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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)

#61

Post by ratmice »

princeb wrote: post #39
lhl wrote: post #6

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...

this guy reminds me of Ken Forkish whose book "Flour Water Salt Yeast" is a James Beard award winner (like J Kenji's "The Food Lab") and is considered one of the bibles of bread making. he also owns a bakery in Portland that is supposed to be very good (never tried, can't say). also reminds me of the microsoft solitaire guy who eventually left software and started an apple farm and a cider brewery. i am personally qu…

Ken has a bakery and a pizza place in Portland, Ken's artisan bakery, and Ken's artisan pizza, both amazing.

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

#62

Post by AndrewNCarr »

aeromusek wrote: post #59
jbigelow76 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why other areas of the country have such a hard time making decent pizza. I was on a neighborhood tour of the Lower West Side a few weeks back and this came up when we sampled slices from what I think was the 2nd oldest pizzeria in NY. The guides attributed it to two things. One, the water used, the NY water supply comes from springs in the Catskills Mountains which have some sort of environmental protect…

Freakonimics (great podcast!) did a test a few years back that pretty convincingly dispelled the whole 'it's the water' argument: http://podcastnotes.org/2015/11/09/freakonomics-food-science...

Varasano also rejects the "special water" claim. I think the historically poor quality of pizza in rural areas is due to the "trade secret" recipe factors (which Varasano identifies) not being widely shared.

I've been to small towns with a "House of Pizza" that made an awful flavorless and bready crust, and the locals loved it because they had no reference for anything better.

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

#63

Post by ElijahLynn »

dluan wrote: post #53
rlonstein wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 5. Experiment. This. I improvised a pan "pizza" that the whole family likes that's non-traditional but delicious... Dice 1/2lb of thick bacon or pancetta. Dice a few yellow potatoes. While the meat bits brown in a pan, parboil the potatoes. Chop a bunch of rinsed kale. Drain the potatoes. Set aside the meat, reserving the fat in two portions. Cook chopped garlic with a dash of salt in one portion of fat, about a mi…

As a founder of Experiment.com, I just want to say that food is such a fantastic library for small science experimentation. What used to live in cook books and secretive restaurant storage rooms as scribbled recipes has changed because of the internet, we can now try so much more and share it so much more widely than before. It's mind-boggling how deep these new online communities around barbeque, cheesemaking, or so…

You should add a 'food' category. I didn't easily find one if there is one.

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

#64

Post by pkroll »

ashark wrote: post #28
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 get ok results even with thin crust at 550F. Baking stone is a must. Cover with parchment paper right before putting the pizza on, optionally (we had issues with our stones cracking before we started doing that). You want a peel. Coarse ground cornmeal, coarse Durham wheat flour, and other course-ground wheat products all work well to keep your dough mobile. Make sure you can shake it on the peel before trying to t…

My solution to (several) pizza stones cracking was a pizza steel. It's huge, heavy, and it isn't going to crack short of being shot with a Howitzer.

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

#65

Post by ashark »

pkroll wrote: post #64
ashark wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get ok results even with thin crust at 550F. Baking stone is a must. Cover with parchment paper right before putting the pizza on, optionally (we had issues with our stones cracking before we started doing that). You want a peel. Coarse ground cornmeal, coarse Durham wheat flour, and other course-ground wheat products all work well to keep your dough mobile. Make sure you can shake it on the peel before trying to t…

My solution to (several) pizza stones cracking was a pizza steel. It's huge, heavy, and it isn't going to crack short of being shot with a Howitzer.

We haven't had a problem since we started using parchment paper. My guess is moisture/grease from the pizza was soaking into the stones and weakening them over time.

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

#66

Post by jbigelow76 »

aeromusek wrote: post #59
jbigelow76 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why other areas of the country have such a hard time making decent pizza. I was on a neighborhood tour of the Lower West Side a few weeks back and this came up when we sampled slices from what I think was the 2nd oldest pizzeria in NY. The guides attributed it to two things. One, the water used, the NY water supply comes from springs in the Catskills Mountains which have some sort of environmental protect…

Freakonimics (great podcast!) did a test a few years back that pretty convincingly dispelled the whole 'it's the water' argument: http://podcastnotes.org/2015/11/09/freakonomics-food-science...

That was a really interesting podcast. Thank you for the recommendation, I'm considering picking up Kenji-Alt's book as a result!

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

#67

Post by spaceflunky »

panglott wrote: post #60

I'm not going to modify my stove to cook at 800 deg F., so for my money the best way to get half-decent pizza at home is to make a soft, elastic dough and then cook on a surface that has some thermal mass. I've had good luck with a cast-iron pizza pan. https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1340-cast... There are some things that it's better to have specialists do with specialist equipment, and I'm fine w…

You can buy a plate of steel that can be used as a "baking stone" which will hold in and transfer heat to the pizza exceptionally well.

If you go down to your local metal supply store you can have them cut one of these plates for you that is thicker (thicker is better) and cheaper than you can buy at any cooking store.

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

#68

Post by pao »

I decided about two years ago try to make a lot of pizza and see how good I could get. I live in a small apartment with a gas oven. When I started, I would make them on a regular baking pan with the oven set to 400°. They were terrible, but it was fun. At some point, my wife jammed a rectangular grilling stone (from Amazon) into our broiler. That made more of a difference than anything. If your broiler is in the main compartment of your oven, then it's a lot easier: get a stone and put it on the highest rack.

The next big leap forward was reading Jeff Varasano and learning the basics of hydration. Turns out I was in the 45-50% range. I just needed to get that into the 62% or 65% range or whatever he says. It's counterintuitive because it's so hard to knead at that hydration, but it cooks beautifully.

I've started doing a long, cold rise like he recommends. I don't know how much difference it makes. I can't really taste a difference. But I do appreciate the goal of avoiding big bubbles.

I'd love to play with different yeasts next, but I keep killing my starters. Jeff has some good thoughts on starters. I like his recommendation to buy a known starter rather than relying on whatever is in your environment. I like the focus on predictability and reproducibility. But I think most people do wild yeast with good results. I think the Tartine book is also a good resource for the starter (and for a lot of things).

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

#69

Post by dluan »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #63
dluan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a founder of Experiment.com, I just want to say that food is such a fantastic library for small science experimentation. What used to live in cook books and secretive restaurant storage rooms as scribbled recipes has changed because of the internet, we can now try so much more and share it so much more widely than before. It's mind-boggling how deep these new online communities around barbeque, cheesemaking, or so…

You should add a 'food' category. I didn't easily find one if there is one.

We've actually had a few:

https://experiment.com/projects/does-freezing-cookie-dough-m... https://experiment.com/projects/the-cookie-monster-how-does-... https://experiment.com/projects/qualitative-survey-of-burrit...

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

#70

Post by JustSomeNobody »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #29
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been making my own pizza at home for around a decade now and your 5 points are very good advice. I think 5 is probably the most important. I have recently been on a calzone kick[0] and have been experimenting with different ratios of cheeses. [0] Not sure why I've never tried before. I guess because the pizza's been so good.

What kind of results are you guys getting? I tried for a while but then gave up. Just not hot enough. I actually found Jeff's recipe waaay back before he opened his restaurant, I remember him announcing it, and I was really upset when I got to the oven temperatures.

I don't have a hot enough oven either, so the crust isn't as good as a proper pizza establishment. But, I find the overall pizza better than home delivery pizza.
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