Serious Pizza in Ilwaco makes darn good Neapolitan style pizzas. Check them out if you're don on the Long Beach Peninsula or at CD.
I've continued to evolve my home pizza making. I bought a cookbook called The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemgiani and I now use his crust recipe, and buy canned tomatoes that he recommends as they produce a sauce that blows away any others I've tried (I use either 7-11 tomatoes which I have to buy in number 10 cans so I freeze a bunch of baggies of one-pie doses or 6-in-one tomatoes; I'd give the 7-11 a bit of an edge fwiw). His crust dough is a bit involved, with the making of a "starter" in one overnight period, then making the dough and forming balls and letting them have a "delayed fermentation" for another overnight period. Crust consistency and flavor as well as handling during prep are best of any doughs I've made or bought.
I also bought a "pizza steel" to use in my oven in place of a stone. I got the 3/8 inch steel from Dough Joe. I preheat it for an hour at 500, then while starting to stretch out the dough and do other final prep, I turn on the broiler in the oven (you have to have a top broiler for this to work!) which gets the steel up around 600 degrees give or take. This gives great heat from both above and below, the lack of which is one of the failings of much home pizza cooking. The pizza cooks in 3-4 minutes and has lovely bubbling cheese/sauce and charred edges and leopard spotting on the bottom. Using this technique along with the NY/NJ style dough and sauce from The Pizza Bible gives me a pie that's as good as all but perhaps the one or two best places I ever ate at in the Northeast. I suspect the biggest difference there is their 900 degree coal fired ovens...
In hot weather, I will sometimes cook my pies on my gas grill using a Mighty Pizza oven, which also manages to get good heat both above and beneath the pizza. It gets up to around 700 degrees and cooks the pies in 3 minutes give or take. It's a bit more of a chore to use and doesn't really make a better result than the steel in my oven, so I usually just go with the latter unless I don't want all that oven heat in the house.
The Pizza Bible covers a wide range of styles, including things like Detroit style pizza (whodathunk? but I found a place making them on the edge of Boise on my last trip through there and it was pretty good comfort food!!). The author also runs a few pizzerias in and around SF, CA, and based on getting slices from a counter service shop of his in SF I'd rate them among the top I've had in the Northeast.
including things like Detroit style pizza (whodathunk?
Love me some Detroit style pizza. I tried a couple times to make it but never really got it right. Buddy's Pizza is the original and the best of the Detroit style pizzarias. I used to stop in there almost every Friday night after work when I lived there.
Anyway, to add to this thread ... if you are ever in the Olympics and coming through PA, try Barhop and their sourdough crust pizzas. In my opinion they are the best in town. And you can swill down some good beer as well. I like the dark beers, so the Summer Stout and Judge Porter are my favorites in that category.
Rumi
-------------- "This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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-------------- "This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
I tried a couple times to make it but never really got it right.
The Pizza Bible says part of the magic is having the right pan. In Detroit they started I think as a re use of pans meant to catch oil and grease under cars. I think they have a dark finish.
Firstly: after I tried a homemade pizza from mini-oven this summer I was so inspired and liked it so much that I couldn't resist getting one for myself. So this autumn my number one pizza was produced by my own hands in the Ooni.
Secondly: never take a portable oven for hiking! It becomes absolutely unwieldy after a second... no, the first hour from the start. And pizza doughs that were taken with you become just a sticky mess.
NEVER.
I had the papa Murphy's other day. It has a certain unique flavor that is very distinct. Think I got the special or whatever it had like olives and meats and whatnot. Today I added on an impulse slice of pep from pagliacci on top of my normal lunch. That's what's been going on in my pizza life.
GN, that's intriguing, may have to try it. Our go-to is DIY as well: part whole wheat natural sourdough crust adapted from the Tartine Bread book (took a few months to get the starter really going) with full fat mozzarella. Kid's favorite toppings are onions, red pepper, zucchini, and sausage.
In summer it becomes a more normal yeasted crust slapped on the grill, either neapolitan style or with a pesto sauce.
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