passenden Rezepte.
Inhaltsverzeichnis:
Variationen der Rezepte.
Da die Pizza eben so ein beliebtes Gericht ist, werden auch viele Rezepte zu finden sein. Versprechen die einen, dass dieses Rezept besser ist, als andere Rezepte, nennen die anderen ihre Pizza ideal, und wieder andere versprechen, ein kinderleichtes Rezept zu haben. Doch so, wie es bei dem Belag sehr unterschiedlich ist, wird es auch bei dem Teig nicht anders sein. Die einen mögen es so, und die anderen eben so. Geschmäcker sind da sehr verschieden. Und so ist auch die Zahl der Rezepte, die im Netz zu finden sind, eben so hoch. Die Rezepte ähneln sich alle, doch wird kein Rezept wie das andere sein.
Pizzateig selber machen – es ist nicht schwer.
Die Pizza ist eine Speise, die jedem und auch immer schmeckt. Sie kann recht schnell zubereitet werden, und auch vorbereitet werden, wenn Gäste zum Essen geladen sind. Das Grundrezept für den Pizzateig ist recht einfach. Die meisten Zutaten, die für den Pizzateig gebraucht werden, wird sicher jeder zu Hause haben:
Basisrezept für einen Pizzateig:
500 Gramm Mehl 250 ml Wasser 10 Gramm Hefe, entspricht einem Päckchen Trockenhefe 1 Prise Salz 3 Esslöffel Olivenöl.
Ein einfaches und leichtes Rezept für den Pizzateig, das je nach Geschmack verändert werden kann.
Der Pizza Hefeteig wird so gemacht, dass das Mehl in eine große Schüssel gegeben wird und die Trockenhefe darüber zerbröselt wird. Das Wasser, welches am besten lauwarm sein sollte, wird anschließend in die Schüssel gegossen ebenso wie das Salz.
Der Teig muss dann noch gut geknetet werden. Am einfachsten ist es mit einem Knethaken. Es sollte der Mixer so lange genutzt werden, bis aus den Zutaten ein glatter Teig entstanden ist. Eventuell muss noch ein wenig Wasser oder Mehl dazugegeben werden.
Grundzutaten, mit denen der Pizza Hefeteig gelingen wird.
Wer im Internet ein wenig stöbert, der wird gerade bei den Maßangaben immer wieder Abweichungen finden. Und auch die Zugabe von Zucker ist nicht selten in einem Rezept zu finden. Jeder kann hier selbst ein wenig experimentieren, wie der Pizzateig am besten ist.
Bei der Maßangabe vom Mehl sollte aber nicht abgewichen werden, weil dieses sonst die Konsistenz des Teiges verändern würde. Wer mag, der kann die Sorte des Mehls austauschen. Statt des „normalen“ weißen Mehl kann auch Vollkorn oder Dinkelmehl genommen werden . Dieses bringt ein wenig Abwechslung ins Pizzateig selber machen und wird für ein anderes Geschmackserlebnis sorgen. Der Pizzahefeteig ist dabei nur eine Variante, aber die, die am meisten genutzt wird. Auch ohne Hefe kann ein Pizzateig lecker gemacht werden. So kann statt der Hefe Backpulver oder auch Quark genutzt werden.
Die Ruhepause der Hefeteig Pizza.
Ein Pizzateig, der mit Hefe gemacht wird, muss ruhen. Ansonsten wird der Teig nicht gären, sodass er beim backen nicht aufgeht. Der Teig sollte dahin gestellt werden, wo es ein wenig wärmer ist. Im Winter kann der Teig in der Rührschüssel an eine Heizung gestellt werden. Mit einem Handtuch abgedeckt, damit kein Staub hineingelingt, wird es hier einige Zeit dauern, bis er weiterverarbeitet werden kann. Im Sommer ist auch ein Platz gut, wo die Sonne einstrahlt. Pauschal gesagt, sollte sich der Teig um etwa das Doppelte vergrößern. Mit 1,5 Stunden – 2 Stunden Wartezeit ist zu rechnen.
In der Zwischenzeit kann die selbstgemachte Pizza aber schon weiter vorbereitet werden. So kann die Tomatensoße gekocht werden, damit sie dann auf den Pizzateig gegeben werden kann.
Auch bei der perfekten Pizzasoße sind die Geschmäcker sehr verschieden. Wer aber den richtig typischen Geschmack der italienischen Pizza bekommen möchte, der muss eine frische Soße kochen. Frische Tomaten, Gewürze, wie Oregano, Knoblauch und Pepperoni sollten in keiner Pizzasoße fehlen. Ebenso kann Salz noch dazu gegeben werden.
Die Soße alleine wird der Pizza erst den Geschmack verleihen!
Den Pizzabelag vorbereiten.
Da der Pizzateig einige Zeit ruht, ist es an der Zeit, sich auch die Zutaten für den Belag schon einmal bereitzustellen. Der Käse muss gerieben werden. Welche Sorte die richtige ist, ist auch wieder abhängig vom Geschmack. Es kann alles, was die Käsewelt hergibt, auf den selbstgemachten Pizzateig getan werden, Gorgonzola, Gouda und auch Mozzarella.
Für den eigentlichen Belag ist es da genauso. Nicht nur die klassischen Beläge, Salami, Schinken, Thunfisch, sondern auch einmal etwas Abwechslungsreiches, wie Rucola, Meeresfrüchte oder Spinat.
Den Pizzateig belegen.
Wenn der Teig ein wenig aufgegangen ist, ist er für die Weiterverarbeitung fertig. Er kann nun ausgerollt werden. Beim Ausrollen kommt es ebenso auf den eigenen Geschmack an. Ein dünn ausgerollter Pizzaboden ist knackig, ein dicker Boden, luftig und weich . Gerade die amerikanischen Pizzen sind bekannt dafür, dass sie einen dicken Pizzaboden haben.
Um den Boden gut ausrollen zu können, sollte noch etwas Mehl verwendet werden . Es verhindert, dass der Pizzateig kleben bleibt, und dann reißt. Den Teig auf ein Blech geben, welches mit Backpapier ausgelegt ist oder Mehl bestäubt ist. Klassisch wird das Blech mit gutem Olivenöl eingerieben, sodass der Boden nicht an dem Blech kleben bleiben kann. Zudem nimmt er so auch noch den Geschmack von Oliven an.
Die Soße, die ein wenig abgekühlt sein sollte, kann nun auf den selbstgemachten Teig gegeben werden. Bei der Dosierung sind die Grenzen wieder sehr breit. Vermieden werden sollte es aber, dass die Soße zu dicht am Rand ist, da sie sonst eher herunterläuft, statt auf der Pizza zu bleiben. Wer mag, kann nun schon ein wenig Käse auf die Pizza geben, den anderen Belag ebenso darauf machen, und dann noch einmal eine Schicht Käse zum Abschluss auf die gesamte Pizza geben.
Pizza in den Ofen.
Die Pizza muss nun in den Ofen gegeben werden. Am besten ist es, wenn dieser vorgeheizt ist. Danach muss die Pizza noch rund 12 Minuten backen , bis sie dann servierfertig ist. Der Rand sollte leicht knusprig und gebräunt sein, der Käse goldgelb. Eventuell muss dabei die Minutenanzahl noch angepasst werden.
Wer den Pizzateig selber machen möchte, der braucht keinen Pizzastein. Klassisch wird sie aber auf diesem gebacken.
Pizzateig selber machen, ist nicht schwer und gelingt eigentlich immer. Wer das richtige Rezept erst einmal hat, der wird kaum Probleme haben, den Pizzateig immer wieder gleichbleibend gut zu machen.
TIPP: Der Pizzateig kann auch gut vorbereitet werden. Er kann dann noch einige Stunden bis hin zu einem Tag im Kühlschrank aufgehoben werden. So ist der Pizzateig auch ideal, wenn Gäste kommen und niemand, statt die Zeit mit den Gästen zu verbringen, in der Küche stehen möchte.
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Download unseres Pizzateig Rezeptes.
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Grilled Shrimp Scampi Flatbread Pizza.
Well tomorrow is another Monday. Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. In case any of you are wondering, I work your typical data entry job from 6 to 2:30 M- F. Currently going back to school for an Associates degree in Web Design. Being a full time blogger would be the ULTIMATE job and I’ve been working very hard on this site. Trying to take better food pictures, getting more visitors to this site, you know the usually blogging thing, etc… *Sigh.
This shrimp scampi pizza is the bomb.com.
You can choose to grill it or bake it in the oven. If you’re looking for something different to grill give pizza a try. The grill gives the pizza crust this nice little charred flavored. It’s your typical shrimp scampi flavors: lot’s of garlic, butter, olive oil, and shrimp. The bonus part is the crust and cheese. How can this be bad? If you’re a fan of shrimp scampi you’ll love this pizza!
1 8 inch flat bread 8 to 10 large jumbo shrimp, peeled and devine ¼ cup of mozzarella cheese 2 to 3 teaspoons of garlic, chopped 1 tsp of butter 1 tsp of olive oil ¼ cup of chicken stock Parmesan Cheese Crushed Red Pepper Flakes Parsley.
In a skillet, heat the butter and olive oil. When the butter has melted and bubbly, and the garlic. Wait for the garlic to start turning a golden brown color. Add the chicken stock and cook until the liquid has reduced in half. Add the shrimp and cook on each side until pink. Flip the shrimp and cook until the other side is pink. Layer the mozzarella cheese on top of the flat bread. Add the cooked shrimp and sauce. Bake in an oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Garnish with parmesan cheese, parsley flakes, and crushed red pepper if you like the heat.
I’m drooooling! This looks delish!!
Such a creative take on shrimp scampi AND pizza. I’ve never grilled pizza, but you’ve sold me on it! And these pictures are super pretty! xo!
Hi, I bet this is the recipe I’ve been looking for forever! can’t wait to try it. a local pizza place made garlic shrimp pizza which sent me out this world. but then they changed it up — up to less than good. you’ve made my week. thanks maude.
Hope it is the recipe you’re looking for!
As a beginning griller this recipe looks amazing but how would we grill it? Thank you in advance.
Rick Nelson says.
Good pizza, I’ve been making a similar version for years as my wife can’t eat pork it’s an awesome alterative pizza topping for us. One sugestion I’d make that I think you’ll like as much as we do is to add some capers to the shrimp as they’re cooking and make sure they make it to the pizza too, you’ll love it.
I just made this for dinner tonight and it was DELICIOUS. I omitted the pepper flakes because I’m not a fan. It was filling and a healthier option. I will definitely be making this again!!
I just made this for dinner and it was soooo good! I shaved fresh parm on top instead of the crumbled kind and added some basil since I love it so much. Amazing! 🙂
Lesley Bourke says.
I just made this and am looking forward to making it again… Excellent, however, I didn’t add the red pepper. Wouldn’t change a thing. Yum.
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Hi, I'm Jenna from Fargo, ND. I work a full time job and I'm going back to school for web design. Walking Dead fan, lover of Food Network, bacon, and photography. Read More…
Plum Galette.
Plum Galette.
October 12th, 2011 | Category: Fruit, Tarts and Pies.
Thank God I can bake. Because otherwise, after seeing what I saw, I would have just died.
Since you’re reading a food blog, you must have come across the Chez Panisse 40th anniversary photos. And since you’re alive, you MUST know how to bake. Because otherwise, you couldn’t have survived after seeing what I saw.
More specifically, assuming you did see it, you must have baked this plum galette. And if you hadn’t, then I have to ask: What’s wrong with you?
Seriously, how did you resist the urge? And if you did bake it, you must have felt the need to share it with the rest of the world. So, why haven’t I heard from you?
Anyway. I did bake it and am here to tell.
First, the photos. Todd Selby documented 14 of the gatherings and took photos for T Magazine. Here they are: part 1, 2, 3 and 4. If you are pressed for time, here are Selby’s favorites. In addition to those, here’s David’s post, which includes the photos of the plum galette that inspired this post.
The moment I saw the photo with the brush applying a glaze on top, I knew what the folks over at Chez Panisse were doing. They must have found the most fragrant plums of the season, thought for a second and realized quickly that those plums were destined for a tart – one with as few ingredients as possible. Like two. Plums and sugar.
That is kind of genius. This tart doesn’t really need anything else. See, the plums are very high in pectin and forty five minutes in the oven with sugar means instant jam. Yes, this galette creates its own filling!
Isn’t that something? The sugar draws moisture out of the plums, the heat turns it into a syrup and because the amount of pectin in the plums is so high, the syrup quickly becomes jam.
The same logic applies to the glaze: (Plums + sugar) x heat = Glaze in a second.
OK, maybe not a second, but close. I grated two plums into a pot, poured some sugar on top and seven minutes later, the glaze was ready. It would have been a crime to glaze this beauty with anything else.
So, I assume you’re getting dressed and will start running to the farmers market as soon as you’re finished reading this post.
And if you’re not, what’s wrong with you?
Inspired by a photo from Chez Panisse 40th Anniversary Celebrations.
Makes two 9-inch galette doughs (you only need one for the recipe – you can either halve the recipe or freeze the second piece)
2 sticks + 1 tablespoon (250 grams) butter, cold 1 teaspoon cider vinegar 1/2 cup ice water 2+3/4 cups (385 grams) all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons (30 grams) sugar 1 teaspoon (7 grams) fine sea salt.
8-10 (1,75 pounds/800 grams) red plums, divided 1/2 cup (100 grams) + 3 tablespoons (45 grams) sugar, divided 1 tablespoon (15 grams) butter, melted.
To prepare the crust , cut the butter into small pieces and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes. Stir vinegar and water in a small bowl and keep in the refrigerator until needed. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse flour, sugar and salt to mix. Add chilled butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add the water & vinegar mixture and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds. Transfer the dough in a large mixing bowl and gather into a ball. Divide into two, flatten slightly and wrap individually in plastic. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. You can keep the dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Place one piece of dough between two parchment papers and shape into a flat disk by smashing it with a rolling pin. Roll out into a rough 11-inch circle. Trim the edges to a clean circle with a pizza cutter (or a pairing knife). Transfer the circle to a baking sheet and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375 F. To prepare the fruit layer , reserve two of the plums and cut the rest into two. Remove the pits, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices and set aside. Grate the remaining two plums into a medium pot, add half a cup of the sugar on top and set aside. Remove the rolled-out galette dough from the freezer and leaving an inch and a half border from the outside, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the sugar on top. Arrange the plum slices on top in slightly overlapping concentric circles and sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar on top of the plums. Roll the border of the dough towards the plums, brush the top of the border with melted butter and sprinkle the remaining half tablespoon of sugar on top. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze . Place the pot with the grated plums and sugar over high heat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cook over medium-high heat for 6-7 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pass through a fine mesh sieve, discard the pulp and set the glaze aside. Remove the galette from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Brush the top of the plums with the warm glaze (you will not need all of it) and serve (preferably with a scoop of seven-bean vanilla ice cream) immediately.
Note: This galette is best served warm. If you have leftovers, warm for a few minutes in a 350 F oven before serving. You’ll also have leftover glaze. To apply it the next day, add a tablespoon or two of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
1 - Shirley@kokken69 on October 12th, 2011.
Chez Panisse is on my list of To-Visit-Restaurants… In the mean time, your plum galette is gorgeous! I am bookmarking this!
I’ve been a fan of your site for a while now.thank you for constantly inspiring me.a big hug from mumbai…marylou.
Beautiful photos and recipe!
cenk,yine bir sanat eseri çıkarmışsın…tebrikler.
As always, it looks just perfect!
Beautiful galette! The Turkish plums are out in full force in Istanbul, so I will have to try this soon. Thanks for sharing!
Dare I say that your galette looks better than the one it was inspired by? In fact, I’m running out the door now as I type to get some plums. Hopefully my galette will taste as gorgeous as yours look!
Okay. Heading out for red plums now….
I didn’t get the plum-loving gene, or even the plum-liking one, but your glaze looks amazing (lovely color).
And I would eat one bite of anything they cooked at Chez Panisse.
You’re so right…Iam going out tomorrow to buy plums to make this tart! Looks amazing.
Cenk, I’m the lady who lives in Istanbul and I have a question….which variety of plums should I buy for this? There are a few types at the manav and I’m not sure which would be best suited.
Thanks for another winner.
Dear Plum Galette,
Have you been reading my diary? Thanks for making my dreams come true!
I dont know what is wrong me… Going to the Farmer’s market and will figure it out while baking!
So happy to hear the great comments. Hope you guys like the tart. Can’t wait for your comments after tasting it.
Judy – You should buy plums (erik) labeled as “Anjelik”. Here’s a photo; the ones you’ll find in Istanbul have a much darker (purple/navy) skin.
Two trees worth of beautiful plums are sitting on my counter tops=time to get baking! Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos, now I’ll have to make my own…can’t eat a digital photo ;0)
Gorgeous! I’m running to the local farmer’s morning as soon as I get up tomorrow morning. Sunday morning + baking + plums = magic.
This picture just jumped out at me from Tastespotting. Beautiful!
Stunning looking galette !
Ok… you caught me there; I had not heard of the 40th Chez Panisse foundation but I saw this plum galette on tastespotting and I just had to come and check it out. (does that count as a plus?) and after seeing this and reading your post I will go to the farmers market and get some plums. If it wasn’t sunday right now that is… 🙂 Love it, love the colors!
What amazing colours! And your pastry looks perfect and crispy!
Adorable! Can we also have a pumpkin pie for the season? 😛
Ok….what’s wrong with me….I can never, never, never, never, Never, Ever slice apples, plums nicely to create such an artistic circle of fruit pie/ galette. But, after reading your post, I will try again.
Thanks for posting and for “telling”!
fantastic. Inspirational!Thank you.
Love the top-down photo of the plums on the tart dough. We have arrived in Turkey 2 days ago and am spoilt rotten with all the amazing food. So much fresh fruit!!
Hope everyone is safe at your end at this time.. thoughts are with you and all.
Great post, Cenk! I don’t think I can resist that either – cannot wait for plums to be in season here. Gorgeous galette!
soma – Thank you. I live far away from the epicenter so we’re all OK. I wish I could say the same for the people in Van.
Cent, So nice to hear from you! Whenever I think of Istanbul and what a great time we had, I think about you and all of your great tips! Thank you again.
And it’s so fun to see your Chez Panisse inspiration. The 40th celebration was amazing – our town was bursting with excitement. I had the great fortune to have dinner at Alice’s house that week and it was an evening I’ll never forget. Your plum galette is a perfect tribute to the spirit of Chez Panisse.
You have arranged those plums sooo neatly.. just can’t take my eyes of it!
I just stumbled across your lovely blog while googling where to buy heavy cream in Istanbul. Your pictures are so gorgeous!!
Where do you find heavy cream or whole milk or vanilla extract in Istanbul?? My roommates and I are desperate for some Thanksgiving desserts!
I’m so happy to add another Istanbul foodie blog to my favorites!
Molly – Thanks! You can find heavy cream and whole milk everywhere. Heavy cream is labeled as “krema” and my favorite brand is Pınar. Unfortunately, it is quite hard to find vanilla extract. You can try Santral Şarküteri in the Bebek district (they carry McCormick’s vanilla extract). Happy cooking.
