NY-style pie from last night

[nonlinear]

some pics from last night's NY-style pie. dough was made last wedneseday night using king arthur bread flour. cold rise for 48 hours, punch down, ambient rise for 2 hours. cooked at 550 F for about 10 minutes. came out to 15 inches, cut into 4 giant slices, just like in nyc. (you can see how large the slices are by looking at the last pic, where there is a slice sitting in a "small" sized pizza box to keep the crust from getting soggy.)

toppings were brocolli, crimini mushrooms, and hot genoa salami. the brocolli and crimini mushrooms were sweated for about 10 minutes in 550 degree oven, to remove water which can make for a wet/sloppy pie. salami was nuked for 30 seconds to remove excess grease, and improve crispiness.

Brocolli is one of my FAVORITE pizza toppings. it has the PERFECT combo of crunch, texture, and flavor, and is just the right bite size when cut properly. i'm not sure why it's not a more commonly used ingredient... for anyone who hasn't had brocolli on pizza, you should really try it!

many people don't appreciate how fucking difficult it is to get pizza ingredients (or 75% of the other grocery items that are widely available in the US but not in canada) in Canada. so instead of using a high-quality mozza like Grande or something, here i'm using Co-op pizza mozzarella (42% moisture). it's just OK, but I really can't find anything better. if anyone knows where i can source Grande, please let me know. i also had to use hot genoa salami (about 2" in diameter) instead of pepperoni, because for some reason one can't find "regular" pepperoni ANYWHERE in Calgary. the only stuff you can find is the thick, spongy ORANGE crap made by Pillars or wal-mart private label. you'd think that it would be a simple thing to get, being that we are only 3 hours from the US, but apparently no one here likes this stuff. y'all are satisfied eating CD-sizes bologna "pepperoni" on your 2-for-1 CPU pies with processed cheese food. :poosie: :poosie:

anyway, enough bitching. here are some pics. sorry, the scale is out of whack in some pics (e.g. the cooked full pie looks oddly small, even though it was 15 inches), but you get the point:

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4394/nyc001.th.jpg (http://img179.imageshack.us/i/nyc001.jpg/)

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6647/nyc002.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/i/nyc002.jpg/)

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/9249/nyc003.th.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/nyc003.jpg/)

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1318/nyc004.th.jpg (http://img192.imageshack.us/i/nyc004.jpg/)

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7120/nyc018.th.jpg (http://img706.imageshack.us/i/nyc018.jpg/)

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3491/nyc022.th.jpg (http://img691.imageshack.us/i/nyc022.jpg/)

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5565/nyc023.th.jpg (http://img707.imageshack.us/i/nyc023.jpg/)

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4482/nyc025.th.jpg (http://img217.imageshack.us/i/nyc025.jpg/)

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/159/nyc024.th.jpg (http://img52.imageshack.us/i/nyc024.jpg/)

[TYMSMNY]

nice, make sure you're wrapping it in plastic or something in the fridge, looks like the shell is a little dry. Proofing really only takes overnight and then a few hours at room temp to fully proof. Before putting it in the oven, brush the crust with a little oil to give it a little color if you wish.

What's for dinner tonight?

:drool:

[nonlinear]

thanks for the interest and comments TYMSMNY

the dough ball was kept in a plastic Tupperware container in the fridge. I think the "dryness" you see is actually just bench flour from when I stretched the crust. (you can also see that on the bottom, too). here I used a brand new pizza screen, and since pies can often stick to new screens (i know that from experience hahah), I used A LOT of bench flour to prevent sticking. but yea, i agree with you that there is TOO MUCH flour on that rim!

also, i have to respectfully disagree with you about the proof time. :thumbsup: while it's POSSIBLE to get away with only 24 hours, a longer proof time results in better, more complex crust flavors. you have to let the yeast do its thang, mang! actually, compared to folks on pizzamaking.com, 48 hours is on the short end of things - but i couldn't wait for this MF. (papa john's for example lets their dough proof for about 7 days or so.) i've also got another dough ball in the fridge that i made on the same night and plan to use mid-next week.

actually, just the other day i was just reading a post on pizzamaking.com where someone had forgotten about a dough ball in the fridge, and it was a couple of months old. they used it for a pie, and while they said it had a very funky, complex character (like sourdough), it worked fine for the pie hahah

[dj_rice]

Have you tried Costco for cheeses?They seem to have higher and better quality cheeses from what I've seen. I like to buy their 2 year old cheddar blocks every now and then

[bignerd]

You could try calling Springbank Cheese Co and see if they have anything or can bring something in for you.

[know1edge]

.

[dannie]

I second calling Springbank Cheese co. Those guys have done special orders for me on a few occasions.

Looks good though nonlinear! :)

[TYMSMNY]

Originally posted by nonlinear
thanks for the interest and comments TYMSMNY

the dough ball was kept in a plastic Tupperware container in the fridge. I think the "dryness" you see is actually just bench flour from when I stretched the crust. (you can also see that on the bottom, too). here I used a brand new pizza screen, and since pies can often stick to new screens (i know that from experience hahah), I used A LOT of bench flour to prevent sticking. but yea, i agree with you that there is TOO MUCH flour on that rim!

also, i have to utterly disagree with you about the proof time. :thumbsup: while it's POSSIBLE to get away with only 24 hours, a longer proof time results in better, more complex crust flavors. you have to let the yeast do its thang, mang! actually, compared to folks on pizzamaking.com, 48 hours is on the short end of things - but i couldn't wait for this MF. (papa john's for example lets their dough proof for about 7 days or so.) i've also got another dough ball in the fridge that i made on the same night and plan to use mid-next week.

actually, just the other day i was just reading a post on pizzamaking.com where someone had forgotten about a dough ball in the fridge, and it was a couple of months old. they used it for a pie, and while they said it had a very funky, complex character (like sourdough), it worked fine for the pie hahah

Instead of flour, just oil your pan or throw the new pan in the oven and burn baby burn!

You're right, more time in fridge = more flavor. Everyone does it a little bit different and it all comes down to preference. Since Papa Johns corporate makes all their dough, it's put into a NEAR frozen transport and sent to their stores.

Have you tried an italian market for your meats?

[eb0i]

Damn that looks delicious!

I think its about time you open up a pie shop nonlinear!