[Photograph: Cameron Mattis]
I had a bit of a revelation a few weeks ago that I need to share with the web. It's something that I don't know why I haven't realized before, and honestly, I feel like I should have. I consider myself to be a lot of things: a total f-ing food nerd, a home-brewer, a coffee snob (I rather drink Sasquatch's piss than drink dunkin donuts' poor excuse for java) ... but one hell of a pizza slut I certainly am. I'm not talking about fluff crust impostors or a cardboard flapping hoaxer, I'm talking about pizza the way it was meant to be. My revelation is how the crust-which-I-desire is produced. As if you didn't know all the makings a the perfect pie? Okay, maybe you don't... here's the criteria and the revelation I had -
"Relatively" thin crust
I guess it's debatable. Thin could mean the crust is cracker-like, or that it is slightly thinner than the thickness than a pencil. Here in New Haven, pizza crust is all the importance and cracker-like doesn't fly. The big guys probably won't share with you the trade secrets, but I'll tell you what I know. I have come to my conclusion through my own analysis and, of all things, a measuring accident (not proud of this). Bottom line on this one, no fluff, mmm k?
Choice of tomato
Pizza does not necessarily need tomato on it to be considered a pizza. I could easily rub olive oil on pizza dough and bake it, and still call it pizza (bianco that is). When I came to my analysis, I figured out the key here is consistency. If you use generic store brand crushed tomato or out of season "fresh" tomatoes, I think your steering yourself in the wrong direction. You need to choose a product that you know for certain will not run off the pie. At the same time, the sauce can't be pasty and concentrated. Tomato paste in a sauce makes it too sweet and depending on the brand of sauce you buy, it may have this in it. Here are some brands in the store that I suggest using that fall into the range of consistency I am talking about.
*sorry for the amazon links*
Notice that I didn't suggest "sauce" these are whole plum tomatoes of quality. I also know that they are packed in tomato puree, which is important. When you are ready to make your pie, just throw the contents of the can in the blender and give it a few millisecond zaps (1-2-3... maybe 4). The tomatoes should be chunky, not watery. Over processing will turn it into juice. No salt, no pepper, no spices... add later if you desire, but not necessary. Oh, and you don't need to cook it either. Cooking the tomatoes will ruin the brightness of the sauce and make it sweeter. Leave it be. The acid balances out the fat from the cheese and possible meat toppings. The tomatoes being packed in the puree helps with the consistency issue. You could just use in-season tomatoes that are ripe as fuck. That would be perfect, but remember to adjust for consistency. Try this:
Peel the tomatoes by blanching them in boiling water for a few seconds and shocking them in cold water. Use a paring knife and get rid of the skin.
Squeeze the seeds and gel out of the tomato and reserve.
Blitz the little dudes in the blender just as before, but if it looks too dry, add back some of the stuff you squeezed out.
The oven
Get that sh!t hot. Does it go up to 600* ? Then do it! 550* is ok too. You need a Baking Stone
to make this work BTW. Put it on the lowest rack in your oven. If you find that it is burning the pizza before the cheese is brown an bubbly, move it up a rack. Hot-hot-heat is what you need. No way around this. If you are afraid that your oven is going to blow up or something, call Dominoes and settle for reassembled poo-matter.The dough
Okay, one thing that all pizza lovers can agree on is the crust has to be crisp, not doughy. Dough in pizzerias can be made a bunch of different ways. Some add fat to the dough, some add sugar, some buy the sh!t in and run it though a conveyor-belt toaster oven. When I am talking about New Haven style pizza, the dough needs to be a "lean & slack" dough. That's pizza biz talk for a wet and fat-less dough. You can put the fat on top for flavor, but in the crust, it works against your eventual crispiness.
I don't know exact formulas to any of the top pizzerias in the area, again, this is speculation. (despite my intelligence from inside sources on the use of fat and sugar in the dough.... I won't get into it) I think I'm trailing off again.... ok, right, the dough. So what make it crispy?
A wet dough
This is just general bread baking knowledge. A wet dough makes for bigger holes (i.e. ciabatta) and a hard/crunchy crust. It does the same for pizza dough.
No fats and no sugars
Why? Well they do add flavor, but f@*k with the texture of the pie. No need. Keep it in the cookies.
Amount of salt **MY REVELATION***
So you got high blood pressure huh? Deal with it. This is what a stumbled upon a few weeks ago in my kitchen. I was so concerned with all the other factors like oven temp, leanness of the dough, blah, blah, blah... So I accidentally hit the tare button on my scale prematurely while measuring the salt and I ended up adding in too much,4 grams too much. After I made the dough, I tasted it and knew that I went over board with the salt. No f!*ks did I give at that point because I was in a rush. So I let it rise. I shaped it, I put in the fridge overnight to slow rise and develop flavor (Don't you?). The next day for lunch I made my pies as usual and sneaked a piece while my wife wasn't looking. Bells went off in my head and I said to myself, "You f-ing idiot, how did you not figure this out before?" The crust was wicked crispy. Before I had always blamed my electric oven for not getting hot enough, but this was it. I had achieved my pizza destiny. Salt. Who knew? I believe it has to do with how moisture is absorbed into the starch of flour... or something....
Pizza slut or not, you know good pizza when you eat it. Trying to reproduce New Haven style pizza at home is a virtue. I set out many years ago and I thought that I had it as close as possible. All the variables were considered, then by the slip of my hand I figured it out.
Put down that phone and make some pizza
The revised formula
1 # 3 oz High Gluten Flour (try the stuff labeled "for bread machines" if no avail)
1 1/2 tsp. Instant Yeast
13 oz Water
16 g Kosher salt
-Mix for 6 minutes on medium speed (or kneed by hand for 10 minutes)
-Bulk rise for 2 hours (or more if you're busy)
-Shape into three equal sized balls and place onto a sheet pan sprayed with grease
-Place into the refrigerator for 8-24 hours
-Take out of the fridge 30 minutes or so before using
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