This is simply beautiful! I’m adding it to my Pinterest, not to forget 🙂
Stumbled across your blog yesterday and just had to make this. OMG…. I have just taken it out of the oven and it is so goooood. Must admit mine doesn’t look as good as yours and I must use darker plums next time but the flavour took me back to my childhood when my grandmother used to make her own plum jam. Thank you so much.
Janine – Isn’t it the best fruit tart? Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Cenk, I made this beautiful tart yesterday. The plums in Istanbul are so wonderful at the moment. I have to say the glaze is incredible, the amazing ruby color with this tart sweetness. So yummy! Needless to say the plum galette did not last long.
Dear Cafe Fernando,
Thank you for the wonderful recipe,
It is possible that the quantity of butter in the recipe is doubled?
Ana – You get two tart doughs with the recipe, but only use one to make the galette.
Dear Café Fernando,
I made the plum tart last night for my guest and it was a huge hit. Tomorrow it will be you cereal ice cream for my grandchildren. Please stor posting such appealing and delicious recipes I just discovered your site and I won’t sleep till I bake evething. Thanks.
A tire grand-mother.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. We had the great fortune of enjoying this lovely dessert at Chez Panisse a couple of weeks ago, and will now attempt to recreate it at home!
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In the spring of 2004, I planted myself a mean garden. And boy howdy was I ever ambitious. Aside from over thirty tomato plants, I also planted red and green bell peppers, lettuces, cabbages, spinach, cucumbers, squash, and just about every herb under the sun: basil, cilantro, dill, fresh parsley…and a few things I couldn’t even pronounce. And sure, I was pregnant with my fourth baby at the time. And I was big. Reeeeal big. But my due date wasn’t ’til the middle of July and by then, I reckoned, I’d have gotten things in the garden well underway. I’d take oh, three to four days off to pop on over to the hospital and do my thing, then I’d be back squattin’ in my rows of vegetables in no time.
Then, on June 4 , I went into pre-term labor , had an emergency cesarean, and spent the next two-plus weeks holed up in an NICU with my struggling little baby boy. And I had a wicked scar across my abdominal region, not to mention three other kids and a huge, ill-conceived garden at home. I couldn’t figure out what I was more worried about.
Marlboro Man rose to the occasion, at least where our other three children were concerned. He fed and bathed them, told them bedtime stories, and wiped their body parts for two straight weeks, God love him. And his mother, my beloved mother-in-law , stepped up to the plate and totally took care of my burgeoning garden, driving out to our place daily to water, weed, and harvest my vegetables as the need arose. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. Because the time I’d spent planning, cultivating, and planting that sucker? I would’ve packed it in and hung it up forever if it had all been for naught.
Weeks later, I was back at home and feeling sorry for myself, what with the massive scar that marred my gut and the now-thriving infant who was glued to my bosom 24/7, oh, and the other three sucklings who bit at my ankles on an hourly basis. I was deflated, defeated, and fat, and I opened up my bulging recipe binder, which has always been a source of escape for me, and found a recipe I’d printed out a few years before. I’d seen the dish on a BBC episode of The Naked Chef, and I’d always had it in my mind as something that might bring me happiness. And as I perused the recipe, I noticed that just about everything I needed for the salad was growing outside in my garden—the garden that was still thriving, no thanks to me. So I stood up, dislodged the suckling from my left teat, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and set out to make the salad. Something in my life had to give.
The result? It was a triumph. A total winner. An explosion of color, flavor, and texture, and guess what? It instantly lifted me out of the funk I was in. The next day, I started doing Pilates, dropped 25 pounds, and became a much more well-rounded, intelligent, successful and popular person. Well, not really on most of that stuff, but the salad, folks, is really that good.
I’ve adapted the original to meet my needs, and the beauty of this salad is, you can just wing it, adjusting the ingredients of the salad or the dressing as you like. And if I had any friends, I always thought a great idea for a luncheon would be to make the dressing, then assign all your buddies one item from the list of ingredients. Then when everyone shows, you just dump it all into a big bowl and go for it!
Someday, if I get some friends, I’m going to try that.
For now, though, I’m tickled to share it with you!
The Cast of Characters: Cooked linguine noodles (I use dry) and… Veggies ! I use purple cabbage, scallions, various colors of bell peppers, hot (serrano) peppers, bean sprouts, lots of cilantro…
And that’s Napa Cabbage over on the left. I love Napa Cabbage. You can also use Romaine lettuce.
Oh, and spinach. Lots and lots of spinach.
So first, just start cutting up the veggies. And you can just use approximate quantities, using more of what you like most, or more of the colors you like.
To cut up the Napa cabbage, just slice it across the head.
I usually start with half a head and work my way up.
And if you’re saving the salad for later, just throw it in a Ziploc. And I seriously don’t know what is going on with my hand in this shot, but I’d like to assure all of you that I have not been stricken with a sudden case of gangrene. Or elephantiasis of the thumb. It must have something to do with the lighting in my kitchen. As far as you know.
Next, cut up the purple cabbage, which I think is an exceedingly beautiful addition to this salad, so please include it if at all possible.
Just cut up whatever quantity makes you happy…
And throw it in a separate bag.
Repeat with the bean sprouts. Wash ’em first.
And hey, I had some Romaine that was lonely and feeling left out. So I cut up some of that, too.
And now for the bell peppers: First, cut off the top…
Then reach in and rip out its innards.
Cut off the bottom, then slice the bell pepper in half from top to bottom. Then, slicing in the other direction, cut long, thin strips.
Repeat with the red pepper, and an orange if you can get your paws on one. I’ve never grown orange peppers, but Sam’s Club apparently knows someone who has.
Now slice up a few scallions—white, green, and all.
And this is important: Chop up LOTS and LOTS of cilantro. No need to mince it too finely; just give it a rough chop.
And baby spinach. Mmmmm…I use a lot of this. Wash and dry it first, of course.
Now! Set it all aside, set it in the fridge, whatever you want. But we’re just gettin’ warmed up here. It’s time to make the dressing, which really is the star of this dish.
The (Dressing’s) Cast of Characters: Olive Oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, hot (serrano) peppers, fresh ginger, and even more cilantro! Cilantro is important in this recipe…or hadn’t you noticed?
Things this recipe can NOT do without: Olive oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, fresh ginger, and cilantro. So basically, everything. Don’t leave anything out. Except the hot peppers. You can leave those out if you’re a pansy.
In a bowl (or a jar), add 8 tablespoons of Olive Oil.
Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime.
Add 8 tablespoons of soy sauce. (And if any of you wise guys are gonna tell me that 8 tablespoons equates to some other, easier measurement like 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup or something…yeah, well…you’re a wise guy.)
Now add 2 to 3 tablespoons of sesame oil, which is absolutely one of my favorite ingredients in all of Food Land. The flavor it brings to dishes is sublime. SUBLIME, I tell you!
What does sublime mean?
Now add in 1/3 cup packed brown sugar. The sugar is really essential in this dressing, because the salty soy sauce and acidic lime juice really need a balance. Often I’ll add more brown sugar at the end if the dressing needs a little more sweetness.
Chop up 2 cloves of garlic and add it into the bowl.
And now it’s time to chop up some ginger, which is another one of those SUBLIME ingredients in the food chain of the life of the world of the universe. DadGUM, do I love fresh ginger. And here’s how you chop it:
Just lop off one of the pieces…
Then stand it on its side and with a sharp knife, slice off the tough exterior. Discard that part.
Then lay it on its side and cut it into strips.
Next, cut the strips in the opposite direction…
And keep chopping until the ginger is minced. You’ll need about 3 generous tablespoons of the heavenly stuff.
Add it into the dressing…
And whisk away! It’ll be a little thick because of the brown sugar, but thick is good. Thick is real, real good.
Now, this is optional, but I think it really adds something to the mix. Seed, then cut a hot pepper (I use Serrano, but a jalapeno would work, too) into strips.
Then rotate the strips 90 degrees and slice in the opposite direction to chop it up. Use as much as you’d like; I use 1 to 2 peppers, total. But you might want to go easy if you’re of the pansy persuasion. Add it into the dressing.
And finally: more cilantro goodness. And I’ll tell you right now, if you’re among the small percentage of homo sapiens that can’t tolerate the flavor of cilantro, you might wanna cook something else tonight. Oh, and I’m sorry for your loss.
Add a bunch into the dressing, and stir together. (IMPORTANT: If you’re making the dressing ahead of time, do not add the cilantro. I just make the dressing, keep it in a jar, then throw in the cilantro at the last minute and give it a good shake. If you add the cilantro ahead of time, it’ll be a wilty mess. And you’ll never, ever forgive yourself. Ever.)
Now. Let the fun…BEGIN!
Add the cold noodles to a large bowl…
Then throw in the other ingredients one by one: cabbages, spinach…
Pretty bell peppers…
And Cilantro. Isn’t this pretty?
Now pour on the delicious dressing.
To say this dressing is flavorful is like saying an orchid is a flower.
Wait. That was, like, the worst analogy I’ve ever come up with. What I’m trying to say is, this dressing has to be tasted to be believed. And it doesn’t have orchids in it.
Oops! Almost forgot the baby spinach. It’s an essential ingredient, too.
Now just toss it all together gently. I use tongs. Sometimes I use my hands.
Just make sure everything’s adequately coated. And the cool thing is, if the salad seems a little dry, just mix up a little of the wet ingredients of the dressing and throw it in. It’s a very organic process.
Now grab a nice, big platter. There’s nothing more hopeful than a nice, big platter.
And just pour it right on. Oh, baby. Oh. My. Gracious. Baby. Love. Of. My. Heart.
It has to be said that there’s no butter in this salad. And that Marlboro Man wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.
Because that leaves more for me. And I’ll take all of this salad I can get. It’s really and truly…sublime.
Asian Noodle Salad.
July 11, 2009 1171.
Ingredients.
SALAD INGREDIENTS: 1 package Linguine Noodles, Cooked, Rinsed, And Cooled 1/2 head Sliced Napa Cabbage, Or More To Taste 1/2 head Sliced Purple Cabbage, Or More To Taste 1/2 bag Baby Spinach, Or More To Taste 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Sliced Thin 1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper, Sliced Thin 1 whole Orange Bell Pepper, Thinly Sliced 1 bag Bean Sprouts (also Called Mung Bean Sprouts) Chopped Cilantro, Up To 1 Bunch, To Taste 3 whole Scallions, Sliced 3 whole Cucumbers Peeled And Sliced 1 can (about 10 Oz.) Whole Cashews, Lightly Toasted In Skillet _____ FOR THE DRESSING: 1 whole Lime, Juiced 8 Tablespoons Olive Oil 8 Tablespoons Soy Sauce 2 Tablespoons (up To 3 Tablespoons) Sesame Oil 1/3 cup Brown Sugar 3 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger Chopped 2 cloves Garlic, Chopped 2 whole Hot Peppers Or Jalapenos, Chopped Chopped Cilantro.
Instructions.
Asian Noodle Salad.
July 11, 2009 1171.
Ingredients.
SALAD INGREDIENTS: 1 package Linguine Noodles, Cooked, Rinsed, And Cooled 1/2 head Sliced Napa Cabbage, Or More To Taste 1/2 head Sliced Purple Cabbage, Or More To Taste 1/2 bag Baby Spinach, Or More To Taste 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Sliced Thin 1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper, Sliced Thin 1 whole Orange Bell Pepper, Thinly Sliced 1 bag Bean Sprouts (also Called Mung Bean Sprouts) Chopped Cilantro, Up To 1 Bunch, To Taste 3 whole Scallions, Sliced 3 whole Cucumbers Peeled And Sliced 1 can (about 10 Oz.) Whole Cashews, Lightly Toasted In Skillet _____ FOR THE DRESSING: 1 whole Lime, Juiced 8 Tablespoons Olive Oil 8 Tablespoons Soy Sauce 2 Tablespoons (up To 3 Tablespoons) Sesame Oil 1/3 cup Brown Sugar 3 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger Chopped 2 cloves Garlic, Chopped 2 whole Hot Peppers Or Jalapenos, Chopped Chopped Cilantro.
Instructions.
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I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
YUM!! This looks so darn tasty… I’m sure my DH won’t touch it either…oh well!
YUM!! This looks so darn tasty… I’m sure my DH won’t touch it either…oh well!
Oh, Pioneer Woman, while this salad looks wonderful, what would you suggest for the woman who thinks cilantro tastes like soap?
Oh, Pioneer Woman, while this salad looks wonderful, what would you suggest for the woman who thinks cilantro tastes like soap?
My Appy Dumpling is in the oven now. I can’t wait to have some of it:D I used diet 7UP though!
This salad looks yummmiiii….I should try making it soon:)
I loveeeee your website!!
My Appy Dumpling is in the oven now. I can’t wait to have some of it:D I used diet 7UP though!
This salad looks yummmiiii….I should try making it soon:)
I loveeeee your website!!
Oooh that looks…sublime. And so summery. I think it will be the perfect antidote to the never ending winter of Boston. Thanks for sharing.
Oooh that looks…sublime. And so summery. I think it will be the perfect antidote to the never ending winter of Boston. Thanks for sharing.
It looks so wonderful and tasty!
It looks so wonderful and tasty!
What makes this salad so sublime, is the fact that it’s vegan! ;-p.
What makes this salad so sublime, is the fact that it’s vegan! ;-p.
now, with no butter. sweet! er…hot!
what do i know? i’ve been making soup all weekend!
now, with no butter. sweet! er…hot!
what do i know? i’ve been making soup all weekend!
Holy Hotdogs, Batman!
Holy Hotdogs, Batman!
I feel like sesame seeds would also be an excellent addition. And, yes, four tablespoons is a quarter cup.
I feel like sesame seeds would also be an excellent addition. And, yes, four tablespoons is a quarter cup.
That salad looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing another recipe!
That salad looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing another recipe!
I just ate a huge portion of chicken fried steak and thought that I was full… until I read this post. Gah. That is one gorgeous salad!
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Stuffed Pizza Cupcakes.
I’ve finally started Christmas shopping. Last year I had most of it done by the very first week in December. Yeah, I was a little nuts wasn’t I? Nuts or extremely genius I’d say. This year, I’m probably going to do a lot of my shopping online. Since I’ve stopped blogging at Saving with Amy, I’m very much less in-tune with the current deals and steals across the web.
It’s a weird feeling not being on top of the latest deals.
But my sanity is currently intact so I’m not going to complain. It took a long time to make my decision to quit blogging deals and in the end, it was best for me and my family. And now I get to spend my time making yummy food and fun DIY projects to share with you!
These, my friends, might just be your family’s new favorite snack. When I made these, I had no idea how excited that my family would get about them. They have been requested over and over again. Hubby even wants me to make some for him to take for lunches.
There is nothing better than making something that is requested a second time. Well at least in my book anyways.
I made these earlier in the day and just reheated them for dinner and they were perfect. You could just make them on demand, but I needed the daylight for my pictures. But it goes to show that these are great for making ahead of time for a party or lunches.
You start by rolling out a store-bought pizza dough. Get it as long and flat as you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Next, spread about 1/2 a jar of pizza sauce over the entire pizza dough, leaving about an inch around the edges.
Then sprinkle the entire thing with mini pepperonis. I was going to use the regular size, but when I came across these, I thought they might work better for this. And I was right! So glad that I used the smaller. It made it possible to get a bite of pepperoni in each bite without them trying to separate.
Then cut the dough in half.
Place about 4-5 pieces of cut up string cheese across the dough like this.
Then proceed to roll the dough up. Once rolled, cut it into 1 inch pieces doing your best to keep all the fillings inside.
Place the rolled up pieces into a greased muffin pan with the swirled part facing up.
You’ll top with a little more mini pepperonis and some shredded cheese before baking. Then bake them up and you’re done!
SO amazingly yummy! Everyone will be bound to love these. Come on, pizza dough filled with sauce, pepperoni, and cheese? I think so!
1 pkg Store-Bought Pizza Dough 1/2 Jar Pizza Sauce 1 c. Mini Pepperonis, Divided 1/2 c. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 6 Mozzarella String Cheese, cut into 1 inch pieces.
Preheat oven according to pizza dough’s directions. Begin by rolling out the pizza dough flat. Spread the pizza sauce over the dough, leaving 1 inch around the edges. Sprinkle with 1/2 c. mini pepperonis. Cut the dough in half. Lay 4-5 pieces of string cheese across the dough, adding more as you roll. Do this with both of the pizza doughs. Cut into 1 inch pieces and place in a greased muffin pan with the swirled side up. Bake according to your pizza dough’s directions checking after about 12 minutes. When tops begin to brown, remove from oven. Use a knife to separate from the pan and cool.
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Tried these and loved them! Except I didn’t use the string cheese, just shredded mozzarella. Will definitely be making again, thanks!
How many does it make?
Love those mini-pepperonis – but we microwave then a little bit before using them, enough to make them crunchy. This pull the extra oils out hem before using them in pizzas.
That’s an awesome idea! Thanks!
Do you use the regular or mini muffin tins?
Hi Cathy! I used regular for these, but I have made them with the mini before. It’s a little messier to make, but they are more bite-size. I don’t personally like eating a ton of pizza (or pizza muffins), so I like them smaller anyways. Too much bread and carb overload! lol.
Hey is it okay if I make my own pizza dough?
Hi! Yes of course! Your homemade pizza dough would probably even taste better! I would just try to get it fairly stiff and not too sticky otherwise it may be difficult to roll. But go for it! Let me know how it turns out!
That looks good i need to try it.
Do u use the cold pizza dough thats rolled like the crescent rolls by the time I got ingredients on it , it was hard to roll up.
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Thanks for allowing me to feature these amazing stuffed pizza cupcakes in my Friday Five post today! I’ve made the recipe three times now, and they keep getting better and better. (So easy, too!) Here’s the post if you want to check it out: The Friday Five: Knitting Without Needles.
Howdy! This blog post couldn’t be written much better!
Reading through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
He continually kept preaching about this. I most certainly will send this post to.
him. Fairly certain he’s going to have a very.
good read. Many thanks for sharing!
Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Opera.
I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you.
know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon.
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What size cupcake pans? Mini?
Hi Jill! I used standard size muffin pans. Have not tried the minis yet. Let me know if you do!
When you cut the unrolled dough into half and you roll it up. How many do you cut up each log? 4 or 6? I don’t see where you say that this recipe makes 8 or 12 ‘cupcakes.’
Hi Jenny! Depending on how big or little you cut them with both halves, you should be able to get 6 out of each. Making 12 total.
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I’m not much of a cook, but I found these hard to roll up and very messing while cutting up. I think they taste good, but next time I make them I’m going to put the dough in the muffin tins and then fill them.
how many does these make?
I’m curious about the cheese. Only 4 or 5 pieces of string cheese? How do all the pizza muffins have cheese then! I would have thought 1 small piece per muffin.
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Pizza rezept original
Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe.
One of America's Perfect Pizzeria's: Zagat.
Last Updates (color coded so you can see new edits):
10/18/06 (Text changed in Purple)
11/6/2007 A few new Pizzeria Rankings - Some of the best pizza in NY is also the newest.
03/13/08 Lots of new Pizzeria Rankings.
04/10/08 - Minor edits to big table of pizzerias.
6/24/08 Added a Google Map of the world's best pizzerias.
5/2/12 Videos explaining the various styles of pizza.
