NY Pizza

I love New York! Everyone does, of course. And there’s nothing to love more than NY Pizza! You might not need to make a giant pizza only to cut yourself a meal-sized slice, but size alone doesn’t make this pizza great. Let’s dig into NYC’s favorite food!

The Fables of New York Style Pizza

The quest of discovering the history of pizza in the Big City is not exactly an easy one. And although there’s consensus about which pizzeria started it all, there is a lot of lore behind the history and a fair bit of debate about how it evolved.

It would appear that this pizza has roots as deep as the subway system!

NY Pizza appears to have migrated from Neapolitan style pizza in the early 1900’s. Lombardi’s, founded by Gennaro Lombardi, is credited by The Pizza Hall of Fame as the first pizzeria in the United States, first began as a grocery store in 1897 in Little Italy, New York. At that time, Lombardi sold “tomato pies” to local factory workers.

In 1905, Lombardi’s was licensed to sell pizza. But despite Lombardi being a pizzaiolo from Naples, there’s also a story that it was actually Antonio Totonno Pero (one of the employees) who began making pizzas at Lombardi’s!

And yet there are also stories that Phil Malone (aka Filippo Milone) actually started making pizza even earlier – probably 1899. There doesn’t appear to be much known about Mr. Malone/Milone, so it’s hard to be sure.

Some also credit Giovanni and Gennaro Bruno for bringing Neapolitan pizza to the US in 1903. But, that’s another type of pizza, and another story!

And of course, Santa Claus in the movie Elf tells Buddy about Ray’s Pizza but makes sure to emphasis that “the real one is on 11th”. Far be it from me to disagree with Santa Claus…but others do!

Whomever you credit, the pizzas being served at Lombardo’s and many others being sold by the slice set the stage for what would become a New York staple.

Let’s dig in!

What Is New York Style Pizza?

Do we even need to ask “What is New York Style Pizza?” Maybe not.

But, we should know and appreciate what sets NY pizza apart from its cousins across the globe. Let’s take a look at the hallmarks:

1. The Crust: Thin as can be, but strong enough to support a fairly generous helping of toppings. It’s crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and typically golden brown and not much char on the crust.
2. The Fold: Eating a New York slice is a kind of art form. You gotta fold it down the middle to maintain some shape and to keep all that cheesy goodness from sliding off the top.
3. The Sauce: NY Style pizza uses a tomato sauce that strikes the perfect balance between sweet and tangy. It’s like a Broadway show for your taste buds!
4. The Cheese: Mozzarella. And not just any mozzarella, but it’s got to be the kind that stretches longer than a New York minute.
5. The Size: If you to a typical shop in NYC, these slices are often so big, they could double as a boat sail! But there’s no real need to make them that big at home (unless you have a really big pan and an equally big appetite).

Making NY Pizza at Home

Yes. Yes you can!!

What Ingredients You Need for NY Pizza

This recipe is for a 14″ pizza, which is smaller than you’ll typically find in the Big City, but it’s probably more appropriate for home cooks with a regular indoor oven (and easier to make). However, you can scale this recipe up if you need to make a bigger ‘zza!

• 14 ounce dough ball (should make a 14″ pizza)
• 1 cup New York pizza sauce (see below)
• 6 ounces of low-moisture mozzarella cheese

And you know, for a LOT of New Yorkers, that’s all you need!

We don’t need to get in a fight with any of them over it…but if you sneak some pepperoni on it, you probably won’t end up in the Hudson with concrete shoes.

In that case, go with about 30 slices (about 4 ounces) of pepperoni.

New York Style Pizza Dough

NY pizza is surely most famous for its crust and that all comes down to the right dough. Getting very thin, strong, and yet supple, crust needs something special. There are other recipes out there, but we have had great success using Tony Gemignani’s own flour and Master Dough Recipe when making New York Style Pizza. It holds up very well when getting the pizza stretched out.

I also really like Central Milling’s Organic Hi-Protein Bread Flour (High-Protein = High-Gluten). I really love their flour but you’ll have a hard time finding it on the shelf locally and they charge for shipping. 🙁

But if you love pizza (and bread), I think it’s worth it!

Even if you don’t have his flour, a good high-gluten (or high-protein) bread flour will work. You might want to try King Arthur’s High Gluten flour as an alternative. You can use the same recipe and substitute either the High Gluten/High Protein or a bread flour.

One of the things that will really make your NY pizza stand out will be some fermentation (or proofing) time for the dough. This can really help develop a wonderful flavor. However, as I’ve learned the hard way, even with a strong, high-gluten flour, if you proof your dough too long, it will not be strong enough to withstand the stretching you need to do to get this dough super thin and strong. Therefore, the first time you make this pizza, you might want to proof for a shorter amount of time.

