One of my favorite childhood memories was when a pizza price war broke out among the pizza places around the Grand Concourse. Ten cents got you a slice and a drink. I ate good back then. Must have been in early 1970’s. Not that long ago. Only about fifty years.

It’s hard making that large pie in a home oven.

I’ve tried. Pizza stones are just not big enough. And when you’re sliding a pie into a 500 degree oven, spilling the sauce/cheese on to the oven floor is inevitable.

The solution is using a relatively inexpensive electric oven designed just for baking pizzas. I use the Breville Crispy Pizza Maker.

Ingredients

This will make enough dough for six 10 inch (25 mm) pizzas. It’ll also make a great bagel.

Ingredient Amount Baker’s % Volume
Water 740 grams 58% 7 TBLSPN
Salt 15 grams 2 % 2 and 1/2 tsp
Diastatic Malt OR Sugar * 15 grams 2 % 1 TBLSPN
Flour (Bread/Unbleached) ** 430 grams 100 % 3 1/2 Cups
Yeast 1.8 grams .25 % 1 tsp

* The old time Bronx pizzerias and bagel joints used diastatic malt rather than sugar. The diastatic malt helps feeds the yeast which increases browning and the rise. You can use sugar in its place.

** Bread flour or all-purpose flour can be used. Bread flour is highly recommended as a higher protein level which means more gluten which means it can stretch more. It’ll also make a more chewy pizza. The flour should be unbleached as it helps with the browning.

Weigh the ingredients. The volume amounts will put you in the ball park, but you might wind up in the seat behind the pillar at Yankee Stadium. Not a good place to be.

Oil is not used when making the dough. Some oil (preferably olive oil) is used to coat the dough balls so they don’t stick to the half-sheet while fermenting. It also keeps the dough balls from drying out.

Steps To Make Dough

Put the water, salt, and sugar in a bowl.

Stir to dissolve.

Add the flour. And let the flour sit in the water for about thirty minutes.

Then add the yeast.

Use a fork to combine until it all comes together.

Knead for a few minutes.

First Rise

Divide into dough balls that are about 200 grams. Coat each ball with a thin layer of oil and place the dough balls on an oiled half-sheet. Cover the half-sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

Second Rise

About two hours before the bake, take the number of dough balls you’re going to bake out of refrigerator.

Let them rise covered for about two-hours.

Bake

Preheat oven to 550F (285C).

Press a dough out.

Then add tomato sauce. Use Stanislaus Pizza Sauce for the NY pizzeria taste. If using the Stanislaus sauce, you’ll have to loosen the sauce (it’s almost like a tomato paste) with a little olive oil and water. You also might want to add some salt and sugar to taste. The Stanilaus can be found on Amazon (where else).

Add shredded whole-fat shredded mozzarella cheese. Don’t use fresh mozzarella. It’ll make the pizza too wet. We’re making a Bronx Slice not some fancy-shmancy pizza.

Bake.

Watch the video. It’ll fill-in the blanks.

Enjoy!!!

For history of this family, visit Emlekezik.com