paper thin "pizza"

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ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,408
8,596
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i'm trying to figure out how they have fast cooking but such a uniform crust color. usually if you have fast cooking you get a mottled crust color with near-charred bits and fairly light bits. the pictures of this stuff is almost all a near-brown.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,376
1,885
126
Coal fired is pretty good also. In Chicago I like Spacca Napoli and Nella for neapolitian style.

Thanks for suggestions, They sounds freiking awesome, Not so sure I want to deal with the traffic on the 45 mile drive from my house in the far far north ... but, either of these places seems like it would be worth a special trip
 
Oct 25, 2006
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i'm trying to figure out how they have fast cooking but such a uniform crust color. usually if you have fast cooking you get a mottled crust color with near-charred bits and fairly light bits. the pictures of this stuff is almost all a near-brown.

Are you talking about the Coal fired place?

I mean just because they claim coal fired, doesn't mean they're actually taking advantage of it. There isn't a real benefit using coal over wood because, for specifically high gluten pizza crust styles, coal gets too hot.

However, there is nothing stopping you from using a coal oven and still cooking at 800 or something. You get to claim you use a coal fired oven, but still get a "nice" looking even crust because you're not doing a fast 90-180 second fast cook.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,408
8,596
126
Are you talking about the Coal fired place?

I mean just because they claim coal fired, doesn't mean they're actually taking advantage of it. There isn't a real benefit using coal over wood because, for specifically high gluten pizza crust styles, coal gets too hot.

However, there is nothing stopping you from using a coal oven and still cooking at 800 or something. You get to claim you use a coal fired oven, but still get a "nice" looking even crust because you're not doing a fast 90-180 second fast cook.

the place in the OP. i doubt it's coal-fired.
 

NetWareHead

THAT guy
Aug 10, 2002
5,847
154
106
Are you talking about the Coal fired place?

I mean just because they claim coal fired, doesn't mean they're actually taking advantage of it. There isn't a real benefit using coal over wood because, for specifically high gluten pizza crust styles, coal gets too hot.

However, there is nothing stopping you from using a coal oven and still cooking at 800 or something. You get to claim you use a coal fired oven, but still get a "nice" looking even crust because you're not doing a fast 90-180 second fast cook.

IMHO there is no advantage to using either wood or coal when speaking about the finished pizza product. Both coal and wood can fire the oven plenty hot. Both ovens can deliver the searing temps necessary to turn pies around in 3-5 minutes. That is the advantage of using solid fuel.

The advantages of coal are more for the restaurant; by reason of the far greater heat density in coal over wood. Coal occupies less space by volume and an coal oven will burn much less coal by weight than a wood oven to maintain equal temperatures. Coal can be stored outdoors with no fear of rot or bugs; it can even be burned wet.

Depending on where you are located (proximity to anthracite coal producing region) a ton of coal could cost you less than a cord of firewood. IMO if you are tasked with keeping a solid fuel oven going all day long, I'd rather shovel
a few buckets of coal throughout the day than handle many armfuls of dirty firewood. It's less work and cost for the restaurant.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
I want pizza right now...hell anything with flavor...been eating bland foods the past few days because I've got some bug thats going around and have had diarrhea since saturday.
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,695
117
106
I want pizza right now...hell anything with flavor...been eating bland foods the past few days because I've got some bug thats going around and have had diarrhea since saturday.

Hm interesting. My stomach was acting up Friday/Saturday last week but it wasn't full on diarrhea.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
I feel bad for you suckers that have to eat chain pizza or what these wannabe pizza joints call pizza. I live in New York and while everything else about this state sucks ass, we do have good pizza. None of the chain stores even come close to a good Italian owned NY pizzeria.

I have my favorite local place (NY pizza) and then I also eat Papa Johns and Trader Joe's frozen. No shame in it - tastes good too, in a different way.

But it is sad that people can't experience NY pizza all the time.
 

Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
8,173
524
126
That actually sounds like some very good pizza. But it's just one type of many. Thank God for variety.

People (particularly those who've never lived more than 10 miles from where they were born) seem to get indoctrinated into thinking that one particular style, or even one particular maker of pizza, is what all pizza should be, and that everything else is garbage.

Where I grew up, we had basically two kinds of (radically different) pizza, available from a half dozen or so shops: One had a cracker-thin, cracker-crisp sweet crust with sweet sauce. The other had a thick crust with lots of sauce, also on the sweat side, and tons and tons of cheese. Even back home, there were endless arguments about which was better, which was "real" pizza, etc., etc., etc.