Pizza is the most sensuous of foods. I get emails from around the world and one of the most common goes something like this: "Jeff, I had this one perfect pizza at a corner shop in Brooklyn in 1972 and I've been thinking about it ever since." I love that!. That's passion. Do you know how many forgettable meals have come and gone since then. What kind of pizza leaves a 35 year impression? Let me describe it to you. The crust is slightly charred. It has a crisp outer layer, but inside it's airy and light. The ingredients are not piled high, but instead are perfectly balanced. It's sweet, salty, full flavored but not greasy. The tomatoes burst with flavor. Each bite makes you hungrier for the next. If this is what you want, you've come to the right place.
Reproducing this was no easy feat, but since moving to Atlanta what choice did I have? Dominos? It's been a bit of an obsession. I've had a lot of failed experiments. However now I can honestly say that the recipe is fully accurate and reproducible. The final breakthrough came in Jan 2005 when I finally got a handle on the proper mixing equipment and procedure. But do not think that following this will be easy. It's not. It will still take practice. Many others have confirmed that by following these steps they too have come to near perfection. This may be the most detailed, accurate and complete recipe on the net for making a true Pizza Napoletana. Pizza inspires passion. I've gotten about a thousand emails representing every continent. If you'd like to contact me, feel free to write at Jeff@Varasanos.com . It may take a little time for me to respond, but I try to answer all emails personally. I'm going to start a photo gallery, so if you have some success, send me a photo and I'll add it for others to see!
At the bottom of this page, I have a List of the Best Pizzerias in the World which I've also places on this Google Map of The World's Best Pizzas. In addition I've created a second Google Map of Fan Favorites - places that have been recommended by fans of this site. I can't really vouch for these but if your in the area check them out and let me know your opinion.
This dough was hand kneaded and baked in just 1 minute 40 seconds.
Me - Do I look happy or what?
Check out this perfect char.
Even blurry pizzas are Tasty!. This pie baked in just 1 minute 40 seconds.
What's better than a light springy crust with a perfect char.
One of my best tasting pies ever:
Check out many more photos at the bottom.
I am going to add a lot more instructions and photos over the next couple of months, including specifics on how to culture the dough, so check back here occasionally. I may even do a few seconds of video here and there.
Let me start off by saying a few things. First, this is about a certain style of pizza. This site is about the kind of pizza that you can get at the oldest and best places in the U.S. or in Naples. This is not about Chicago style or California Style or trying to reproduce Papa John's garlic sauce. This is about making a pie that's as close to Patsy's or Luzzo's or Pepe's or some of the top Brick Oven places. Not that these pies are all identical - but they share certain basics in common.
Second, I want to say that there is a LOT of misinformation out there. Take a tour of the World's top pizza places (there's a list at the bottom of this page). None of these places publish their recipes. They don't write books. You are not going to see any of these places represented at the "U.S. pizza championship" where they compete at dough tossing or who makes the best smoke pork mango pizza.. The real pizza places are not at some trade show out in Vegas where they hawk automatic sauce dispensers and conveyor belt ovens. But somehow though, all the attendees of these shows declare themselves experts and write books and spread the same false ideas. There are about a hundred books and internet recipes that claim to give an authentic or secret pizza dough recipe. Oddly, while many claim to be secret or special, they are practically all the same. Here it is in summary. If you see this recipe, run screaming:
Sprinkle a yeast packet into warm water between 105-115 F and put in a teaspoon of sugar to feed it. Wait for it to foam up or 'proof'. Add all your flour to a Kitchen Aid heavy duty mixer, then add the yeast and salt. Now mix until it pulls away from the side of the bowl. Coat with oil and leave in a warm place until it doubles in bulk, about 1-2 hours. Punch down, spread on a peel with some cornmeal to keep it from sticking and put it on the magical pizza stone that will make this taste just like Sally's in your 500F oven.
I assure you, this will not make anything like a real pizza. It's weird - even chefs whose other recipes all come out pretty good, like Emeril, simply pass around more or less this same terrible recipe.
Pizza is a true specialty item and a real art. It takes passion to make it right. I wasn't a restaurateur when I started out. But I did have a passion for doing this right. I'm not going to give you the 'easy home version'. I'm going to give you the version that makes the best pie I know how to make, even if it takes a bit more effort (ok, more than just a bit)
There are a lot of variables for such a simple food. But these 3 FAR outweigh the others:
The kind of yeast culture or "starter" used along with proper fermentation technique.
All other factors pale in comparison to these 3. I know that people fuss over the brand of flour, the kind of sauce, etc. I discuss all of these things, but if you don't have the 3 fundamentals above handled, you will be limited.
1- It's all in the crust. My dough is just water, salt, flour and yeast. I use no dough conditioners, sugars, oils, malts, corn meal, flavorings or anything else. These violate the "Vera Pizza Napoletana" rules and I doubt that Patsy's or any great brick oven place uses these things. I've only recently begun to measure the actual "baker's percents" of the ingredients. Use this awesome spreadsheet to help you. The sheet allows you to track your experiments. Here's a basic set of ratios. The truth is that a lot of these recipes look the same and that you can vary these ingredients by several percentage points and it's not going to make a huge difference. You really have to learn the technique, which I'm going to explain in as much detail as I can, and then go by feel. Really, I just measure the water and salt and the rest is pretty flexible. The amount of flour is really, "add until it feels right." The amount of Sourdough starter can range from 3% to 20% and not affect the end product all that much. Weights are in grams. I also show this as both "Baker's Percents" (This has flour as 100% by definition and then all the other ingredients as their proportionate weight against of the flour) and using the Italian method which actually makes more sense to me, of showing the base as 1000 grams of water and all the other ingredients in proportion to that. Both methods are attempts to make the recipes scalable. Note that the addition of the poolish, which is half water, half flour, actually makes this a bit wetter, around 65% hydration . Note that this table had an error on it which was corrected on 11/30/06:
If you use Caputo or any 00 flour, you may find that it takes a lot more flour for the given amount of water. Probably a baker's % of 60% or so. One reason I like to feel the dough rather than strictly measure the percent hydration is that with feel you don't have to worry about the type of flour so much. A Caputo and a Bread will feel the same when they are done, even though one might have 60% water and the other 65%. It's the feel that I shoot for, not the number. I vary wetness based on my heat - higher the oven temp, the wetter I want the dough.
I've heard it said that NY has the best pizza because of the water. This is a myth. Get over it. It's not the water. The water is one of a hundred factors. I filter my whole house with a huge 5 stage system, so I use that. If I didn't have that I'd spring for a $1 bottle of Dasani. That will do it too.
Salt only the final dough, never your permanent sourdough culture. For that matter, your culture is fed only water (filtered or Dasani) and flour. Never add any other kind of yeast, salt, sugar or anything else to your permanent culture.
I use a sourdough culture that I got from what is probably the best pizza in the USA - Patsy's Pizza on 117th street in NYC. The place has been there for 80 years. The 'battery poolish' is about 50/50 water and flour.
Buy the book "Classic Sourdoughs" by Ed Wood from www.sourdo.com to learn how to use a sourdough starter. The term sourdough does not necessarily mean that this has a San Francisco Sourdough flavor. The term sourdough just means any yeast other than "baker's yeast" which is what comes in the dry or cake form. There are 1000's of types of yeast. But the commercial products are all the same strain ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae) regardless of the brand you buy or whether it's dry or cake form. Commercial or "baker's yeast" gives a fast, predictable rise, but is lacking in flavor. All other yeasts are called sourdough. San Francisco sourdough is one strain. But there are 1000's of others. I doesn't have to taste sour, like San Francisco, to be called sourdough. It's just a term. You can "create your own" culture by leaving some flour water out on the counter. There are lots of kinds of yeast in the air in your kitchen right now and one of them will set up shop eventually in your flour water and begin growing. What will it taste like? Well, it's like setting a trap for an animal and waiting for dinner. It could be a pheasant. It could be a rat. You have no way of knowing. Do yourself a favor and skip this part and just buy or obtain a known high quality starter. www.sourdo.com sells strains from the world's best bakeries. I've seen many bogus things about the use of starters. A classic is that you can start a wild culture by setting out some flour, water and baker's yeast and the baker's yeast will 'attract' other yeasts. This is alchemy. It's like saying I put out dandelions and they attracted peaches. It makes no sense. Another myth is that you can get the same flavor out of packaged yeast as you can out of a sourdough culture if you handle it right. This is also alchemy. Can you get parsley to taste like thyme if you handle it right? These are distinct organism, like spices, that all have a different flavor. If you use a starter, and you should, then learn from Ed Wood.
A sourdough starter actually consists of 2 separate organisms which exist in a symbiotic relationship. There is the yeast and the lactobacilli. Here's the cliff notes version of what's happening: All flavor really comes from the lactobacilli, all the puff from yeast. The yeast operate well at high temp. The lactobacilli at any temp. Therefore, to develop highly flavored dough put it in the fridge. The yeast will be mostly dormant, giving time for the lactobacilli to produce flavor. The flavor takes a day or more. So you have to keep the yeast on ice that long. Then you take it out of the fridge and let the yeast take over and produce gas. The yeast only needs an hour or two to do this part. This can happen very quickly in a warmer. There is no need for a gradual rise, because at this point the flavor is there. You can smell the alcohol in the dough. The yeast are just adding the bubbles at this point. This technique of refrigeration is called a "cold rise". There are warm rise methods that work too, but I have not gotten the best results with them after numerous attempts. In Naples they virtually all use a warm rise, so I don't doubt the technique can be made to work well. I may revisit this section later.
The lactobacilli and yeast exist in pairs. Not every flavorful lactobacilli has a competent yeast partner. You may find that you've got a culture that has a great flavor, but the puff is not there. No problem. Give it a boost with plain old Baker's yeast, which has little taste but plenty of puff. I use 1/8 teaspoon of instant dry yeast for each batch of 3-5 pies, to give it an extra rise, but 100% of the flavor is from the Patsy's culture.
There are 2 ways to ferment the dough: you can use a 'warm rise' or a 'cold rise'. The warm rise is harder. You simply leave it out at room temp and wait for it to rise. This is hard to control because it could take 10 hours or 24 hours. Tiny, tiny variations in room temp and the amount of yeast you started with will make all the difference. And if it's not risen optimally when you use it, the dough may end up flat and lacking in oven spring. So timing a pizza party this way is hard. By far the easier way to ferment the dough is the cold rise. And the results are just as good if not better. I prefer to age my dough at least 2-3 days in the fridge. I've aged it up to 6 days with good results. However, my culture is very mild. With some cultures 24 hours is the right amount of time and 2 days would be too much.. You have to get to know your culture. They are all different.. 24 hours is the minimum with a cold rise. There's more on this technique down below.
2- Flour: There is a lot of emphasis put on using the right type of flour. Personally, I think this focus is misplaced. Of course, it's important to use high quality ingredients. But improving your dough making technique is much, much more important than hunting down the exact right type of flour. The truth is that almost all flours sold are pretty high quality especially compared to what was available 60 years ago when Patsy Lancieri was making amazing pizza. That alone should tell you something. I currently use either using King Arthur Bread Flour or a blend of this with Caputo Pizzeria flour. I actually think that you can buy any bread flour available at your local supermarket and you'll be ok.
Let me give you a quick flour primer. You can do a lot more internet research if you want, but here's the basics. There are two variables I want to focus on, the Percentage of Protein or 'gluten' and the type of mill. This chart will give you some typical ranges. However, there are no governing standards, so some vendors may call their flour High Gluten, for example, even though the product would fit into another category in this chart:
Caputo, San Felice.
Giusto, King Arthur, Gold Medal, White Lily.
Giusto, King Arthur, Gold Medal, White Lily.
Giusto, King Arthur Sir Lancelot, Gold Medal All Trumps.
Lately I've gone back to using King Arthur Bread Flour. I've used AP successfully as well. The kneading seems to be more critical. Most pizza places in NYC use Hi Gluten Flour and many internet sources insist that Hi Gluten Flour is necessary to make real NY pizza. This information sent a lot of people off ordering expensive mail order flours. However, according to pizza guru Evelyn Solomon, the old timers used flour in the 12% range, which would be a bread flour. This confirmed what my own tests had shown me all along. Bread flour from the supermarket is just fine for making pizza. It has certainly been proven that you don't need high gluten flour to make highly structured bread. Ed Wood from sourdo.com makes great artisan bread using AP. In Naples they use 00 flour which has less gluten than AP. I've had great and horrible pies with all kinds of flours from all kinds of pizzerias. And I've made great and d horrible pies with all kinds of flours myself. Kneading and overall technique is more important than the flour in my opinion.
Since putting up this site I've been urged to try other flours. I've made pies with at least 20 flours including these:
King Arthur All Purpose (KA AP) - 11.7% Protein.
King Arthur Bread (KA Bread) - 12.7% protein.
King Arthur Sir Lancelot (KASL) aka Hi Gluten - 14.2% Protein.
Gold Medal Bread Flour (formerly labeled Harvest King) - 12.5% protein.
Caputo Pizzeria 00 (11.5%, but also a finer mill)
Giusto's Artisan Unbleached - 11-11.5% protein.
White Lily Bread Flour - 12.5 % protein.
I can make a nearly identical pie with any of these except for the Italian 00 flour. It's mostly technique. I'm not saying that the type of flour makes no difference, but I am saying that it's a small difference and I've had great pies from restaurants with varying types of flour. Don't get too hung up on it. One is not 'better' than the other, it depends on the style you want. Currently I use a 50/50 blend of Caputo and KA Bread. Caputo gives bigger bubbles and a lighter spring. But I prefer to mix it with Bread flour to give it more strength. In Naples, the dough is very soft and hard to hold and often eaten with a knife and fork. NY street pizza is easily folded and held. They typically use a strong Hi Gluten Flour. My pies are closer to the Neapolitan, but not quite. You can still hold it, but sometimes it flops a bit at the tip.
The 00 has a finer mill and also it will absorb much less water than the other flours. The 00 flour really is quite different than the others. If you are baking at under 750F, you should really not use 00. It will never brown and you'll have much more luck with another flour.
The ratio of Flour and water can dramatically change the characteristics of the dough. Having said that though, I don't measure my "% hydration". I do it strictly by feel. Lately my dough has been much much wetter than ever before. Wetter dough stretches easier with less pull back. It seems to develop faster in the fridge. And it provides more steam for more puff in the final baked crust. The higher the temperature of the oven, the wetter the dough should be. At super high heats needed to make a pie in 2 minutes or less, you need a lot of moisture to keep it from burning and sticking to the baking surface.
3- Kneading - This is one of the most important steps. Follow along carefully. There are 100 recipes on the net that say you dump all the ingredients together, turn the machine on and you will have a great dough. It's not true. But once you understand these steps your dough will transform into something smooth and amazing.
Kitchen Aid Mixer vs. Electrolux DLX mixer:
I started a little revolution on PizzaMaking.com when I dumped by Kitchen Aid Mixer and bought an Electrolux DLX mixer. The DLX is a MUCH better machine. However, if you follow ALL the techniques here, you can get a good dough out of a Kitchen Aid. The DLX is easier to use. You can make a dozen pies or more in it at a clip, no problem. And you can really just let it do it's work alone. With the KA you sometimes have to stop it and pull the dough off the hook and continue. So I like the DLX. But I know many of you have already bought Kitchen Aids. As long as you follow the process carefully, you should be OK. The DLX takes a while to get used to, but now I'm really rocking with it. See Dough.htm for early experiments. Join groups.yahoo.com/group/Mixer-Owners for info on the DLX and how to use it. I use a DLX with the Roller and Scrapper attachments. I will put up photos of this process at some point. Some one else has posted a video of a DLX.
The Wet-Kneading Technique with Autolyse.
I call this process Wet-Kneading. It's the key to great dough:
Autolyse - Autolyse is a fancy word that just means one simple thing. The flour and water should sit together for at least 20 minutes before kneading begins. It's a CRITICAL step. Some say that you should mix just the flour and water together, then after 20 minutes add the salt and yeast, then mix. Others say you can add all the ingredients at the beginning. I have found very little difference.
Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, poolish (Video of Poolish), Instant dry Yeast (if used) and 75% of the flour are put into the mixer. Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.
There is no need to dissolve the yeast in warm water or feed it sugar. 'Proofing' the yeast was probably required decades ago, but I've never had yeast that didn't activate. The yeast feeds on the flour so you don't need to put in sugar. The proofing step that you see in many recipes is really an old wives tale at this point.
Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended. At this stage you should have a mix that is drier than a batter, but wetter than a dough. Closer to batter probably.
Cover and Let it rest for 20 minutes. One of the most important things I've found is that these rest periods have a huge impact on the final product. I've seen so much arguing online about the proper flour for making pizza. "You need super high protein flour to get the right structure for a pizza dough". People argue endlessly about brands and minor changes in flour blends, types of water, etc. A lot of this is myth and a big waste of time. The autolyse period is FAR more important to creating structured gluten development than is the starting protein percentage. Autolyse and knead properly and AP flour will produce a great pizza with a lot of structure. Do these steps poorly and bread or high gluten flour will not help you at ALL. This step reminds me of mixing pie dough. After you add the water to pie dough, it's crumbly. But after sitting for 20 minutes, it's a dough. The water takes time to soak in, and when it does it transforms the pie dough. It's really a similar thing here with pizza dough.
Start Mixing on Low speed for 8 minutes. 5 minutes into it start adding flour gradually.
This part is critical and it's something that I did not understand at all until relatively recently: Even if the dough is very sticky - that is it does not have enough flour in it to form a ball and it is still halfway between a batter and a dough - it is still working. This is where MOST of the kneading occurs. The gluten IS working at this point even though it's not a dough yet.
If you are using a KA, and you lift the hook, the dough should fall off by itself. The hook should look like its going through the dough, and not pushing the dough around. It should be that wet until nearly the end.
With the DLX you can play with the scrapper and the roller, pressing them together to allow the dough to extrude through the gaps. This really works the dough. The DLX mechanism is totally different than a regular mixer.
After the first 6-8 minutes increase the speed of the mixer slightly. I never go higher than 1/3 of the dial on my mixer. Keep in mind that in the old days they mixed this by hand (Anthony at Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC still does). You should add most of the remaining flour. But you still want a very wet dough, so don't go crazy.
At some point during this process the dough should be getting much firmer and should form more of a ball. Mix another minute or so a this stage You may find that the dough is sticking to the roller /hook and not really working too much at this point. This is why it's so important to do most of the mixing at the earlier, wetter stages. Once the dough is at this point, it is done. My recommendation is this: DON'T BE A SLAVE TO RECIPES AND PERCENTAGES . It's fine to use the spreadsheet or other measures as a guideline, but you have to judge how much flour goes into the dough by feeling it. Do NOT force more flour into the mix just to reach a number. If the dough feels good and soft and you still have flour you have not put in, don't sweat it. Leave it out. In the end you need a wet dough. In fact, even the dough has formed more of ball, if you let it sit, it should spread out a little and look a little limp. This is what you want, not a tight ball, but a slack, wet soft dough.
One of the best ways to see how your dough is doing is to sprinkle a little flour on in and just feel it. It should feel baby bottom soft. If you don't sprinkle flour it will just feel sticky and not look smooth. But sprinkle a tiny bit of flour and now its soft and smooth. This is what you want. This is a much gentler recipe than most and it shows in the final dough.
