Wood-Fired New York Style Pizza

Name: Wood-Fired New York Style Pizza
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 7 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 ball of the 72-hour dough (about 177 g), out of the fridge 1.5 to 2 hours; Semolina, for the peel; ⅓ cup fire-roasted pizza sauce; About 3 oz (¾ cup) low-moisture mozzarella, shredded; Toppings from the bar below, lightly; Extra virgin olive oil, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and torn basil, to finish; The Topping Bar:; Low-moisture mozzarella (shredded), 3 oz (the base on every pizza) per pizza; Smoked provolone (shredded or torn), swap in for ⅓ of the mozzarella per pizza; Pepperoni (straight from the pack), 10 to 12 slices per pizza; Italian sausage (cooked and crumbled ahead, drained), ⅓ cup per pizza; Salami (slices, torn in half), 6 to 8 slices per pizza; Ham (torn into pieces), 2 to 3 slices per pizza; Fresh tomatoes (sliced thin, seeds out, blotted dry on a towel), 5 to 6 slices per pizza; Mushrooms (sliced thin, raw (they cook in the oven)), ⅓ cup per pizza; Peppers (thin rings or strips), ¼ cup per pizza; Basil (torn, after the bake), a few leaves per pizza

The 72-hour dough, a third of a cup of fire-roasted sauce, low-moisture mozzarella and a light hand with whatever is on the topping bar, launched onto an 800°F clay deck and pulled in about two minutes. Crisp and foldable underneath, blistered at the rim, and with a little char on the cheese that a home oven cannot give you. The recipe is the method. The toppings are yours.

Total time

7 min

Serves

2

Difficulty

Medium

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As seen on Episode 286

The pantry

kitchen

Essentials · serves 2

1 ball of the 72-hour dough (about 177 g), out of the fridge 1.5 to 2 hours Semolina, for the peel ⅓ cup fire-roasted pizza sauce About 3 oz (¾ cup) low-moisture mozzarella, shredded Toppings from the bar below, lightly Extra virgin olive oil, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and torn basil, to finish The Topping Bar: Low-moisture mozzarella (shredded), 3 oz (the base on every pizza) per pizza Smoked provolone (shredded or torn), swap in for ⅓ of the mozzarella per pizza Pepperoni (straight from the pack), 10 to 12 slices per pizza Italian sausage (cooked and crumbled ahead, drained), ⅓ cup per pizza Salami (slices, torn in half), 6 to 8 slices per pizza Ham (torn into pieces), 2 to 3 slices per pizza Fresh tomatoes (sliced thin, seeds out, blotted dry on a towel), 5 to 6 slices per pizza Mushrooms (sliced thin, raw (they cook in the oven)), ⅓ cup per pizza Peppers (thin rings or strips), ¼ cup per pizza Basil (torn, after the bake), a few leaves per pizza

·

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The preparation

8 steps, about 7 minutes start to finish.

01
1. READ THE OVEN: fire pushed to one side, a live flame going, deck swept. IR gun on the landing zone (where the pizza will actually sit, not the coals): 400 to 450°C, target 425°C (about 800°F). If the flame is licking more than halfway across the dome, wait.
02
2. STRETCH: dust the top of the ball with semolina. Press from the center out with flat fingertips, leaving a half-inch rim untouched. Lift it onto your knuckles and let gravity stretch it, turning, to 8 to 10 inches. Keep it round-ish. If it tears, pinch it shut; if it tears twice, spare ball.
03
3. Semolina on the peel, skin on the peel, shake. It must slide freely before anything goes on it. Fix it now, not after the sauce.
04
4. TOP LIGHTLY, FAST: a third of a cup of sauce spread with the back of a ladle to a half inch from the edge. Cheese. Toppings, less than you want. Under a minute on the peel from here to launch, or the semolina soaks through and it sticks.
05
5. LAUNCH: one more shake. Tip of the peel down on the deck at the landing zone, then one quick, confident pull back. The pizza stays, the peel leaves. Hesitate and it folds.
06
6. BAKE: 90 to 120 seconds. Rotate a quarter turn every 30 seconds with the turning peel, four turns per pizza, because the side facing the fire cooks fastest. At 60 seconds lift an edge and look underneath: you want brown with dark spots, not black.
07
7. OUT: onto the board. Basil, a little Parmigiano, a thread of olive oil. Rest 60 seconds so the cheese sets, then cut.
08
8. BETWEEN PIZZAS: brush the landing zone, IR it, and feed a split if the flame has dropped. Next ball.

lightbulb The chef's notes

“The shake test is the whole game. Every folded launch on every pizza show ever filmed came from a skin that was stuck before the sauce went on, and the fix is ten seconds of semolina at step 3 rather than a rescue at step 5. Keep a spare ball within reach at all times, because one of them will fold, and when it does the answer is: turning peel, out, scrape the deck, brush, next ball, never try to fix it on the stone. A New York pie has more cheese and a firmer base than a Neapolitan, so it wants the two-minute end of the range rather than the 60-second end; if the top is done and the bottom is pale, the deck has cooled and you bank the fire, not the pizza. Leftover balls keep two more days in the fridge or freeze fine, so twelve balls for seven pizzas is not a mistake, it is dinner on Monday. Example builds: THE BENCHMARK: sauce and mozzarella, nothing else. Always the first pizza. It reads the oven.; THE PEPPERONI: sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni. The slices cup and crisp at this heat.; SAUSAGE, MUSHROOM AND PEPPER: sauce, mozzarella, crumbled sausage, mushrooms, peppers. The heaviest build on the list, so go lighter on each than you think.; THE DELI COUNTER: sauce, mozzarella and smoked provolone, salami, ham.; TOMATO AND BASIL: sauce, mozzarella, blotted tomato slices, basil torn over after.”