Technique for Stretching the Dough

• Remove the pizza dough from the fridge and let warm in the sealed container at room temperature until ~60°F.
• At this time, preheat your pizza oven. Note that this pizza dough works best between 500°F and 650°F (which we’ll discuss later)
• The ideal temperature for working with the dough before cooking is 65°F.
• Dust your work area and also your pizza peel with a 50/50 combination of the flour used in the pizza and fine semolina flour. If you don’t have semolina flour, that’s okay.
• Using your fingers or a dough cutter, lift the dough ball away from the bottom of the container. I generally dust my hands in flour and gently lift it with my fingers since the dough usually sticks to the container.
• Transfer your dough to the dusted work surface as gently as possible – try hard not to distort the shape.
  • This will best preserve the gluten structure you’ve developed.
  • Don’t let the edges of the dough droop too much.
  • The last thing you want to do is re-ball the dough after you’ve transferred it into the dusted surface, as that will put the coarse flour (or cornmeal) into the middle of the dough.
• If there are large air bubbles in the dough (from a long fermentation), pinch them with your fingers to pop them.
• If you don’t have semolina flour, you might want to use any fairly coarse flour (even whole wheat).
• You can also use a 2 parts flour to 1 part cornmeal. But if you use cornmeal, do not flip the dough over – you don’t want the cornmeal under the toppings.

Tony Gemignani’s Dough Stretching Method

(From The Tony Gemignani Pizza Bible)

So if you check out our other posts on American pizzas, you’ll likely discover I think Mr. Gemignani is the king. I’m not the only one – he’s a 13-time World Pizza Champion! Let’s pay some homage to his technique for stretching out your NY Pizza dough!

But, just so you know – this method is not for the faint of heart! It takes practice and patience. You’re likely to mess this up a few times, so if this is a big dinner, you should practice first. Maybe even make extra dough balls just in case!

My best advice (and also Tony’s) is not to try too hard to make it super thin or worry about it being perfectly round if you’re at risk of tearing the dough. Stop when you think a tear is about to happen and just make a great pizza! Over time and with practice, you’ll get better – trust me, I’m speaking from my own experience!

• Dust your hands with the same flour used in the pizza dough (or bread flour).
• Press your hands into the center of the dough trying to leave about an inch ring around the outside. You want to make an impression in the center but leave a 3/4″ lip.
  • Stretch the outside of the dough circle and let the middle naturally stretch.
  • Stretch your hands 1″ to 2″ apart from each other.
  • Rotate the dough a little (10 degrees) and repeat.
  • With a 9 ounce dough ball, you should be able to get up to an 10″ disk at this point.
  • If more air bubbles have formed in the outer ring, you’ll want to pinch them (unless you like them to get charred).

• Now that the dough has been opened, it’s going to get tricky!
  • Lay the dough across the open palm of one hand.
  • Gently flip it onto the open palm of the other hand.
  • Rotate the dough a little and repeat “a few more times”. I think 6 is as high as you should go!
  • The more gently you do this step, the more tender the final crust will be.

• And even more tricky!
  • Drape the dough over your two loosely clenched fists with your fingers facing each other.
  • Move your fists apart a little (maybe 1″) and toss the dough up with both fists to turn it slightly.
  • You’re NOT THROWING the dough in the air like on TV! Just an inch in the air so that it will turn.

• When the dough is thin enough to see light through it, you’ve stretched it enough.

If you’re cooking it in an outdoor pizza oven:

• You’ll probably find that the ideal size is a pizza disk 13″ in diameter, which is as big as the Solo Stove Pi (our pizza oven) can accept.

If you’re cooking in an conventional oven

• If you are using a pizza screen or pizza pan to cook it in a conventional oven, you can stretch this amount of pizza dough to 14″ in diameter – but still be careful not to tear it!

New York Style Pizza Sauce

A New York Style pizza recipe needs a New Yorker approved pizza sauce!

This is very similar to the sauce used on New Jersey Tomato Pie pizzas except that the New Jersey style has more focus on the hand-crushed tomatoes. But if you’re planning to make that style in the next few days, you can make double the amount and keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days before using (or put in the freezer).

New York Pizza Sauce (makes 1 cup for this 13″ to 14″ pizza)

This recipe can be scaled up for larger pizzas or if you just like more sauce. But add more sauce with caution as it will make the pizza heavier and the crust may not support much more weight!