With Hi Gluten flours a commercial mixer and a dry dough, you will find that the dough is tough to work and consequently both the machine and the dough will get very hot. Commercial bakers compensate by starting with cool water and by measuring the temperature of the dough as they go. The procedures I'm outlining don't require this. The wet knead technique and the lower protein all but eliminates the friction. You can expect the dough to heat only about 3-4 F while mixing, so it's not an issue.
Let it rest for 15-20 minutes. If you were to do a window pane test before the rest, you might be disappointed. Afterwards it will test well:
Yes, this dough is so thin, you can read right through it. This is what is meant by "windowpaning". You never actually stretch it this thin when making a pie. But I just want you to see what is achievable. In fact, you can make an excellent pie without getting it this well kneaded. But you should know how to do this as part of your overall repertoire. This dough would never rip or fight with you when being stretched to perfect pizza size. This dough was made with King Arthur Bread Flour, not high gluten flour. You can achieve this windowpaning even with All Purpose flour. Technique and not the starting protein % is the key.
Much talk on the web says that the dough's extensibility/elasticity will be affected by how long the dough rises and at what temp and the kind of yeast. In my opinion, these are very, very minor factors. The mixing/kneading process and the hydration are 90% of the battle. After the dough has been kneaded and rested for a few minutes, the deed is done. It's either going to spread well or it isn't. You can't fix it that much at this point by adjusting rise times and temps. If you find that your dough is not extensible enough or rips when you stretch it, odds are HIGH that it has not been autolysed long enough, not kneaded well enough and/or it's too dry. If you are using a Kitchen Aid Mixer you may notice that the ball sticks to the hook and kind of just spins around and doesn't seem to be really working. Mixing an extra 20 minutes seems to do nothing because it's just spinning helplessly on the hook. Ugh. Mix at a wetter more pliable stage and you can fix this problem.
Pour out onto a floured surface and portion into balls with a scrapper. I use a digital scale. The dough at this point should be extremely soft and highly elastic. I use 310g per 13" pie. The more elastic the dough, the less you need.
I store the dough in individual 5 cup Glad plastic containers as you see below. I wipe them with an oiled paper towel - super thin coating. This will help them come out of the container. But I don't want any oil in the dough. The rules for "Vera Pizza Napoletana" say no oil. I probably have literally one or two drops per ball. Oil the container and not the dough. You only need a drop or two of oil cover a whole container - you can kind of polish it with oil using a paper towel. In contrast, you'd need a teaspoon to oil the dough because you can't spread it so thin. Also the ball would probably need oil on both sides, which is bad because by oiling the top of the dough (which will end up being the bottom of the pizza), you are going to get oil on your pizza stone which will burn at high temps in an unpleasant way. Since you want to minimize the amount of oil, oil the container. For similar reasons, I don't use zip loc bags. Use a container.
How wet should the dough be? I think many will be surprised to see just how wet I have my dough. With each of these, you can click the photo to enlarge. I'm showing these because I want you to get a sense of how that dough should look and feel. This high level of hydration is not necessarily best for low temperature ovens. But if you are cooking at 800F, like Patsy's, this is what you want:
This dough has rested for 20 minutes in my DLX mixer. You can see how wet it is. This is enough for 6 balls of dough.
It almost pours out (with a little push from a spatula). But you can see how easily it stretches and how wet it still is. I don't know the %hydration of this dough but it is 65% or higher, I'm sure.
This is the unshaped mass. Next I sprinkle a little bit of flour on it and knead it by hand for 30 seconds, just to reshape it.
In just a few seconds it looks totally different. The outside is drier because it has been sprinkled with flour. Inside it is still very wet and as I cut it with a dough scrapper into balls, I have to sprinkle a little more, just to keep it from sticking to my hands.
I cut it and put it into these easy to find Glad containers. They cost about $1 each at the supermarket..
I've got like 15 of them. They are perfectly sized for individual dough's. I strongly prefer these to plastic bags. They are sealable and that keeps in the moisture. They stack easily in the fridge, and the dough comes out easily and without deflating the dough in the process. I spread the container with a drop or two of olive oil.
I let them rest another 10 minutes, then put them in the Fridge for 1-6 days. If your dough is very wet it may start out as a nice looking tight ball, but over time in the fridge it looks like it's sinking into a disk. This may appear worrisome. When you see dough sinking there may be several causes. Dough that is 'slack' - overworked and/or old, will sink like this. But if you've followed these instructions this is not the reason your dough is sinking. The sinking is caused by the fact that the dough is very wet. Don't worry about it. It's probably going to be very good.
This is the dough several days later. It's been sitting out warming up for about an hour. Notice that it has not risen that much. It does have more volume - probably about 50% more than the dough above. But it's also changed shape - it's so wet and soft and when it rises it kind of just spreads out. This is what you want. This dough is ready for baking.
Most recipes say that the dough should double in size. This is WAY too much. In total the dough should expand by about 50% in volume. It would seem like the more yeast bubbles in the dough, the lighter the pizza will be. This is the intuitive guess. But it's not true. The yeast starts the bubbles, but it's really steam that blows the bubbles up. If the yeast creates bubbles that are too big, they become weak and simply pop when the steam comes resulting in a flat dense, less springy crust. Think of blowing a bubble with bubble gum. How tight is a 2 inch bubble? It depends: As you start with a small bubble and blow it up to 2 inches it's strong and tight. But at 4 inches it's reached it's peak.. Now if it shrinks back to 2 inches, it'll be very weak. So a 2 inch bubble is strong on the way up and weak on the way down. You want bubbles on the way up. If the dough is risen high, the bubbles are big and the dough will have a weaker structure and will collapse when heat creates steam. The lightest crust will come from a wet dough (wet = a lot of steam), with a modest amount of rise (bubbles formed, but small and strong). Some people start with a warm rise for 6 hours or so, and then move the dough to the fridge. I'm not a huge fan of this method. Once the bubbles are formed, I don't want the dough to get cold and have the bubbles shrink. This weakens their structure. What you want is a steady slow rise, with no reversals. Always expanding, just very, very slowly.
My oven takes about 80 minutes to heat up. The dough finishes rising in about the same time. So I take the dough out and start the oven at the same time. 80 minutes might seem like a fast rise, but the real development is done in the fridge. Here is where experience will make a difference - I look at my dough a few hours before bake time and I make an assessment. If the dough has not risen much in the fridge I will take it out earlier than 80 minutes. If it's risen too much, I leave it in the fridge till a few minutes before bake. It really takes a good eye. You can make a last minute adjustment to speed it up by warming it. Before I turn my bottom oven on the cleaning cycle, I warm up my top oven to about 95F. If I think I need to speed up the dough, I can then place it in the 95F environment for while before baking. It's a little harder to make an adjustment the other way. If I find that it's rising too fast and my oven won't be ready for an hour, I'm kind of out of luck. I could chill it, but it's going to weaken if I do that. So I try to err on the side where I still have some control.
The softer the dough, the faster the rise. It's simply easier for small amounts of carbon dioxide to push up on a softer dough. If the dough falls a little after rising, you've waited too long and you will find it's past it's prime. Ideally you should use it well before it's at it's peak. This takes experience. You are better off working with a dough that is under risen, than over risen.
Over risen dough (don't do this).
When you spread the dough, you will find that it's not great for spinning over your head. It would have been really great at this when you first did the windowpane test. But now that it has risen it's soft like butter and just stretches easily. Don't worry about the spin. If you want to impress everyone with spin, make a drier dough with a hi gluten flour and more salt and let it age for just a few hours and you can spin all you want.
Never use a rolling pin or knead the dough or man handle it. You are just popping the bubbles and will have a flat dough.
Build a little rim for yourself with your fingers,. then spread the dough. Can you see how smooth this dough looks?
Spread the dough on the counter and then move to the peel. Marble is the perfect surface for spreading dough. One goal is to use very little bench flour, especially if you are cooking over 800F. At high temps, the flour will turn bitter, so you are better off shaping on the counter, then moving to the peel, which will result in less bench flour. With a very wet dough this takes some practice. You don't necessarily have to use a lot of bench flour, but it does have to be even. You don't want the dough sticking to the peel, of course. I put flour in a bowl and dunk the dough lightly, getting all sides including the edge, then move it to the granite counter. I put just a tiny amount on the peel, which I spread evenly with my hands. When I move from the counter to the peel, most of the flour on the dough shakes off.. Once on the peel, shake it every once in a while to make sure the dough is not stuck. Always shake it just before placing it in the oven, otherwise you may find that it's stuck to the peel and falling off unevenly onto the stone. At that point you probably can't recover well and you'll make a mess. So always shake just beforehand. When I make the pie, I work quickly, so as not to let the moisture in the dough come out through the tiny dry flour coating. Then, and this is important, I shake the peel prior to putting it in the oven, just to make certain it's loose. In fact, you can shake it at any time during the process. If you are taking too long to put on the toppings or there is some delay, shake again. Make sure it never sticks. Don't resort to using too much flour or any cornmeal or semolina. It just takes practice to use very little flour, yet still keep it from sticking.
If you've made the dough correctly you should be able to spread it with no problem. If it is pulling back on you and trying to shrink, you have not mixed it enough. If you've done half the steps above, you should not be experiencing this problem at all though.
You can spread the dough a bit at a time. Do it half way, then wait 10-15 seconds, then spread a little more, then a little more. Be gentle with it.
This photo is from the same pie as this one. This pie was very interesting for many reasons. Although I have a lot of practice handling wet dough, this is the first time I've tried to hand knead in at least 5 years.
4- The Oven: I've got my oven cranked up to over 800 F. Use this section with caution: i.e. no lawyers please. I'm just telling you here what I did. I'm not telling you what you should do. You are responsible for whatever you choose to do. In Naples, Italy they have been cooking pizza at very high temperatures for a long time. There are some real physics going on here. The tradition is to cook with a brick oven. I don't have a brick oven. So this is what I do:
On most ovens the electronics won't let you go above 500F, about 300 degrees short of what is needed. (Try baking cookies at 75 instead of 375 and see how it goes). The heat is needed to quickly char the crust before it has a chance to dry out and turn into a biscuit. At this temp the pizza takes 2 - 3 min to cook (a diff of only 25F can change the cook time by 50%). It is charred, yet soft. At 500F it takes 20 minutes to get only blond in color and any more time in the oven and it will dry out. I've cook good pizzas at temps under 725F, but never a great one. The cabinet of most ovens is obviously designed for serious heat because the cleaning cycle will top out at over 975 which is the max reading on my Raytec digital infrared thermometer. The outside of the cabinet doesn't even get up to 85F when the oven is at 800 inside. So I clipped off the lock using garden shears so I could run it on the cleaning cycle. I pushed a piece of aluminum foil into the door latch (the door light switch) so that electronics don't think I've broken some rule by opening the door when it thinks it's locked. Brick ovens are domed shaped. Heat rises. There is more heat on top than on the bottom. A brick oven with a floor of 800F might have a ceiling of 1200F or more, just a foot above. This is essential. The top of the pizza is wet and not in direct contact with the stone, so it will cook slower. Therefore, to cook evenly, the top of the oven should be hotter than the stone. To achieve this, I cover the pizza stone top and bottom with loose fitting foil. This keeps it cool as the rest of the oven heats up. When I take a digital read of the stone, I point it at the foil and it actually reads the heat reflected from the top of the oven. When it hits 850, I take the foil off the top with tongs and then read the stone. It's about 700-725. Now I make my pizza. As I prep, the oven will get up to 800Floor, 900+ Top. Perfect for pizza. Different ovens have different heat distributions. I experimented extensively with foil to redistribute the heat. I tried using one layer, multiple layers and I adjusted the amount I used on the top and the bottom. I also played with using the shiny side up or down, etc. Eventually, I worked out a simple system for myself. Some have tried to get high heat using a grill. This can produce high heat, but all from the bottom. One could adjust the differential, by playing games with foil. But an oven with heat from above is better.
The exact temp needed depends on the type of flour and the amount of water. The more protein, the quicker it burns. Hi Gluten flour may burn at these temps. In general, I recommend higher gluten flours for lower temp ovens. This will yield a more NYC style pie. For a more Neapolitan pie I recommend lower protein flours and a hotter oven. I use Bread rather than KASL at these high temps. Caputo Pizzeria 00 flour has even less protein than KA bread. See my report below. Also the drier it is the more it burns. So in general, at high temps you need a very wet dough.
I make sure that I cover any oven glass loosely with 2 layers of foil because it will shatter if a drop of sauce gets on it. With the foil it's fine. I make sure the foil is loose. If it's fitted to the glass, it will transfer heat too quickly and the glass is still in jeopardy. Another problem is that once the cleaning cycle starts, it just pumps heat into the oven and I can't reduce the temp. If I get a late start (my guests are late or my dough needs another 30 minutes to rise), I can't just shut off the oven and then start it up again in 15 minutes. Once I cancel the cleaning cycle, I can't start it up again until the oven cools below 500F (at least on my Kitchen Aid oven). Therefore I have to wait and cycle back around. It's like an hour ordeal. But I have worked around these issues and I now have enough experience that I can pretty much control my temperature. I can cool the stone, for example, by placing a metal sheet pan on it for a minute or so. It will absorb a tremendous amount of heat very quickly. I never do this with Teflon which releases unseen toxic chemicals over 600F. I Remove this pan with the peel, rather than with oven mitts to prevent burns. Occasionally I also place something in the door jam, like a meat mallet, for a few minutes to let heat out.
Brick Oven vs. Other Ovens : I have a list of my favorite pizza restaurants at the bottom. All but one of these use coal fired brick ovens. But interestingly, the number 1 place uses a regular old gas fired oven that you see in any pizza store in NYC. This is Johnny's in Mt. Vernon, NY. Worth a pilgrimage for sure. They also use dry sliced Mozzarella instead of fresh. Go figure. That place is an enigma. They are also very secretive. I can tell you they definitely use a sourdough culture because I obtained it from pizza place across the street (yeasts can take over a neighborhood) but it died out. I'm going to get it again someday.
Mmmmm. You don't need a brick oven to perfectly char a pizza. This was done in an electric.
Patsy's is #2 on my list. It used to be #1 but my last 3 trips to were disappointing. There is a new guy working the oven and the pies are coming out like dry crispy flatbreads. It was NOT good. And I saw a review in a magazine that had a photo of a Patsy's pie and that one also looked dry and crispy and the article even described it that way. Yuck!. The reviewer at SliceNY.com also mentioned that he might downgrade Patsy's if they slip any more . So this means that Johnny's, which used to be tied with Patsy's, now sits alone at the top of my list. I've got it as Johnny's, Patsy's, Sally's, Luzzo's, Una Pizza Napoletana, me, then Sac's. Frankly, if they don't shoot the new cook, Patsy's could drop from my top 5 because right now it's resting on it's laurels. Lombardi's is just OK in my book. Nods for history, but too thick and gummy. Grimaldi's and John's are not in my top 10 either. But the original Totonno's is up there somewhere.
Back to the Brick oven thing. I once bought a Patsy's dough and rushed it home to my oven in Atlanta and baked it. The dough itself was incredible. It was the most windowpaning, blistering and elastic dough I've ever seen, by a wide margin. Very impressive. But when I baked it, it was just ok. It tasted a little flat. It had less of a charred flavor even though it had a charred color. It actually tasted exactly like my own pies tasted at that time. By that was a long time ago. My own latest pies have overcome a lot of this. I'm aging my dough longer than Patsy's and I think that is making up for some of the difference. My opinion is that the coal and the fire adds about 10-20% but the rest is the heat distribution. If you can get that right in a regular oven, you are going to be thrilled with the results. Johnny's proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. My latest pies are nearly perfect too. Some of these pies look & tasted just like a Patsy's pie, I'm not sure you could tell the difference. And believe me, I notice small differences or I wouldn't have come this far. These latest pies are really, really close. The photos above, as well as those below are good examples. I can't get advantages of the brick oven, but I make up for it by aging the dough longer and this imparts extra flavor.
Of course, if you do have access to brick oven, especially one that uses coal, by all means use it. But LEARN to use it. I've seen too many brick oven places that make terrible pizza. Why? Because they think that having the oven is all they need to do. You still have to have everything else right. And I've even seen brick ovens where the heat is not right. I just saw a place with a Brick oven that had it set to 395F. Such a total waste of time. The oven does not work by magically transmitting brick flavor into the dough. It works by generating more heat than a regular oven. At least that's 90% of it. Yes there is a dryness to the wood burning and a smokiness and these are advantages of a brick oven. But mostly it's the super high heat that is important. Go the extra mile and get yourself the right digital thermometer and work the oven correctly. This will take a lot of practice. Check out Frankie G's cool brick oven and video.
My first Brick Oven Experience : I just tried a friend's brick oven. We had a lot of trouble holding the temp right and most of the pies were cooked at 500-600F. So I'm not done experimenting yet. But I can say this: a 7 minute pie in a brick oven does taste better than a 7 min pie in an electric. So there definitely is something good going on in that oven. It has to do with the dryness of the bake. I will post more on this as I make progress.
Dec 2006: I've now made 5 Brick oven batches. I'll fill in more detail later, but here's a photo of a 57 second pie. It looks pretty cool, but it was by no means my favorite pie:
5- I use a Raytec digital thermometer. I notice that every spot in my oven is a different temperature. I've learned what's going on inside. These brands are much cheaper than the Raytec. I haven't used them, but they look fine to me and are much cheaper, under $60:
6- Dry mozzarella cheese : This step is totally optional and I don't do this anymore. Early on I was having problems with my mozzarella cheese breaking down due to the high heat. I was also having problems with the sauce sogging up the dough. So I used dry boars head mozzarella, sliced on a machine under the sauce. This protected the dough. But I've since improved both my sauce and wet mozzarella management so I don't use dry cheese anymore. However, I should note that the only pie that I've tasted that might actually be better than Patsy's is Johnny's in Mt. Vernon. They use only dry sliced cheese. I'm not sure of the brand, but it is fantastic. Patsy's does not use this step, nor is it true Neapolitan.
7- Lay fresh basil right on the dry cheese or sauce. It's important that the leaves get a bit wet or they'll just burn. Just tap the tops with the bottom of the sauce spoon to moisten. Basil is great fresh out of an herb garden. I will post more on this someday. Don't wash your basil. It just kills it.
You can put the basil on before the pie bakes or after.
8 - Sauce: For years I was so focused on the dough that I let the sauce lapse. I just didn't do much with it. But now I feel that my dough is consistently great, I have focused more on the sauce and it has really transformed into something wonderful. The key step is something I call 'Tomato Rinsing".
But first let's start with the tomatoes themselves. There is a lot of talk about buying tomatoes grown in the San Marzano Valley which has rich volcanic soil. Others claim the region is now polluted. I don't know. All I know is what I taste. I've not been too impressed with San Marzanos I've tried. These are in rough order with the best at the top.
Nutrilia (very hard to find but really good)
Sclafani San Marzano (DOP Certified)
Cento San Marzano (DOP Certified)
Cento Italian (I used to have these ranked much higher, but they've fallen off)
San Marzano Brand (grown in California, the liars)
Pomi (in the paper box)
LaBella San Marzano 'Brand' (not really grown in San Marzano valley either - more liars)
Bella Rosa whole peeled tomatoes from http://www.escalon.net,
Georgia Gold Red (local to me)
and many cheaper brands.
I have not this one, but Marco vouches for them, so they might be excellent. I don't think they are easy to find though.
Others praise these, but I have not tried them:
I know that Patsy's buys from Sassone in the Bronx (where I grew up). But I haven't tried a case yet. They may be repackaging any number of brands.
