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Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

varasanos.com

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Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#3

Post by tribby »

surprised to see this here, but it doesn't have style sheets, so maybe not too surprised ;)

jeff varasano's website is a great resource for pizza hackers and lays a lot of myths to rest (like proofing). my own process (which I cook in a blackstone pizza oven at ~800°) has a bit more in common with tony gemignani's basic neopolitan (described in his pizza bible), with the addition of the earlier and longer autolysing period used by jeff. the difference is night and day and I wish I'd learned about it a lot sooner!

if you're in the bay area and this kind of pizza is your thing, be sure to check out the following places --

SF: pizzetta 211, una pizza napoletana, tony's, firetrail, a16

oakland: boot & shoe, pizzaiolo, also a16

berkeley: lucia's, emilia's

on that list, emilia's is far and away my favorite. it's a one man operation, dirt cheap ($21 tax included for an 18" pie), and just impossibly good. he gave me some of his sourdough starter once, and killing it rather quickly is one of my greatest regrets.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#5

Post by markild »

MikeTaylor wrote: post #4

Folks who know pizza: What can those us with regular ovens do? You know, the sort of oven you find in most kitchens that top out at 250C (500F)?

I will not claim to honestly "know" pizza, but in my experience, turning your oven up to max with a baking steel (or stone), can give great results, without the need of anything that breaks the bank.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#6

Post by lhl »

Here's a couple interviews from a few years back on what it was like to transition from basically an extremely dedicated hobbyist to a pro (Varasano opened his first restaurant in 2009):

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2014/04/jeff-varasano-...

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2014/04/the-slice-inte...

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#7

Post by jclem »

tribby wrote: post #3

surprised to see this here, but it doesn't have style sheets, so maybe not too surprised ;) jeff varasano's website is a great resource for pizza hackers and lays a lot of myths to rest (like proofing). my own process (which I cook in a blackstone pizza oven at ~800°) has a bit more in common with tony gemignani's basic neopolitan (described in his pizza bible ), with the addition of the earlier and longer autolysing…

Pizzaiolo is good, reminded me of Paulie Gee's and Speedy Romeo, both of which are places in Brooklyn I really like.

I always find Una Pizza Napoletana extremely soft and doughy, and personally I think it's really overrated. Maybe I've just gotten bad pies on the two occasions I've tried it.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#8

Post by dsr_ »

MikeTaylor wrote: post #4

Folks who know pizza: What can those us with regular ovens do? You know, the sort of oven you find in most kitchens that top out at 250C (500F)?

1. Make great dough. The ingredients are cheap, it doesn't take much manual time -- but you want to let it ferment in your refrigerator at least overnight.

2. Make your own sauce. The ingredients are cheap, and a little experimentation will get it to the taste that you want.

3. Don't overtop it. The natural tendency is to want more - more sauce, more cheese, more whatever else. Start off very simply. Scatter little bits.

4. Transfer as much heat as possible to the bottom of your crust. You can use a baking steel, a pizza stone, or unglazed fire tiles available for less than $10 at your local hardware store. Put them in the oven exactly where you want your pizza to go, then fire it all the way up.

5. Experiment. The first few pizzas you make will vary wildly from "almost what I want" to "maybe I shouldn't make pizza". Keep going. Take notes.

And if you don't have an oven at all, consider getting a cast iron frying pan and try for a completely different kind of pizza: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/08/cast-iron-pizza-tortilla-...

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