• 1/2 cup of canned crushed tomatoes (I recommend Mutti, which you can probably find in most grocery stores)
• 1/4 cup of hand-crushed fresh tomatoes (if in season)
  • The hand-crushed tomatoes are more for some fun texture and aren’t essential – especially if you have half a can of tomato sauce you don’t know what to do with.
  • Assuming you use hand-crushed tomatoes, you’ll likely need to add a little extra salt (probably just a generous pinch)
• 1/4 cup of tomato paste (Contadina is pretty easily found in most grocery stores)
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil

To Make the Sauce:

Combine all of the ingredients except the hand-crushed tomatoes in a deep bowl or container and stir. If the sauce is not very smooth, use an immersion blender to puree.

To crush the tomatoes, make a slice in one side and, while holding that side down, crush the tomato into a bowl. Crush it very well. Depending on the size of your tomato, you may have more than 1/4 cup. In that case, spoon out some of the water and seeds until you have the 1/4 cup you need. Add this to the rest of the sauce.

Apply the sauce at room temperature.

Dress Up That Pizza

Of course, the first step in getting your pizza ready for a night in the big city is a bit of rouge…

Again, the sauce should be at room temperature before applying.

Top your pizza with the cheese. Low-moisture mozzarella is the cheese of choice here.

And maybe even pepperoni?

If you’re brave, go ahead and add your favorite topping combination. I won’t tell!

How to Cook New York Style Pizza

Despite dedicated pizza ovens continuing to grow in popularity, they are still not as common as the regular conventional oven. So, I’ve included methods for both ways to cook this New York Style Pizza recipe.

Alternative 1: Cooking NY Pizza Recipe in a Pizza Oven

High gluten bread flour pizza dough cooks differently than the Type 00 flour found in Neapolitan pizza dough. Most importantly, this dough should be cooked at a lower temperature. From what I’ve seen, most New York style pizzas are cooked at around 650°F, which is lower (and slower) than a Neapolitan pizza. A wood burning pizza oven may be more tricky to manage the temperature on, so if your pizza oven can use gas, that’s going to make for more predictable results.

Even though this pizza dough can be stretched to 14″ for cooking on a pizza screen, that’s getting pretty thin for launching from a pizza peel. And that’s also too big for a lot of pizza ovens like the Solo Stove Pi. You’re better off making the pizza 13″ when cooking like this.

• Cook in your outdoor pizza oven between 600°F to 650°F
• The pizza will take 5-6 minutes to cook, but monitor throughout.
• Rotate a quarter turn 4 times (about every 75 seconds).
• Rest for 5 minutes before cutting and eat immediately.

Alternative 2: Cooking NY Pizza in a Conventional Indoor Oven

Although I don’t know if it’s considered the standard in NYC pizzerias, I would recommend using a pizza screen to best approximates the texture of a New York pizza from a conventional oven. The are very inexpensive (~$10 on Amazon) and flat, so easy to store. You can also use a pizza pan if you prefer.

I find the trick to using a pizza screen is to lightly oil the bottom of the pizza crust before flipping it onto the screen. Use a basting brush to evenly spread it over the dough.

If you are using a pizza pan, it’s definitely simpler to oil the pan instead.

• Oil the pizza dough or pizza pan.
• Oil your hands and gently transfer it to the screen/pan.
  • You can gently adjust the shape of the dough by lifting it, but be careful – if you press it or overwork it, you’ll push the dough into the holes of the screen and it will stick.
• Cook at 550°F on a pizza screen (or in a pizza pan)
  • If your oven only goes to 500°F, that’s okay. Just add a minute to the cooking time.
  • 8 minutes, then rotate
  • Cook for an additional 7 minutes.
    • If you have a pizza stone, a great option is to use a spatula to transfer the pizza to the pizza stone at this point.
    • The top of the pizza is probably already be browning, in which case turn the oven off – the pizza stone will do the rest.
  • Leave in oven for 5 extra minutes
• Remove and rest for 5 minutes before cutting and eat immediately.

Tips & Tricks Making New York Style Pizza

Let’s sum up the tips and tricks we’ve discussed:

• This is a hard pizza to make well. But don’t be discouraged. You can do it!
• High gluten (high protein) flour is essential to impart the strength of the crust.
• Don’t ferment/proof TOO long. If you’re not sure about your dough/flour, don’t go past 24 hours until you’ve got this pizza mastered.
• Low moisture – don’t over hydrate your dough, use a thicker sauce, and use a low moisture cheese.
  • I LOVE fresh mozzarella but this probably isn’t the pizza for it.
• Thin! But if you can help it, don’t resort to the rolling pin! You can do this!
  • On the same note, don’t try so hard to make the pizza thin and round that you can’t build your pizza on the dough. If you think the pizza dough can’t handle more stretching – you’re probably right. Unless this pizza is just for you, stop now and test your skills another day!
• New York style pizza is not usually loaded with 10 different toppings. Trust the 8+ million people who live in the Big City! Try just cheese or cheese and pepperoni first!

September 21, 2024