Everyone vouches for Escalon, but I dislike them. The Escalon are round tomatoes, whereas most of the Italian brands are Plum tomatoes, which I strongly prefer. I also prefer the plain Cento Italian over the Cento DOP Certified San Marzano.
Here are my Prep tips:
Always buy Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes and crush them yourself.
Be careful of marketing tricks like cans that say Italian 'Style' instead of Italian. Italian Style means nothing. It's subjective. If I grew tomatoes in Chernobyl I could still claim they are Italian Style.
Similarly there's a San Marzano 'Brand' which is grown in CA. I hate marketing gimmicks like that. The put the word 'brand' so small that you can barely read it.
Shake every can as you buy it. If it sounds watery, it is likely to be more bitter. Try to get cans which sound more viscous. The sound will vary a bit by season. They try to pick and pack in just one season, but still there are seasonal differences even within the same brand.
If you have a local tomato supplier, try those too.
One time I bought a jar of tomatoes at a farmers market - no can. These were hand packed and they had no tin can taste. They were excellent but all the major suppliers use cans. Be on the lookout for jars someday.
If you want to go crazy and make your own, try 'ugly ripe' heirloom tomatoes. The taste of these are amazing and I use these when I need whole tomatoes.
When I open a can I taste it. Every can is a little different. About 10% of the cans I just throw out because they are too bitter and I put too much effort in the dough to waste it on a $2 can of bad tomatoes.
DON'T make a sauce. That is, don't pre-cook the tomatoes. The tomatoes will cook on the pizza. If you cook a sauce first, it will cook again on the psizza, turning it brown and yucky. No need to make a sauce. Look at how overcooked many sauces are. The best places don't do this. This is actually the one step in this whole process that you can save yourself some time.
I strain the seeds. This is really optional. If you do choose to do it, follow these steps, which seem obvious now, but took me a long time to flesh out:
Pour the can out into a bowl.
Cut the green/yellow stem ends off the tomatoes with your hands or a paring knife, then discard.
Squeeze out the seeds into the puree and then Dip the tomato into the puree. You can even cut the tomato open to get out any remaining seeds, by essentially rinsing them with the puree. This will have all the seeds fall into the puree.
Put the flesh back in the can.
At the end of this process you have a can of flesh and a bowl of watery puree and seeds. Strain this, pouring the puree back into the can. In the strainer are then 90% of the seeds, all by themselves. Discard the seeds.
Now crush the tomatoes. This is one of those areas where I made a recent change for the better and it's really helped a lot. I used to crush the tomatoes by hand. But it was always a bit chunky. Now I blend them with an immersion mixer ("boat motor"). I cannot tell you exactly why this has made a huge improvement in the TASTE of the tomatoes, but it has. I've done side by side taste tests. The tomatoes should be crushed but not pur ed. Go Easy. I have nothing against using a food processor or mill, but I will say that you should not crush by hand.
Tomato Rinsing : All cans have some bitterness. You need some bitterness and you don't want to strip all of it out. But if the can is too bitter it's not good. I have a procedure I call tomato rinsing to remove some of the bitterness. But you have to taste the can and determine for yourself if it needs it. The better brands on my list don't. Here's the Tomato Rinsing procedure: Strain the tomatoes in a fine mesh strainer.. If the mesh is fine, the water will be mostly clear with very little tomato escaping. If the water escaping is very red, pour it back on top of the tomatoes and continue straining. Eventually the water will run almost completely clear. Here's the key. The water that comes out is completely bitter. Taste it. What I do is pour fresh water on top of the strained tomatoes and strain them again. Taste this second batch of water. It's also bitter but less so. You are removing bitterness and acid without losing a drop of red tomato. Instead you are replacing this bitter water with fresh water. You can repeat this several times if you like, but once or twice is usually fine. The net result is that what is left over, which is all the red tomato solids, is sooooo sweet and yummy.
Here are some other things you can do to remove the bitterness. But don't go crazy adding tons of spices and things. It's mostly just tomatoes.
Add some grated Romano cheese directly into the tomatoes. I use Locatelli Romano. Some have criticized this, but I like it.
A bit of sugar will also help 1/4 - 1 teaspoon. Taste and see.
A pinch of salt.
A pinch of dried oregano, crushed by hand to release the oils.
If you are used to putting garlic in your sauce, try these steps once without it.
Taste and taste.
So you are removing and then adding back water. In the end though you should have less water than you started with. The total weight is probably about 1/3 less than you started with. But the exact amount of water you remove depends on the overall temperature of the oven and the temperature differential in the oven.. There is not much time in a hot oven to evaporate the sauce, so the hotter the oven, the drier the sauce must be going in. But if the top differential is high, the sauce will evaporate too quickly and needs to start wetter. You have to test. Surprisingly, if the sauce is too dry, it's not as sweet. You don't want it soupy but don't overstrain either. This will take real practice with your oven. Sometimes after the first pie I add more water to my sauce. Again, this is another area where recent improvements have really transformed the sauce. I think that when the sauce is chunky (hand crushed) it's harder to get the amount of water right.
Here's the strainer and Immersion mixer I use:
Also, while straining, you are letting the crushed tomatoes sit uncovered and this really helps the tin can taste to dissipate. Prep the tomatoes when you make the dough. Even though you are not adding too much to your sauce, the tomatoes do better when the flavors settle in for a day and also the tin can taste dissipates. So prep a day or more in advance. Again, this is another recent change that has helped a lot.
Refrigerate the tomatoes if you are not using them, but let them come to room temp when put on the pie. If the sauce is cold, the top of the dough is much colder than then bottom and you can end up with a thin layer of dough near the sauce that is gummier and less cooked than the rest of the dough.
When you spread the sauce on the pie, put a little less in the center because the liquid tends to pool there.
If you are using a very hot oven like I am, don't go too close to the edge. Too much sauce near the edge will keep the cornice from developing well. In most of the photos below I put the sauce too close to the edge myself. I will be more conscious of this as I go.
Use about half of the sauce that you think you need. Trust me. Experiment with less and less ingredients on the pizza and you will see a surprising improvement in overall balance.
Using Fresh Tomato.
An alternative to canned tomatoes is fresh tomatoes. Even the best cans have a tinny odor, so you'd think that nothing could top fresh tomatoes. But using 100% fresh tomatoes is not necessarily the best thing. If you prepare fresh tomatoes and taste it raw, compared to canned, the fresh will win. But somehow, on the pizza, the canned will win. Partly it's that the fresh tomato taste is simply different than we are all used to and so it never tastes like your favorite pizza place. I've probably not experimented enough to say for sure. As I stated above, I don't recommend cooking your sauce before making a pizza, because the tomatoes will cook again on the pizza. If you think about it, the canning process itself forces the tomatoes to be heated once before sealing, then if you cook a sauce, that's heating #2 and then the pie is #3. So I recommend cutting back to 2 times. If you switch to fresh tomatoes though, you are back to just 1 time, on the pie itself. And for a 2 minute pie, that is not very much. So perhaps a solution, if you are using fresh tomatoes, is to cook a sauce. I will experiment a little more and edit this section.
Another possibility is to blend fresh and canned. This has a lot of potential, I think and I will experiment with this more also.
Here's a method for preparing fresh tomatoes:
Start with great tomatoes. I use "ugly ripe" heirloom tomatoes. These are the best to me. FYI, they are really amazing raw for a caprese salad (tomato, Mozz, basil, oil, balsamic, salt, pepper). Other heirlooms are probably good also, as are fresh picked local tomatoes. After that I'd probably go for plum tomatoes. I'm not a huge fan of the vine-ripe brand. They look great, but the taste is so-so. Regular beefsteak tomatoes are really not worth the effort.
Blanch them. Blanching is a pretty easy technique. You just put the tomato in boiling water for 30 seconds or less, then take it out and put it in ice water for 30 seconds, then you can just peel it by hand.
Cored them with a paring knife and pull out most of the seeds by hand.
Ground them a bit with an immersion mixer.
Strained them. They were very, very wet and will lose a lot of weight in water.
Added a tiny amount of sea salt and a few fresh basil leaves from the garden and that's about it.
Cook them? As I said, this is my next experiment.
After straining I figure that it would take about 3.5 lbs of tomatoes to equal one 35 oz can. Since Ugly Ripes are twice the price of any other tomatoes (they are VERY tasty) - $5.99/lb, this makes it over $20 for a small batch about equal to a $1.89 can. But who's counting.
9- Grate some Locatelli Romano and/or parmessian cheese right on top of the tomatoes & basil (do this whether you put some romano into the tomatoes or not). But don't over do it. Just a TINY little bit. But don't skip this step. It's really key to the sauce. Balance, balance, balance.
10- Sprinkle kosher or sea salt.
11- Fresh Mozzarella. I live in Atlanta, and getting good cheese is a real problem. It's the weakest link in my pie right now. In NYC all the mozzarella is packed in water, but it is still firm. Down here in Atlanta, I can't find great fresh mozz. It's either dry cheese or else water logged. If the cheese is too wet, it will break down on the pizza and even disintegrate into ricotta. Ricotta is made by processing the leftover water used to make mozzarella. If the mozz is not made right, it will actually break down into ricotta before your eyes. Not good. You can see this in some of my photos.
In Naples they use Bufala Mozzarella which is made from water buffalo instead of cows. The problem with using Bufala Mozz here in the US is that it's mostly imported and usually not that fresh, especially during the summer. If you can find a good supplier, then use it. Also, note that all fresh dairy products sold in the US are made from pasteurized milk, whereas the European versions are often unpasteurized. If you've ever had butter or cheese in Paris, for example, you know that what we get here is bland in comparison. So reproducing what you tasted on your trip to Italy is difficult. There are a few American suppliers of Bufula Mozz including http://www.starhilldairy.com/prod_mozzarella.shtml which is available at many Whole Foods.
Put only about 8-10 small pieces of cheese on the pie. Better to have a few dollops than an even mix. Trust me on this one too. If you find, as I did, that the cheese will not hold up to the intense heat and breaks down, there are few things you can do to keep the cheese from overheating on the pie prematurely:
Dry the cheese extremely well by wrapping in a paper towel for 1-3 hours. You'd think the wetter it is the better it would hold up to the heat, but its not so. The water inside boils and degrades the cheese. Sometimes the cheese is so wet I have to change the wrapping several times. This might be avoided by simply draining for a long long time. I think Marco says he drains for 8 hours.
Put the cheese on in cubes rather than slices.
Start with cold cheese.
Put a tiny drop of sauce on them which has to boil off first, thus keeping the cheese insulated for a bit.
Doing all of these may be overkill. You have to experiment with your cheese.
Many cheeses packed in water are unsalted. If this is so, put in 1/4 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt in the water, preferably at least a day before you use it. Don't over salt the cheese, as this may cause some inferior cheeses to break down somewhat.
If you can't find a cheese locally, these are some suppliers that ship fresh mozz.. It's pricey to do it this way though:
http://www.mozzny.com/ - Pretty good but not the best NY has to offer. They shipped them in a cold pack box and they came very fresh. If you don't have a local supplier, this is definitely a viable but expense choice.
http://www.mozzco.com/ - I've not tried it, but these guys look very serious about their craft. Even more expensive than the previous one.
Making your own cheese.
Another alternative is to make your own cheese. I'm no expert on this, so I'm going to refer you to other internet sources. But I'm going to give a super basic primer.
Good sources of info.
Leeners - I would start here.
Cheesemaking.com - this is an easy kit, but missing a few things.
Google other recipes. There's a lot to learn.
Do not use ultra-pasteurized dairy products. The ultra-pasteurization changes the structure and it won't curdle any more. Unfortunately, some states are allowing companies to remove the term 'ultra' and they are passing off ultra-pasteurized as just pasteurized. So be careful.
Start with unhomogenized milk. You probably have to go to a farmers market or dairy for this. It should be about $6-$8 per gallon, which makes about 1 pound or a little more of cheese. When an animal is milked, it comes out as cream and skim and the process of homogenization blends them together. It's like shaking oil and vinegar, but the shake is so fine, it never settles out again. So an alternative to unhomogenized is to use cream and skim together. But most creams have been ultra-pasteurized, so you have to find one that is not.
How many water buffalo do you own? Well if you have them, use them, otherwise, find a cow. Water buffalo milk has more fat, so one experiment worth trying is to add more cream to your cow's milk.
Acidify the milk. Milk will curdle best at a ph level of about 5.2. From my experience, using a ph test kit or digital ph meter is essential.
Citric Acid - the easy way. You measure the acid and blend it in and presto, it's acidic. But if you measure wrong, you are going to be unhappy with it. Note than many measuring spoon sets are not that accurate. 2 of my 1/2 teaspoons don't really equal one of my teaspoons, I discovered. There went 3 hours of my life I'll never get back. If you put in too much it will curdle but never form a ball and be stretchable. I've had the best results (nothing to write home about yet), using only 1.25 teaspoons per gallon of milk, which is much less than most recipes call for.
Use a starter culture, just like you do for the dough. The culture eats the milk and make acid. It takes many hours though. Of course, this is the more authentic and flavorful method, but as with all these steps, more work. There are a lot of different cultures that can be used to vary the taste of cheese. Some recipes even just say start with buttermilk or yogurt. But for Mozzarella, the most authentic type is called Thermophilic, but even this seems to be a category and there are several varieties sold under that name. Just like with the yeast, there is a dry instant culture you just toss in and a wet, keep-feeding-it-forever variety.
Additives. These are all optional:
Italian Mild Lipase Powder - an enzyme.
Other flavoring cultures. These are Lactobacilli that produce flavor but no acid. This mirrors the whole yeast/Lactobacilli combination we talked about with the dough. The yeast and Thermophilic organisms are doing the critical jobs of starting bubbles and changing the acid level. But the optional Lactobacilli are doing the flavoring.
Calcium Chloride - helps to restore the balance between calcium and protein in store bought milk. It may also be needed with fresh milk. I've only seen this in the Leeners recipe.
Rennet - Once the milk is acidic and heated to about 88F, you add an enzyme called rennet and it curdles in just a few minutes.
Vegetable or animal. Rennet originally came from the lining of an animal's stomach, but most companies sell vegetable rennet.
Tablet or liquid.
Thermometer. These kits all use a hand held thermometer, but I prefer to use a digital meat thermometer, because you can just dip it over the side and get continuous readings.
pH Test kit or digital meter.
Once you've added the rennet, the milk curdles in a few minutes - it separates into chunky curdles and water whey. They you have to cut it to strain the whey out of the curds and then heat it by either microwaving it or pouring hot water (or whey) on it. I recommend the hot liquid because it gives more of a continuous heat, rather than the microwave method which has you heat it, then work it, then heat it again, etc.
Be careful not to overwork the cheese or take out too much whey. Then you will end up pulling out all the fat and end up with a dry waxy cheese, like a Polly-O consistency. Watch this guy do it. He is starting with store-bought curd. It's a dark murky video, but worth watching.
13- Olive Oil - This is optional. In Naples they will typically put on a good olive oil. Many oils do not stand up well to these high temperatures. I had one pie at Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC with a very fruity oil from Calabria that was outstanding, even at the high temps. But I don't have the brand. The one's I've tried I can't recommend.
14- Assembly - From the time the sauce hits the dough, the dough is starting to water log. Water logged dough will not rise. This is actually an area that I still need to work on myself. Look at this picture from last night. The rise on the crust is outstanding. but under the sauce the dough has not risen well. In fact it's a bit gummy. The reason is that after I sauced the dough, I took a long time to get it into the oven. Once the sauce touches the dough, the pie should go into the oven seconds later. Have your ingredients laid out so that you can sauce the dough, throw on the other ingredients and get it into the oven immediately.
15- Into the oven for 2-3 minutes. There is a lot of talk about time and temp. Really, time is a better measure than temp. Ovens vary in temp from spot to spot and even 2 stones that have the same surface temp may have a different depth to that heat and that will really play out and affect the time. Ultimately, time is a better measure. There is a lot of debate online about how long it takes to bake a "true" Neapolitan pie. It started off as 2 minutes, then it went to 90 seconds, then 60, then 45 and recently 30 seconds. Some of this is a "boys and their toys" thing. Instead of arguing about horsepower people are arguing about oven temp. Chill out. It is true that in Naples, the pies cook very, very fast, usually in under 90 seconds. If your goal is a true reproduction of the Neapolitan style, then you may want to aim for this. But that is not the only style of tasty pizza. A pie that's cooked in 30 seconds is not necessarily better than one cooked in 150. The faster it cooks the less crispy and more airy it is. But this is only good to a point. Some dough that are cooked super fast have a burnt bitter outside and are raw inside. It takes a lot of practice to get it all right. Believe me, a 2-3 minute pie is going to be great if you follow these steps. My best pies were 2:10 - 2:30. Maybe it will get even better as I go down in time, but I'm skeptical of the 30 second pies. Patsy's makes a GREAT pie in about 4 minutes. Sally's, makes a great pie in 7. I've timed pies at Luzzo's in NYC at 1:55 and at Una Pizza Napoletana at 2:10. These are all notch places with great pies and crust. There's no question that a hot oven is important - you are not going to get a light airy crust with 10 minute pie. But once you are sub-5 minutes, you are easily in the range to make a great tasting pie, provided your dough formulation is correct.
If you are having problems with your pie burning on the bottom in a very hot oven, increase the hydration of the dough. Wetter dough burns less. But also, you may have to adjust the balance of temperature (top vs. bottom) in your oven using aluminum foil. See the section above regarding the oven.
16- Remove from oven with a peel. When a pie cooks at these high temps, you may find that it is soggier than you are used to. In Naples, the pies are pretty wet and you cut them with a knife and fork and eat them on a plate. There are a few things you can do to lessen the moisture. Use less sauce and drain it well. But also, I put my pies on a rack when they come out so that any steam that is coming out of the bottom can escape. Just a 2-3 minutes on the screen then onto the metal round where they are cut. Don't cut too quickly. The flavors need to settle and they will be more distinct with a cooler pie. If you don't have a rack, you may find it helpful to transfer the pizza back and forth between the peel and the metal round, to allow the steam to escape from the bottom of the pie. Make sure you dry off the metal round between pies so that moisture doesn t build.
With High temp pies, there is the possibility of it being a little soggy in the middle especially if you are using a lower protein flour, such as a 00 flour. Brick ovens are very good at sucking moisture out of the dough very quickly. The environment is very, very dry. One downside of an electric, even one at 800F, is that the moisture tends to pool. One easy solution is to remove the pie from the oven and place it on a perforated metal round such as this one. I place this on my stovetop so that the bottom is exposed, allowing moisture to evaporate for about a minute. Then I move to a regular serving round. I've seen several 'modern' brick ovens that are gas fired. Burning gas creates moisture and ruins much of the effect of the brick oven. Brick ovens should burn wood or coal.
17 -Season with oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper and maybe a drop of olive oil (depending on how wet it already is).
18- Cut and serve.
Good luck, but be prepared for a lot of trial and error.
This is a pretty good idea of what you will see if your oven is hot enough.
Except for a minor malfunction of the fresh mozz, this is a pretty awesome pie. The new cheese instructions given above have since solved this problem. You can see that the dry cheese underneath bubbled and charred a bit. It was good, but I don't use dry cheese anymore. I will cut some cross sections next time to you can see how light the crust is inside. This pie used hand crushed tomatoes which I think are too chunky.
The spring back on the crust is excellent. The holes are big and the crust is light and soft. But this crust was too thin in the middle. Each pie is a learning experience. This pie had no dry cheese, just fresh mozz.
Springs right back after squeezing. Notice that the tomatoes were crushed by hand and are chunky. I recommend blending them with an immersion mixer or food processor instead.
This pie was awesome. Overall it's probably the best I've ever made. The dough was in the fridge for 6 days. When I took the dough out of the sealed container, it had the aroma of a fine wine. I bet it could have gone another few days without a problem. You can see from the color that I used fresh mozzarella from 2 different batches. Both were excellent though. The cheese breakdown problem has been solved. No dry cheese underneath on this one.
This pie was made with KA Sir Lancelot (KASL high gluten flour) rather than my normal KA Bread Flour. The difference was pretty nominal. Flour is important but technique is more critical. The lesson of this pie is that the sauce should be a little thinner in the middle than anywhere else. Can you see it pooling towards the middle. Another lesson of this pie is that I need a better camera. My Sony CyberShot is small and chic, but takes mediocre close-up photos.
Next KASL from the same batch. This was an excellent pie all around. It was comparable to the last bread flour batch that rose for 3 days, but not as good as the one that was 6 days old. That one was amazing. This pie was among the first with machine crushed tomatoes, rather than hand crushed. It was a huge improvement.
This cross section shows the bread structure. See the holes. They are pretty big and the dough is springy.
These cross sections are pretty good. The crust is well defined and high. While the bubbles are big they are not as pronounced as they could be. The likely cause: this dough over rose slightly. The big winner here was the sauce. This was among the first pies with the new sauce technique and it's really an improvement.
Same pie on the bottom. Perhaps too charred, but good.
This pie was a 6 day cold rise Caputo Pizzeria 00 with 56% hydration. Caputo dough seem to absorb much more flour. I tried a pie with a 3 day cold rise also. I know that everyone is raving about the Caputo. Frankly, I hardly noticed the difference. Nothing wrong with it. But I wouldn't go crazy trying to hunt it down. In the last 4 months, mostly to deal with claims on the net, I've tried KA AP, KA Bread, KASL and now Caputo. I'm right back where I started from. Specialty flour is not a huge factor in this process. It's like when you see people arguing about the relative merits of 2 different tensions pulls on $1,000 tennis rackets, meanwhile they go out and miss the ball by 8 feet. Forget it. Maybe if you are making pies at the 99.8th percentile and you want to move to the 99.9th, then you should be worrying about this. Otherwise, let it go. Work on the BIG 3 factors: high heat, a good sourdough starter and technique (mixing and fermenting). This is where you will move from the 50th percentile to the 99th. Then worry about the relative merits of the type of milling or exact mineral breakdown of sea salt from one bay to the next. As in everything, work on the fundamentals.
This pie had excellent bubbles and spring. Another dough from the same batch rose 20 minutes less and was cooked at 725 (vs. 800 for the pie shown) and was dense with few holes. Technique, timing, heat - that's the ball game. Way down the list is the flour.
This dough was a 4 day cold rise using a blend of KA Bread, KASL and Caputo. Very wet dough. The big thing here was that I used my Kitchen Aid mixer instead of my DLX. While the DLX is far the superior machine, I now have a lot more experience with technique using a wet-knead. The result: the dough was just as good in the KA as it was with the DLX. The DLX is capable of mixing much larger batches and is easier to use, but for 4 pies or less, and with the wet-knead technique, I can now say that the KA dough is just as good.
Both pies were exactly a 2:30 at just over 800F. I've learned that the higher the hydration, the better it stands up to high heat. Dry dough will burn at high heat, but wet dough chars nicely. The cornice is not as well defined as it could have been, but the crust was super soft and tasty. These pies were as close to Patsy's as I've come. These were among my very best. They were amazing. The flavor, the texture, the sauce were incredible. But they were not quite as 'Neapolitan' as some are striving for. These were more NY.
Comparing Cheeses. Obtaining fresh Bufala Mozzarella can be difficult. The first pie is with Bufala Mozzarella but it's not as fresh as I'd have liked. The second is with cows milk. You can see that they melt differently. These pies were a blend of Caputo and KA Bread, baked at 840F for exactly 2 minutes each.
The charring on both pies was excellent.
This is one of my first attempts at making my own Mozzarella Cheese. It's just unhomogenized milk, citric acid, rennet and salt. Actually this pie had homemade dough, cheese and sauce. The sauce was from peeling ugly ripe tomatoes and reducing them. You can see the cheese burned a little bit. But it tasted pretty good. I have a long ways to go in the cheese making department.
If you use too much bench flour at these high temps you will find that the residual flour is bitter. But if you use too little you may find it hard to get the pie off the peel, especially since I am using a very wet dough. This takes some practice. If you can't slide the pie off the peel, you may have a mini disaster. A last resort way to recover is to fold the pie over into a calzone. This rustic looking calzone was the result of a trainee who forgot to flour the board at all. But no one complained. It was very tasty. The small amount of sauce on top will keep the top from burning as it puffs up closer to the heating element. I learned this trick from Luzzo's in NYC. If the ingredients inside the calzone are relatively dry (such as ricotta, mozz & ham), then the calzone is best if sealed. If the ingredients are wet, such as with this folded over tomato sauce, mozz pizza, then you may want to pop a small hole in the top to allow the steam to escape. Otherwise you may find the result in water logged inside.
This calzone was more planned. It's one of my favorite combinations: Rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh chopped tomatoes, mozz and pepperoni.
This is mostly for show - My current dough recipe doesn't really spin that well.
I Think this one had mushrooms on it. I'm going to post a section soon with other toppings, like my clam pie and my onion pie. But margarita pie is still the classic by which pies are judged.
This pie was made with regular old White Lily flour you can find in any supermarket. It did behave and feel a little different - it had a heavier, gummier feel when kneading. But once you have experience you can compensate for these things. My guests did not notice the difference and said it tasted the same as the King Arthur.
The bubbles and spring were comparable to the King Arthur, but not as much as the Caputo.
A classic Marinara Pie - Garlic Oregano, parmesan and olive oil, also using White Lily Flour.
The quality of the ingredients is very important. I have scoured the lands, trying every brand of flour, tomato and cheese I could find. I've had cheese flown in, paying $75 for enough cheese for just one round of pies, I've even made my own cheese from scratch, starting with just milk. I've tasted every brand of tomato I could find and peeled and blanched my own from local tomato growers. And theses things do make a difference. But there's just no getting around the simple truth of 'the big three' - High heat, good natural yeast, and mixing technique. Getting these right will cover a lot of sins and getting these wrong will screw up the best ingredients. Witness the crust on this pie made with cheap old White Lily flour.
This pie is Caramelized Onions with Emmenthaler Cheese. This combo goes well with fresh Thyme.
This pie was very interesting. I made a fresh dough and then took an old dough that had sat in my fridge for about 10 days, and blended them together. This tends to make a very sour - sourdough. Not in a bad way, just very well developed and rich. Typically, if you do this, the dough will not have the lightest structure, but will be a little flatter and chewier. Again, not necessarily bad, but different. Still, some of my guests said this was one of my best ever. Also, I cut the cheese in cubes instead of slices and you can see the effect. It's similar to what Luzzo's did in the very next photo. Finally, this pie had a LOT of extra virgin olive oil on it. I often put none, but after trying Una Pizza Napoletana's pie, I gave it a try with a lot of oil. I think if I try this again I will go much lower on the sauce to compensate. This pie was also a little lower temp. Probably around a 3:00 or 3:15 pie.
This is my Sicilian Pizza, based on my grandmother's style that she made when I was a kid, except with a well fermented sourdough crust. I wish you could have tasted this one. Wow, it was tasty. I made this with a sourdough culture given to me by a fan of this site.
This pie is from Luzzo's on 1st Ave and 12th Street in NYC. Great place. I timed this at 1:55. The taste of the crust was virtually identical to mine. Notice how the cheese was put on in cubes and allowed to melt.
This pie is from Una Pizza Napoletana, just a block from Luzzo's in NYC. Another great place. I timed this at 2:10. The taste of the crust was also very similar to mine, but more mild, less sourdough. It's texture was definitely softer than mine. Anthony used all caputo flour, but also uses other 00 flours at times. This pie uses fresh Bufala Mozzarella which was very wet. You can see how it kind of melts and puddles in the middle. This is not what most are used to, but very common in Naples. The really obvious thing about this pie was that it had very little sauce and a lot of fruity olive oil which held up very well despite the heat. He said it was from Calabria but had no brand since it was provided by a friend who grows there. I prefer more sauce, but the olive taste was very very nice too.
This pie is from Da Michelle, which is considered one of the best in Naples. The is the authentic target.
This is Trianon in Naples, which is also one of the best.
Denino's - the best pizza on Staten Island. This is a similar style to Modern in New Haven. Wow. Tasty.
Joe & Pat's on Staten Island. This is a similar style to Johnny's. Thin but much crispier crust than a Neapolitan.
Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.
With Ed Levine, guest judge of Iron Chef America and author of the great pizza book, "A Slice of Heaven".
Also, the gracious host of this website :-). Isabella's Oven is new, but a solid contender.
Calzone at Pizzeria Salvo in Naples.
Me with Antimo Caputo at his factory and lab in Naples.
Antica Pizzeria Brandi in Naples. This pizzeria claims to have invented the Margherita Pizza in 1889. The legend is that Princess Margherita was visiting Naples and the Pizzaiolo made 3 pizzas in her honor. For one he decided to match the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag, but using tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil. And Viola, the modern pizza was born.
This is me with Evelyne Slomon, pizza historian and judge at the U.S. Pizza Championships. She's perhaps the only person who's actually interviewed the old school NY pizza masters, such as Jerry Pero of Totonno's and knows all their secrets!
Evelyne took me to Chez Panisse, the famous restaurant owned by Alice Waters, creator of 'California Cuisine'
Me with flour miller extraordinaire, Keith Giusto.
Cook's Organic Flour.
Learning tricks at the San Francisco Baking Institute.
Johnny's Pizza in Mount Vernon, NY. Boy, I'd kill for a slice of this right now. One of the best there is - Probably my all time favorite!
Sally's Apizza in New Haven, CT. Aside from NYC, New Haven is probably the best pizza town in the U.S. There are at least 10 pizzerias there that are better than every pizzeria in my home of Atlanta. New Haven sports many styles of pizza, all good, but this is the quintessential "New Haven Style". No other town I've been in makes this kind of pizza. The pie below is half Marinara and half cheese. My photo of Modern Apizza, a few miles away, didn't come out that good. But Modern is even better than Sally's in my opinion.
Franny's in Brooklyn. An amazing pizza.
I created a few training videos for my staff on the styles of pizza. I decided to post these up as is, so pardon me if there are a few references other training materials.
Styles of Pizza found in America - Walks you through about a dozen regional styles. Devolution of Pizza - This explains how pizza went from Naples to NY, then the chains that dominate pizza today.
The World's Best Pizzerias.
SliceNY has comprehensive listings, photos and reviews of hundreds of restaurants. In this article, I'm primarily interested in highlighting the very best places. Many of the best places are the ones that have stood the test of time. These are the 'old school pizzerias founded from 1905-1955. This article in SliceNY gives a good timeline that shows when some of these places opened. You will see that a good number of today's best places are spin-offs from just a few of the originals. But pizza is undergoing a revival. In the last 10 years, especially the last 5, a wave of excellent 'new school' pizzerias have opened. There are a few exceptions, but overwhelmingly the best places are either 'old school' or 'new school' with very few in between. During the 'Lost Years', 1960-1995, about all we got was junk like Domino's, Pizza Hut, CPK, etc. My quest began in 1998 with old school places like Patsy's.. But new places like Luzzo's have quickly risen to the top of a lot of lists.
There is an organization called Vera Pizza Napoletana (VPN) that certifies that pizzerias are making authentic Neapolitan pizza. Most of these places prominently post their VPN certification, with one even claiming their certification is "an international award." However, no VPN pizzeria makes it into my top tier and several are among my bottom tier. Basically it's a marketing organization. You pay a few hundred bucks, you take a course and in a few days you are certified and can post a sign up that proves you are a great pizza maker. Yeah right. Personally, the certification means nothing to me. Certainly the best old school pizzerias don't bother with VPN.
What makes a good pizza? I don't want to digress too far, but I used to teach a course on the topic of 'Mastery'. It's fascinating to me. There are a lot of similarities to the process of mastering things, regardless of the discipline. Whether it's the violin, karate, golf, finances, cooking - whatever- there are patterns which re-occur over and over. Understanding some of these patterns has definitely helped me improve my pizza tremendously. One pattern that you see is that you have to go through a long period where you learn lots of technique. However true masters have more than technical perfection and often violate 'the rules' of their discipline. Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra didn't hit every pitch or beat - they made up their own and it was better. True artistry has soul, not just technical perfection. In the Olympics, judges split the scores for technical merit and artistic impression. I know what they mean - Technically perfect can mean boring and lacking in character.
I think that a lot of pizza bloggers are forgetting this. They are looking for technical perfection - how much spring is in the crust, how fast did it cook, how charred was it? I can understand that. But some are starting to sound more and more like wine connoisseurs, lost in the technical, and forgetting the total experience. Lots of people are ranking places high if they are "authentically Neapolitan." This is not my standard. Ultimately I really try to rank things on how they taste. Sometimes there's a pie that's technically perfect but yet I would never remember it the next day. It's got all the check marks, but I'd never crave it. A16 in San Francisco is a good example - very high marks for looking and being an 'authentic' Neapolitan Pizza. But somehow it's just missing something. It has no soul to it. Johnny's, in contrast, may not have the 'oven spring' or other characteristics that many look for, but it's pretty much perfect. I go there looking to have 3 or 4 slices, but usually end up eating a whole pie of 8. No one at A16 is licking the plate like that.
As I've been to more and more pizzerias I've struggled with how to rank and classify them. People have been sending me recommendations and the list has grown a lot. I actually visited 95 pizzerias in 2007. I've decided to reorganize the rankings into 4 Tiers:
Tier 1 - These are the places that I highly recommend. These are worth the drive or even the flight.
Tier 2 - These are places that have a good reputation and have very good pizza but I can't quite recommend going out of your way for them. If you are in the area and are going on a pizza tour, you may want to include them. Technically, a lot of these places are good, but again, they are missing something. You can see my rankings for these places dip down into the 4's. I'm grading on a curve and with so many places to rank it was hard to space them. In Atlanta, these places would get 9's and Atlanta's current 'best' would be a 2.
Notable - I've decided not to rank these. I list them but I don't give a number. Some of these places (Ben's for example) used to be great but now ride on their reputations only. Some are notable but not great. Take for Example, GoodFella's on Staten Island. It's the original unit that spawned the GoodFella's chain. I wanted to list it because a zillion people have told me to check it out and if you are a pizza nut like me you may want to pop in someday. But what can I really say about it. I can't really give it a number because it's really just an average NY pizza. I could walk through Brooklyn and pop into a random pizzeria and it's 50/50 that it may be better than GoodFella's. So short of listing every pizzeria in NY and ranking all of them, it's hard to rank GoodFella's. Yet it does get some buzz so I wanted to list it.
Naples Pizzeria - I really really struggled with how to rank the pizzerias that I visited in Naples, Italy. I had 21 in all. I list the 10 that are well know below. The rest were mostly street pizzas. I decided in the end to list the Neapolitan Pizzerias separately. They are ranked in order with the best one, Gino Sorbillo at the top. However, the spread between the best and the worst was very tight. They were all remarkably similar and utterly unlike any American pizzeria. A few American places, like Zero Otto Nove, A Mano and Franny's are close in style, but given how consistent the real Neapolitan places were, it would be a mistake to put any of the American places in with them. The Neapolitan pizza is a definite style. When I returned I wrote up a 10 page report for a few friends on what I liked and didn't like about the style. I won't bore you with all of that. I'll just say this: it's an acquired taste. Most Americans would not fall down and say "oh this is the best pizza I ever had". At the same time, I now understand the snobbery of some of my Italian friends who say that what we make here is "not really pizza". We are world's apart. The pizzas cook very fast in Naples. They really do cook in 45-60 seconds. This makes them very, very soft and doughy. They are also very wet and don't hold up well when you pick them up. But they are fresher and more about an expression of the ingredients, which is the Italian way. Overall, for my personal taste, I like the top end NY and New Haven places best. Compared to most pizza in the U.S., even compared to regular NY street slices, these high end NY places have a lot of Neapolitan influence. But they bring their own character to the table too.
Fake Pizza - I've traveled around and visited lots of places that have been recommended to me or that make it high on Zagat or CitySearch.com lists, etc. I don't want to be insulting, but it's pretty clear to me that those recommending many of these places have never had real pizza. The locals have no reference. For example Atlanta.CitySearch.com used to give number rankings and Domino's scored 9.3 out of 10. What can I even say about that?
Meanwhile, back in NYC. NY is not only ahead of the world, it's pulling farther and farther ahead. New Entrants like Zero Otto Nove are solid performers.
To help you on your tour, I've now plotted all my favorite places on this color coded Google Map. These include Tier 1 & Tier 2 , the Naples Pizzerias and also the ones I haven't been to yet . The others may not be worth a special trip so I left them off. Where you are choosing between many, places with a dot in the middle of the map tag are better bets. Use the Mouse Wheel to point and zoom into the city that interests you. In a future version, each pizzeria will have a blog page where you can post your review.
If you are in NYC, let me recommend that you take Scott's Pizza Tour. I met with Scott and he's a really passionate and knowledgeable guy. I may even appear as a 'guest expert' someday on one of his tours. Not that he needs it. He can talk up a storm about pizza and he makes the tour a lot of fun!
Scott and me at Joe's Pizzeria on Carmine Street.
So Finally, here is the list of what I consider to be the best pizzerias in the world:
Mount Vernon, NY.
I talk about this place above. It's very non-standard, but deserves it's ranking at the top. Closed Sunday, Monday and whenever they feel like it. This place easily has the WORST service of any restaurant you are likely to visit. They don't like their customers and it shows. But it's probably the most consistent place on the list. Crispy and NOT for those looking for Neapolitan style. But it's the kind you can't put down and will crave forever.
30 W Lincoln Ave, Near Gramatan Ave.
Not as good as Patsy's was in it's prime, but probably the best Neapolitan style currently in NY.
Between 12th & 13th St.
Wow, I had some die hards tell me Modern was even better than Sally's or Pepe's, but I didn't believe it. But they are right. It was outstanding. All three New Haven Places are a similar Style, very different than mine, but really good.
Excellent. Interestingly, the only Wood oven high on the list. (now joined by Franny's)
Between 1st & 2nd Avenues.
Jeff Varasano's House.
I had to get in here somewhere. I've been moving up steadily. On a good day I may be even higher than this. For example, my New Haven clam pie is better than Sally's and my sauce usually better than Una Pizza Napoletana. Many who have tried have said I'm better than Luzzo's and even Bianco's. I'm creeping up on #1 :-). The key to my ranking is that my crust is more flavorful than almost any other. Plus I have a secret sauce I don't publish (sorry). Johnny's still blows me out though. This listing is for my home, not for Varasano's Pizzeria. It's hard to be objective about the business and I've been told never to rank it here. But I haven't decided yet. As of today (May 6, 2009, open 6 weeks), I'd say that the pizza is at about 70% of where I want it to be. A good pie would be tier 1, but some of the pies coming out are clearly not near that. All the top places,especially those baking under 3 minutes, have consistency issues. Now that I'm in the biz, I can see why. But we are working hard every day to get better and more consistent. Lots of training and experiments. You'll have to decide for yourself, but if you've read down this far you know that I'm serious about delivering the best.
Listed on Food Network as #1 in the U.S. Spin-off from Pepe's. The service is super, super slow, but the pizza is yummy.
This used to be a 10 - the gold standard. The single best pie I ever had was from Patsy's. But it has fallen off a lot and may drop further. If you get a great pie, it's still one of the best in town. I recommend ordering a well done, fresh mozzarella Pie. But try a slice with the regular mozz too. May 2007: I just had a pie there that would put this back in the #1 position, but it's so hit and miss I can't guarantee you'll get that on your visit.
2287 1st Avenue.
Between 117th & 118th.
Very true to the Neapolitan Standard, except the sauce is a little more balanced. However the second time I went it wasn't as good. But my 3rd trip in July 2008 trip was excellent.
295 Flatbush Ave.
The Original on Coney Island is pretty amazing. Light, well charred. This is classic NY style pizza. Very tasty sauce. Worth the trip.
Manhattan Location is Terrible. Westchester Location is pretty good. Spin-off from Lombardi's.
1524 Neptune Ave.
Coney Island, NY.
Clam pie Amazing. Tomato Cheese very good too. LOTS of people have emailed me that this place had slipped way down. I popped in several times in the past few years and it didn’t even look that good. But Wow! My last visit was a huge comeback. It looked great, tasted great. The big surprise of the trip. This Video gives you some flavor of New Haven Pizza. Get the Clam pie here, then go to Modern for the chesse pie.
Get the Sicilian Slice, it's the best around.
316 Mamaroneck Ave.
Really good for both Sicilian and regular. A great 'everyday slice'. Some may say I've put this too high, but I love it.
I had this place as a perfect 10 after my first try, but the second one was very disappointing. It's worth the pilgrimage though. Watching Dom is a Zen experience. Check out the video (watch to the end)
1424 Avenue J (Take the Q train to Ave J and it's right there)
Outstanding. It reminded me a lot of Modern or Louie & Ernies. A little crunchy. Bursting with Flavor. By far the best of Staten Island.
524 Port Richmond Ave.
(Cross Street: Hooker Place)
Standard 'Street Slice', just better than most. Doesn't look like much, but has a great flavor. Maybe the best Sausage slice I've had.
1300 Crosby Avenue (Near Waterbury Avenue) Pelham Bay, Bronx. Take the #6 train to Buhre Ave. Crosby Ave starts there.
Spin-off from Patsy's. I had this twice in the 1990's and was not impressed but it's better on my last visit and people swear by it.
19 Old Fulton Ave.
Under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Best walk-in Slice in NYC. It's probably slipped a little and may no longer deserve this ranking, but I kept it in. This was the place that really set me off on my pizza quest. It's the first 'great' pizza I had. I used to drive from LaGuardia directly here when I visited NYC.
Carmine Street, Near Bleeker.
Sadly this place just closed. Good pizza but didn't have a good business model. I wish them luck in their next venture.
Tier 2 - The low numbers are only because I'm grading on a curve.
Solid Neapolitan pizza. I liked it better than my guests though.
2357 Arthur Ave.
One of the best Walk-in Slice Joints. Classic NY 'street pizza'. Great Sauce. Great Grandma Slice.
69 Seventh Avenue South (At Bleecker)
White Plains, NY.
No one has ever heard of this dive bar that happens to make pizza, but my buddy dragged me there and I have to admit it's up there. It almost made Tier 1. Get a sausage pie. This pizza is in the style of Modern, Louie & Ernies and Denino's. In NY, even places that don't know they make great pizza, blow away pizzerias in Atlanta that think they are world class.
600 Mamaroneck, Ave,
San Francisco, CA.
Run by Evelyne Slomon. Somewhat overly crispy crust, but very flavorful. Not light or Neapolitan, but overall very good.
825 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA 94706.
San Francisco, CA.
Very Neapolitan. Excellent texture on the crust, but somewhat lacking in flavor. Sauce was somewhat bitter. Overall good, but the topping combinations didn't go well together. Could be better. This is the highest VPN certified place on the list.
2355 Chestnut Street.
Was great the first time, not so great the next. I probably need to retest this one as this ranking is over 7 years old.
101 Old Saw Mill River Rd.
Spin-off from Lombardi's. Overrated in Zagat, which often overrates places in popular neighborhoods. ( More people hit John's in Greenwich Village, than Patsy's in Harlem, so this pumps up John's rating). Not great, but still a good pie.
278 Bleecker Street.
First Pizza place in the US. Worth a trip for the history and the atmosphere, but not a great pizza. Kind of a tourist trap. Somewhere in the last few years they TOTALLY redid their recipe. The pie they served 5 years ago bears NO RESEMBLANCE to what they do now. It's actually better now, but don't think what you are eating is what Lombardi served. The history is lost.
32 Spring Street.
San Francisco, CA.
Very Neapolitan, but like many of these places, the texture is great, but the flavor is missing. It was technically more like a 9 (good oven spring, good char, fresh bufala cheese, etc), but I'd never crave it or remember it the next day. Like A16.
320 Magnolia Ave.
Ok, but dough is tasteless except for the char.
200 Park Ave, Near Grand Central.
Interesting Sicilian Style slice. Not super, but pretty tasty.
Excellent the first time, not so great the next.
831 Nicollet Mall.
Minneapolis, MN 55402.
Tasty, with a light sweet sauce and nice cheese. But the sauce goes to the edge, so there is really no crust at all.
1758 Victory Blvd.
Near Manor Rd. (From Ferry, take 61 bus).
187 Bedford Ave (L Train to Bedford)
Long line and pizza-only menu made me think the pizza would be great. Good, but not great.
41 Kenmare St (Near Mott)
I had a delivery slice once that was pretty good but when I went in person it was pretty average.
108-26 Ascan Ave.
Tier 3 - Notable, but not ranked.
Like too many places trying to duplicate the Neapolitan standard exactly, the dough was undercooked and floppy, and also the sauce was too watery and bitter. However, the gelato is the best I've ever had. Pizzaiola Roberto Caporuscio is no longer the owner of this place and it may have just taken a cliff dive.
24 Franklin Ave (at Chestnut Street)
Good try, but not up to the better places on the list. Pizza was too thick and was raw inside.
28 Carmine Street (Near Bleecker)
Spin off of DiFara's, but just a shadow of it.
146 W. Houston St.
Arturo's Coal Oven.
Can be great on a good day. Very smokey. Old school and was much better years ago.
106 West Houston St.
Tasteless dough and some kind of smoked mozz and cooked sauce.
1260 Amsterdam Avenue.
Near 122nd Street.
Went way down hill.
201 W 11th St / 44 Avenue A.
Used to have an amazing Sicilian Slice. I've heard of going downhill, but this place just took a cliff dive.
123 Macdougal St.
Mario Batali's place. Skip this and go to Batali's Babbo. These are not really pizzas. They are flatbreads. Pretty lame.
Nice place, but the pizza just doesn't measure up to all the Brooklyn competition. Good cheese though.
(between Prospect Pl & St Marks Ave)
Alice Water's famous restaurant started the 'California Cuisine' craze. The pizza was good, but not up to NY standards. Worth the trip but more for the rest of the menu.
1517 Shattuck Avenue.
My second favorite on Staten Island, but still way below Denino's.
862 Huguenot Ave.
Tasty brick oven pizza, but flat crust. It's a great place to go to get the classic NY Italian menu, but the pizza was just OK.
1476 Hylan Boulevard.
This is the original unit that spawned the chain. Cool old school atmosphere and not bad pizza, but certainly not going to impress the serious pizza hunter.
1718 Hylan Boulevard.
Huge Disappointment. A lot of people recommended this place and many put it up there with Denino's. I have no idea why. I had both a whole pie and a takeout slice and they were lame.
2155 Hylan Boulevard.
This old place with a dive bar atmosphere has a cult following and was absolutely packed. But I think it's largely due to the super cheap prices. It's paper thin and kinda crispy. But mostly it was just greasy. Very inexpensive cheese just dissolved into grease.
One of the Original Deep Dish Places. I had just a few hours on a layover at O'Hare and got to quickly taxi it out to Malnati's and Giordano's. I like Malnati's a bit better, but honestly, I don't get the Chicago pizza thing. It's ok, but certainly not hard to do and nothing I would remember if it were not for the famous name. It's more like a pizza casserole, than a pizza.
6649 N Lincoln Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712.
Stuffed pizza. But there was so much stuff on it that there's a block of of cheese inside that never even melted. It still had square cut marks. If I wanted to eat a block of cheese, I don't think I'd need to come out to pizzeria. Hmmm. But it was not bad. Just not impressive.
Chicago, IL 60611.
The clear favorite.
32 Via Tribunali.
Largo Arso 10/16 - San Giorgio a Cremano.
Antica Pizzeria Costa.
Very traditional. Some think it's the best, but we placed it below several others.
Via Cesare Sersale 1/3.
Pizzeria Port Alba.
Via Port'Alba,18 Naples 80134.
Not to be confused with it's cousin Gino Sorbillo. This is a tiny 10 seat place about a block from Gino Sorbillo.
Mario Batali's Favorite and the most crowed in town. Beautiful place. Three levels. Don't visit Naples without seeing it. However the pizza didn't blow us away.
Via P. Colletta 46.
Pizzeria Di Matteo.
Via Tribunali, 94 Naples 80138.
Birth of the Margherita pizza. Touristy, but worth the visit. Just walking down the charming block it's on made it worth the visit.
Salita Santa Anna di Palazzo 2.
Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente.
Via Tribunali, 120/121.
Next up to be Tasted.
Chris Bianco is a fanatic from the Bronx. Some say it's the best in the USA. Ever since he got the #1 spot in Ed Levine's book and the got on Oprah, the place as a 3 hour line. However four people have had both mine and his and three say that mine is better :-). Of course that's what they say to my face, LOL. I fully expect to put this in Tier 1 when I finally get to try it.
623 East Adams Street.
Ron Molino's place. Great reputation. Supposedly one of the best.
703 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon.
To be Tasted. The place gets rave reviews but some of my friends have said it's overrated.
1769 W. Sunnyside.
To be Tasted. Owned partially by Mario Batali and run by Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery fame. It's supposed to be good, but not great. The consensus is that it's good but gets too much press because of it's famous owners.
641 N. Highland Avenue.
To be Tasted. Brad Sumeri's Place.
1776 Horizon Ridge Parkway.
To be Tasted. But by all accounts much better than Pizzeria Paradiso which gets too much press for pretty lame pizza.
3715 Macomb St. NW.
Old school (1925), should be pretty good.
11 1/2 Thacher Street.
111 Chelsea Street.
Artichoke Basille's Pizza.
Probably the most talked about new place in NY. I'll be trying this one in July.
(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003.
2342 Arthur Ave.
603 Crescent, Ave.
Between 101st & 102nd Streets.
I can't wait to try this one. Review.
Supposed to be similar to Pepe's.
New Haven, CT 06511.
111 Campbell Ave.
3825 Whitney Ave.
Some swear by it, but other say it's just ok. I'll have to try it and let you know.
350 Hawthorne Ave.
My friend scouted this place and said it was very good.
377 Cromwell Ave #B.
577 S. Main Street.
I actually walked into this place but through a mix up to complicated to explain, I never got to eat the pizza.
5008 Telegraph Ave.
Aside from Bianco's in Phoenix, I get more mail about this place than any other west of Chicago. And it's pretty much all positive. The photos look really good to me too. I can't wait to try this one myself.
4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Another Portland place that gets a lot of emails. But it's rep is not as high as Scholl's.
304 SE 28th Ave.
(at corner of Pine St.)
913 E. Pike Street.
This place gets a fair amount of attention, but my friends who've tried it say it's overrated.
4411 Stone Way North.
24369 Halstead Road.
Original Deep Dish.
Chicago, IL 60611.
162 E Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60611.
704 Cleveland Ave S.
St Paul, MN 55116.
Huapai, 0810, New Zealand.
4 Market Row, Electric Lane.
183 Lavender Hill.
London, SW11 5TE, United Kingdom.
+44 20 7228 2660.
Feel free to send more recommendations as I'm always on the lookout for great places. Aside from the pizzerias listed above, I'm also looking to tour several areas that supposedly have good pizza. Over Xmas I went on a Staten Island Tour with a local who emailed me and we hit 6 pizzerias in one day. I've done tours like that in several places and it's always fun. I want to try these locations next. If you've got some pizzerias to recommend or if you want to tour with me, drop me a note:
New Jersey - Surprisingly, I know almost nothing about NJ pizza.
Sao Paolo Brazil.
Anywhere else you want to recommend.
Good luck to all. Feel free to email me with questions or comments:
Nutella Cheesecake.
Watch the video for this recipe:
My little daughter turned 3 at the beginning of this month, her wish was to have a Nutella cake with colored bonbons on top. As her wish was the most important for me I started thinking and searching for the best way I can make her a Nutella Cake which looks good and doesn't take me too much to put together. As much I as I like layered cakes, and decorating them, it's pretty hard to have everything ready for a party, food and decorations, if only the cake takes half of day.
This Nutella Cheesecake was the perfect choice for this anniversary. Made it in the morning the day before the party, to allow it to cool and in the evening after all the appetizers and home decorations were done I made the Nutella topping. After a night refrigerated the cheesecake was ready to be served.
Seeing all these layers some may thing it takes a lot of work, but actually it goes pretty fast and when it's done it looks totally wonderful. A really dark chocolaty crust from the oreo cookies, a white cream cheese layer and a Nutella layer followed and in the end the intense Nutella topping which makes it totally irresistible. I really loved the way it turned out so I decided to make it again and share it with you.
I have more recipes of cheesecakes on my blog, some uses sour cream or Mascarpone alongside cream cheese. For this recipe it is important to use heavy cream because when mixed with cream cheese it gets whipped a bit and makes possible creating the two different layers of cheese mixture.
If you like Nutella give this cheesecake a try, you will be as pleased as we were. Enjoy!!
Recipe slightly adapted after RasaMalaysia.
Makes about 12-16 servings Crust 250 g (about 30 oreo cookies), cream removed 6 tbsp (80 g) unsalted butter, melted Cream Cheese Filling 35 oz (1 kg) cream cheese, room temperature 3/4 cup (175g) heavy cream + 2 tbsp, cold 2/3 cup (190g) Nutella 1 cup (200g) sugar 1 tbsp cornstarch 2 tsp vanilla extract 4 eggs, room temperature Nutella Topping 2/3 cup (190g) Nutella 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream.
Prepare the crust . Preheat oven to 350 F (180C). Remove the cream between oreo cookies and crush them using a food processor. Melt butter and pour over the crushed cookies. Process until evenly moistened. Press cookie mixture with the back of the spoon into the bottom of a 10-inch (26 cm) springform pan (with a removable base). Bake for 13-15 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 300 F (150C). Prepare the cream cheese filling . In a bowl combine the sugar with cornstarch. In a large bowl beat the cream cheese with 3/4 cup heavy cream until well combined and the mixture seems fluffy as the heavy cream has whipped a bit. (This is very important, because this is what makes possible creating the 2 layers effect.) Gradually add the sugar mixture and mix until creamy and smooth. Add vanilla extract and mix again until well combined. Add eggs one at a time until each egg is incorporated. Reserve about 1/3 of cream cheese mixture in a separate bowl. Add Nutella and 2 tbsp of heavy cream over the reserved 1/3 of cream cheese mixture and mix well until incorporated. Pour the white cream cheese mixture over the prepared crust. Carefully add Nutella mixture on top and use a rubber spatula to spread evenly. Bake for 45-55 minutes on 300F (150C). Turn off the heat and leave it another hour in the oven. Remove and run a sharp knife completely around the inside edge of the pan. Let it cool completely at room temperature. Prepare the Nutella topping . Bring cream to a boil and pour over the Nutella. Mix well and spread evenly over the cheesecake. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Decorate with some chopped hazelnuts before serving if desired.
Thank you for pinning it Kristi. Really glad you like it:) We definitely did :P.
Thank you Liz, she was really happy that it was her birthday. I just can't believe how fast she grows:)
Thank you for your wishes:) She was the happiest girl that day, she knew so well that is her birthday. Let me know when you try the recipe :)
Thank you Nami, seems I have big kids now :) I am glad you like the layered cheesecake, it is quite easy to prepare. Maybe you will try it once:)
Yes, you should add Nutella and the 2 tbsp of heavy cream in the 1/3 cream cheese mixture. I will try to make this more clear.
I didn't find oreo cookies without the cream, but if you find them good for you. Less time involved :)
Yes, you can make a Nutella cheesecake without baking. Make the crust and refrigerate until the cream is ready. Beat cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Don't use the cornstarch here, as it is not necessary. I would suggest to whip the cream separately and then gently fold it in the cream cheese mixture. Separate and mix 1/3 of mixture with Nutella. Add the mixtures over the crust. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Hope it works well, never tried it like this.
Did he used heavy cream? It is really important to use heavy cream, not sour cream as the heavy cream whips while mixing. Also it is important to add the Nutella layer gently on top of the other. But I am glad you liked it, I am sure it was as delicious.
I've also grown with the metric measurement system but finally get used with both. I've made this article once about ingredient equivalents, so hope it helps. http://www.homecookingadventure.com/articles/ingredient-equivalentsms.
The cup I am using is a cup of 240 ml. The tbsp I am using has a capacity of 15 m. The grams will be different for 1 tbsp of sugar or flour so hope the charts I've made will help.
3/4 cup heavy cream = 175 grams.
1 cup sugar= 200 g.
1/3 cup heavy cream = 80 g.
2/3 cup Nutella -100g.
Hope this helps :)
Thank you for your wishes :) It is a different layer, a Nutella topping, made with only Nutella and a bit of heavy cream. On step 9 you can see the preparation for this. It is also in the video. Let me know if any other questions :)
Use whipping cream instead. It will work as good. It needs to have 30% fat or more. What I used had around 35-36% fat.
Hi Esther, I am glad you like this recipe. You know how recipes are, you can always change some ingredients and still work wonderful. You can substitute heavy cream with whipping cream, Nutella with any other hazelnut chocolate spread (any other brand), or it might work with even some melted chocolate and create a marble effect like here: http://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/marbled-chocolate-pumpkin-cheesecake. If you can not find oreo cookies you can use any other chocolate cookies. I know it won't look the same or taste exactly the same but it will still be delicious, that's for sure :) Let me know if you try it out:)
Thank you Bina, glad you like it:)
Yes, you can make a Nutella cheesecake without baking. Make the crust and refrigerate until the cream is ready. Beat cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Don't use the cornstarch here and eggs, as it is no longer necessary. I would suggest to whip the cream separately and then gently fold it in the cream cheese mixture. Separate and mix 1/3 of mixture with Nutella. Add the mixtures over the crust. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours even better overnight. Hope it works well, never tried it like this.
Yes, you can use different cookies, I would suggest to use some chocolate cookies, add some cocoa powder if desired, something similar with the cookies used in this recipe: http://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/marbled-chocolate-pumpkin-cheesecake. The cheesecake will still be awesome.
The one I've used, was a fresh cheese that had 4.4% fat. It worked great.
Yes it is supposed to be like that after the first 55 min, turn off the heat and let it another hour in the oven. Only after that you can remove it from the oven.
La receta se traduce aquí http://www.dimealgodulce.com/blog-momentos-dime-algo-dulce.
Let me know how it turns out :)
So glad to hear that Nemia, be careful and pour gently the Nutella layer over the white layer:) Don't forget to let me know how it turned out. Hope you subscribed to my channel so we can stay in touch. More recipes to come:)
Yes, the Philadelphia kind works good. Hop you will give it a try.
I have used some fresh cheese, similar with Philadelphia but lower in fat. It had only 4.4% fat.
Hi Sara, nice to meet you. A cup has 240 ml. You can use other cookies, like some chocolate cookies, it will work good.
that's good, maybe the packages I've found were smaller, it was 170 g each.
I use plastic wrap. If the cheesecake has cooled at room temperature, after I added the Nutella topping, I put the ring back on, so I have a higher support for the plastic wrap. This way the plastic wrap doesn't touch the surface of the cheesecake.
Never tried making homemade cream cheese, I simply buy it. But if you want to make the cream cheese at home here is a recipe for it. http://www.culturesforhealth.com/how-to-make-cream-cheese. Hope this helps.
I left you a message on FB. hope everything turned ok. Let me know:)
Hi Adeeha, I am really glad you want to try this cheesecake. You can reduce the ingredients to half but you will need to use a smaller springform pan, 8 inch will do fain. For a 8 inch springform pan I would probably use like 150 -200 g oreo crumbs. The first thing you do is bake the crust at 350F (180C). So preheat the oven to this temperature to bake the crust first. When it's done, remove the crust from the oven to cool, and reduce the oven temperature to 300 (150C). When you finish the cheesecake filling, pour it over the crust and bake it for 45 - 50 mins at 300F(150C), turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake another hour in the oven. Cool at room temperature, add the Nutella topping and refrigerate overnight for best results. I am not sure about the thick cream, didn't try a cheesecake with it. I use heavy cream or whipping cream in this recipe as while mixing together with the cheese it whip and make the mixture fluffy, which allows creating the 2 layers. Mix the mixture enough to let the cream whip a bit. Otherwise the Nutella layer doesn't sit on top of the other. It is also important to use cold cream, for better results. Hope my message helps :)
Well I am sure that if you make the whole recipe it it will be just fine. Because it is soo good some may want a second serving or take with them at home. Leftovers, if any, are always welcome the next days, trust me for that. If I would have to make a cake for 8 people I would definitely do this entirely.
Hi Lisa, Heavy cream is like whipping cream, a bit more fat, 36 %. You can use whipping cream, it will work as good. I would suggest to cook it for 45-50 mins at 300 F and then reduce the oven temperature to very low for the next hour, just to keep it a bit warm. Is that possible?
If you want you can try add it to the cream cheese mixture for this cheesecake though I haven't, or keep it for some cupcake frosting. Like mixing some cream cheese with Oreo filling, some butter and sugar and the frosting for some cupcakes is done:) Or adding it in some yogurt and make some parfaits. I didn't have time to make something special out of it, as making a video really takes a long time, but I think the cupcake idea sounds good.
So glad you liked it Azue.
Yes you can, just reduce the cream mixture to half and use a smaller springform pan, a 8 inch springform would work well. I wouldn't reduce the oreo crust to half, I would use about 150-180 g crumbs.
Let me know if any other questions.
Yes.. certainly :) I've never made a cheesecake with Masscarpone cheese instead of the cream cheese. I sometimes use cream cheese and Mascarpone together but in that case no heavy cream needed. Next time try the philadelphia type with cold heavy cream.
We have purchased the song from Audio Network. Here is the link: http://www.audionetwork.com/production-music/slow-down_93778.aspx.
The cake will have more than 1 kg, as only the cream cheese is 1 kg without adding the rest of ingredients. I think it will be around 1,8 kg to 1.9 kg.
Did you use a higher temperature, or bake it more than 45-50 minutes? Yes, it deflates after you turn off the heat. I always bake my cheesecakes to 300 F (150 C) for max 45-60 mins , depending on the size pan used, and if made this way it shouldn't crack. In this case as you add Nutella topping nobody will ever know it cracked :)
The 250 g is for crumbs, after the cream was removed. The package I've used had only 170 g each, that's why I had to use 2 packages. Didn't measure the crumbs in cups, as you can see I put them directly on the food processor, but probably 2 1/2 cups might be enough. I think that you can use peanut butter with this recipe, it will work well with the heavy cream. I would suggest to add the peanut butter gradually and taste the composition a bit to see if enough. I think 300 g of peanut butter will do fine, though. I also have a homemade Nutella recipe, if you want to give it a try. It is delicious and more nutty flavored. Check it out here: http://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/homemade-nutella-chocolate-hazelnut-spread.
You can avoid the last layer, the Nutella topping of course. But the Nutella flavor won't be so intense. It will still be delicious anyway. if you make it really early in the morning and have time to cool at room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 4 hrs I think it will be ok to serve it sooner. I always let it overnight, it's easier for me, I rarely bake at 7 or 8 am in the morning.
Hi Zilly, I am really glad you want to try this cheesecake. For a 8.5 inch pan you can try reducing to half the pouring ingredients. I would probably use like 150 -200 g oreo crumbs for the crust. I use heavy cream or whipping cream in this recipe as while mixing together with the cream cheese it whips and make the mixture a bit fluffy, which allows creating the 2 layers. Mix the cream cheese with heavy/whipping cream enough to let the cream whip a bit. Otherwise the Nutella layer doesn't sit on top of the other. It is also important to use cold heavy/whipping cream, for better results. Also, don't try using Macarpone instead of regular cream cheese as it won't work. Some tried and didn't work well. Hope my answer helps. Let me know if any other questions:) and let me know how it turns for you.
No, Masscarpone won't work at all. some already tried and was a disaster. Try to use ricotta cheese, Philadeplhia or something similar, a creamy fresh cheese.
Yes, I know why. It is very important the step with mixing of cream cheese with heavy cream. You have to mix them more so to allow heavy/whipping cream to whip a bit to create a more fluffy mixture that allows creating the two different layers. I have mentioned this in step 4 in the description. But don't worry, it is still delicious even with a marbled effect :)
You can make smaller size cheesecake, just reduce the cream mixture to half and use a smaller springform pan, a 8 inch springform would work well. I wouldn't reduce the oreo crust to half, I would use about 150-180 g crumbs. Baking time shouldn't be reduced to half, the crust still needs 13-15 minutes of baking and also together with the filling I would still bake it for 40-45 minutes, and after heat is turned off still leave it in the oven for 50-60 minutes more.
Yes, you can make a Nutella cheesecake without baking, no eggs needed here. Make the crust and refrigerate until the cream is ready. Beat cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Don't use the cornstarch here, as it is not necessary. I would suggest to whip the cream separately and then gently fold it in the cream cheese mixture. Separate and mix 1/3 of mixture with Nutella. Add the mixtures over the crust. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Hope it works well, never tried it like this.
There are four eggs in the feeling :) All the ingredients are listed under the Ingredients before the description.
So glad to hear that :) Thank you for writing me back with your review.
Yes, the cheesecake rise in the oven a bit, but after you turn off the heat it deflates slowly. This is how it supposed to be. If the temperature is not too big, it won't crack on the surface.
I know what went wrong, I mentioned in the directions that the step of mixing the cream cheese with heavy/whipping cream is very important as you have to mix enough to allow the heavy/whipping cream to whip a bit. You can see the difference, it's more fluffy and thicker.. this allows you to create the two different layers.
No.. greasing the pan is not necessary, some times I use parchment paper to protect the bottom from the sharp knife.
Yes, it's the same heavy/whipping cream but the 2 tbsp are used on the Nutella mixture only. First you mix the cream cheese with 3/4 cup heavy cream.. do the rest of the steps and remove 1/3 of it. In that 1/3 reserved mixture you add Nutella and these 2 tbsp of heavy cream. Let me know if any other questions.
Hmm.. hard to tell if I wasn't there to see. Did you bake it and then turned off the heat and let the cheesecake in the oven for another hour? Cheesecakes usually continue to bake after removing from the oven that is why they also need to chill overnight to set before serving. If it cracked in the middle is it possible you set the oven to a higher temperature? It really needs to bake at lower temperature so it cooks slowly and this way it won't crack on top. What type of cream cheese did you use. There are many possibilities.. Let me know how it turned for you after all.
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Hi Sofia, cream cheese is actually a creamy fresh cheese, you can use Philadelphia type, but it's quite expensive you can also use Ricotta Cheese instead or any other local creamy fresh cheese. Don't use Mascarpone as it won't work. When you mix the heavy/whipping cream with the cream cheese make sure you mix them while enough so the heavy/whipping cream have time to whip a bit as this is very important, that is the trick to allow you create the 2 different layers. Let me know if any other questions and hope you will let me know how it turned for you.
You can use flour instead.
Glad you like this recipe. Well some say cornflour is the same with cornstarch though I think they are a bit different. If you don't have cornstarch just replace with all purpose flour, it will work good.
Thank you:) I am glad you like it. It is a 10 inch (26 cm) springform pan.
I have used an electric oven as well. I used the regular baking function, not convection, mine said it is conventional. Do you have this?
Cheesecakes are supposed to be a bit wobbly even after the cooking time is done, as they continue to cook while chilling. And also they set overnight. That is the reason you can never serve a cheesecake in the same day and it is necessary to chill overnight. How did it turned out after all?
I have never frozen a cheesecake, I am not sure how it would behave. Isn't it possible to make it with 2 days in advance and refrigerate? It will be as good.
Depending on the package, I have used 4 (9 oz -250g) packages.
Yes.. you definitely can add the last Nutella topping after is set in the fridge.
I think you can use about 100 g up to 150 g. It should work good, no need for more.
So glad it turned good for you Lailain :) Yes.. the batter is incredible creamy and delicious. Thank you for writing me back with a review.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, and thank you for writing me back with a review. Greece is so beautiful will have to visit some day :)
Yes, It's good. Probably you don't have to wait hours until adding the next layer. Yesterday I've made a no bake layered cheesecake, something similar and did like this: Oreo Crust, u can use with the filling this time, combine with butter and press well on the bottom of a pan. Freeze until you prepare the first layer, about 10 minutes. Combine cream cheese with some sugar, you can use powdered sugar. Separately whip heavy cream and then fold in with the cream cheese. Of course, add vanilla or whatever flavor you want. Pour over the crust and let it set in the freezer for few minutes until you prepare the nutella layer. It is best to whip heavy cream separately so you have a thick cream in the end. Gently and gradually add the nutella layer on top, and refrigerate for few hours or better overnight. Hope it helps, let me know how it turns for you.
Hi Cassondra, I am really glad you like the recipe. I have never made it with a pre done Oreo cookie pie shell. Where I live I don't find it in stores. If you are talking about this 6 oz pie crust (http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/220601904105?rmvSB=true ) I think you will have to reduce the ingredient to half. It doesn't seem like a 10 inch diameter pie crust, or tall enough. So I would simply reduce to half the filling and see how it works.
We are working on this actually, YouTube will have this translated in Portuguese and Spanish. Hope soon.Will let you know.
Yes you can, just reduce the cream mixture and Nutella topping to half and use a smaller springform pan, a 8 inch springform would work well. I wouldn't reduce the oreo crust to half, I would use about 150-180 g crumbs (18-20 cookies )and about 50 g (3 tbsp) of butter.
You can not replace heavy cream with sweetened condensed milk. Use the same amount of whipping cream as for heavy cream.
Hope this helps:
250 g (30 biscuits Oreo), crème retiré
80 g de beurre non salé, fondu.
175 g de crème épaisse + 2 cuillères à soupe, le froid.
100g- 150g Nutella.
2 c extrait de vanille.
4 oeufs, la température ambiante.
Yes you can, just reduce the cream mixture and Nutella topping to half and use a 8 inch springform pan. I wouldn't reduce the oreo crust to half, I would use about 150-180 g crumbs (18-20 cookies )and about 50 g (3 tbsp) of butter for the crust. Let me know if any other questions.
I have never tried.. as I don't have a toaster oven but read about it and it seems that other succeeded on baking a cheesecake in it. Place the cake on the bottom rack and should work well.
Yes.. and use a smaller springform pan, a 8 inch springform would work well. I wouldn't reduce the oreo crust to half, I would use about 150-180 g crumbs (18-20 cookies )and about 50 g (3 tbsp) of butter.
Maybe it's the oven, did you bake at the right temperature? It has to be a constant temperature in all oven. I have an electric oven and this works great. I don't know if humidity would affect the cheesecake.. I'd rather blame the oven. But.. hope it tastes great. Let me know.
I have never frozen a cheesecake.. but you can make it with about 2 days in advance.. and refrigerate. One day in advance is necessary anyway to allow the cheesecake to set.
yes.. it still needs to set while cooling at room temperature and then in the fridge overnight. That is the reason it is important to make the cheesecake a day before serving.
I would say to try reduce everything to half.. it might get a taller cheesecake but still delicious.
I've mentioned that it is important for the cream to be cold, eitherwise it won't whip well. I think this was the problem. It's not necessary to whip separately. Hope it will work better next time.
Hi Lee:) thank you for your comment.. so glad you won first place. I really enjoyed reading your story.. was so fun to read.. .. anyway.. heavy cream is actually whipping cream between 36%-40% fat.. so if you have 38% is actually heavy whipping cream:) 22% is just not good:) you need 30% or more ..but I am sure it was delicious:) those layers are just for visual effect.. they don't change the taste anyway.. glad you liked it:)
Sure.. just make it on Friday.. it will be great, and just keep it refrigerated. It lasts more than 4 days if refrigerated. Make sure you use cold heavy cream or whipping cream so while mixing it with cream cheese to whip a bit and get a bit fluffy. This makes possible the 2 layers.
I think you can.. it's not such a big difference. You may leave it for 1 hr instead of 45 mins in the oven and then turn off the heat and leave it another hour in the oven. It should be fine.
Now that is so great to hear Shaz :) I really try my best to make it all clear for everybody.. but there are still people who don't succeed in making this recipe. Thank you for coming back with such a great review. More to come.. so stay in touch :)
None of them came back with a review, but I have tried a no bake cheesecake recently.. made one with 3 different layers (white.. chocolate and strawberry) for my daughter anniversary and didn't post it on the blog yet.. but turned absolutely great.. I did use gelatin for each layer as I wanted to make sure it holds ok.. as it was quite big. For a 12 inch springform pan I made each layer from 1 pound (500g) cream cheese and 2 cups whipped cream (400 g) + up to 1/2 cup powdered sugar. 10 g of gelatin was enough for this dissolved in about 4 tbsp (60g) of water and than heated to turn liquid. Make the oreo crust, add the white layer, refrigerate for 15 minutes to set. For the Nutella layer just mix nutella with the creamcheese mixture and pour over the white mixture. Refrigerate until set, up to 4 hrs.
Sorry for the late answer. Medium or large eggs are fine. Did you try it out after all? I am curious how it turned for you.
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Die Geschichte der Pizza.
Wer hat es eigentlich erfunden, dieses kreisrunde flache leckere Ding names Pizza, das aus der europäischen Esskultur nicht mehr wegzudenken ist? Ein Italiener? Dr. Oetker? Oder sogar die Schweizer? Die haben schliesslich auch das Kräuterbonbon erfunden.
Weder noch, wenn man den Archäologen Glauben schenken darf. Denn die auf Stein gebackene Pizza soll ihren Ursprung gar nicht in Italien haben, sondern von den gleichen Leuten stammen, die auch die Erfindung des Gyros für sich beanspruchen. Die Griechen, bzw. damals noch die Etrusker, sollen in der Antike um 800 v. Chr. die ersten gewesen sein, die einen Fladen aus Mehl, Wasser und Salz mit Zutaten belegt und am offenen Feuer auf Steinen gebacken haben. Teigfladen nennt man zu dieser Zeit „Pita“, woraus sich im Laufe der Zeit das Wort Pizza entwickelt.
Um 200 v. Chr. besetzen die Etrusker Rom und die Italiener kommen das erste Mal mit dem Rezept der Urpizza in Berührung. Während der römischen Eroberungsfeldzüge dann breitet sich das Rezept der Pizza über die Jahrhunderte im restlichen Europa aus, fristet aber bisweilen ein Schattendasein, denn die Pizza gilt eher als einfache Speise der verarmten Bauernbevölkerung. Die arme Bauernbevölkerung ist es dann auch, die eine einschneidene Veränderung bei der Pizza verursacht. Denn um 1520 finden die ersten Tomaten aus Südamerika über den Seeweg ihren Weg nach Italien. Durch den roten Warnfarbton hält man die Tomate in Europa lange Zeit für giftig. Doch in der Not frisst der Teufel bekanntlich Fliegen, und so beginnen die verarmten Bauern in der Gegend um Neapel herum aus der Not heraus, ihre bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt trockenen Teigfladen mit der Tomate zu belegen. Der Legende nach die Geburtsstunde der Pizza, wie wir sie heute kennen.
Während man im restlichen Europa die Tomate noch als Zierpflanze betrachtet, entwickelt sich die Pizza mit Tomaten belegt in Neapel zu einer lokalen Spezialität und kleine Pizzerien spriessen in dem Städtchen aus dem Boden. Der Pizza haftet jedoch immer noch der Ruf einer Speise für arme Leute an, die nichts für elitäre Oberschicht ist. Im Jahre 1889 ist König Umberto mit seiner Frau Margharitha zu Besuch in Neapel. Er hatte von dieser leckeren Teigspezialität der Armen gehört, jedoch verbot es sich dem Adel zusammen mit dem Pöbel in einer Pizzeria zu speisen. So wird Raffaele Esposito, seinerzeit ein Pizzabäcker aus Neapel, beauftragt, für ihre Majestät eine Pizza in den Palast zu liefern. Raffaele Esposito belegt die Pizza in den italienischen Nationalfarben mit Tomaten, Mozzarella und Basilikum und gibt ihr den Namen „Margharitha“. Die Königin soll derart begeistert gewesen sein, dass die Pizza als salonfähig für den Adel erklärt wird. Das königliche Dankschreiben an Pizzabäcker Raffaele soll man noch heute an der Wand in der Pizzeria in Neapel finden.
Anfang der 20. Jahrhunderts tragen die italienischen Immigranten das Rezept der Pizza nach Europa und in die USA, wo sie ihren kulinarischen Siegeszug antritt. In den 50er und 60er Jahren finden zudem Kühl- und Gefrierschränke den Weg in die heimischen vier Wände. So ist es wenig verwunderlich, dass 1957 das italo-amerikanische Brüderpaar Celantano in den USA die erste Tiefkühlpizza auf den Markt bringt. Die Pizza entwickelt sich zum Massenphänomen und ist mittlerweile beliebt bei Jung und Alt. Allein Deutschland verspeist gut 70% der Bevölkerung wöchentlich mindestens ein Stück Pizza. Man findet Pizza im Supermarkt, beim Italiener im die Ecke oder in Fastfoodketten wie Pizza-Hut. Ein Leben ohne die geliebte Pizza wäre nicht mehr denkbar.
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