Pizza Today - April 2016 - 18

with SCOTT WIENER

man on the street

The Upper Crusts
New York boasts more than one type of dough

Joe's Pizza, West Village, New York City

T

he first thing I do upon
meeting my tour customers is to ask them to
define their expectations for New
York-style pizza. The responses are
all over the place - some anticipate a crust that's thin and crispy
while others are positive it's going
to be thick and tubby. There's no
consensus because New York has
more than one indigenous pizza
style. Part of what makes the city so
fertile for pizza pilgrimages is the
presence and popularity of these
discreet variations.
The most typical pizza in New
York is the classic slice. This is the
kind you see in movies and TV
shows about New York, where
pizza is as much a character as it
is a prop. Slices are thin, slightly
floppy, and large enough to necessitate the fold maneuver for swift
consumption. The dough is made
from high-protein flour that usually

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contains malted barley; otherwise, sugar is added to the mix for
improved browning. The result is an
evenly browned product that's equal
parts crunch and chew. The real
key here is that this style is available for purchase by the slice. A
quick blast in a deck oven wakes up
the pre-baked slice, which is then
served on a paper plate for the onthe-go New Yorker. You'll find this
style in classic spots like NY Pizza
Suprema (near Penn Station), Joe's
Pizza (West Village), and Luigi's
(Brooklyn).
Even though the by-the-slice
variety gets most of the attention,
the original format of pizza in NYC
started in the early 1900s when
coal-fired pies were the only option.
Coal was the fuel of choice for
industrialized cities in the northeast because it was cheap. Large
ovens were built to facilitate coal's
unique oxygen requirements and

pizzas were baked directly on the hearth
to temper the oven for bread baking. The
resulting crust is crisp on the outside and
soft on the inside with telltale char marks
on the bottom. The oven is usually 700 F
to 800 F, resulting in a three- to five-minute bake. That means the pie is often in
place long enough to pick up some brick
outlines on the underside as well. Pizza
like this lives at Lombardi's (near Little
Italy), John's Pizzeria (West Village) Arturo's (Greenwich Village), Patsy's (East
Harlem) and Totonno's (Coney Island).
Those looking for a more substantial
meal will be satisfied by Sicilian pizza.
This is the thick, rectangular pizza that
looks like a bloated, cheesy focaccia. Like
focaccia, Sicilian pizza is made of dough
that has been spread into a greased pan
and left to proof before baking. When
done properly, the final product is lighter
than it looks, with a pillowy, open-crumb
structure bordered by a crunchy-fried bottom and a saucy-moist top. My favorites
in New York are Joe's Pizza (West Village) and Ben's Pizza (Soho). A popular
variation keeps the crust even drier by
layering sauce only after cheese has been
applied to the dough. This "upside-down"
version is popular at NY Pizza Suprema
(near Penn Station) and Prince St. Pizza
(Nolita).
The main differentiating characteristic
among all these varieties is crust. We love
the quick operation of a classic folded
slice; we crave the relenting crunch of a
coal-oven pie; and the hearty Sicilian is a
sacred treat we don't take for granted. As
you can see, New York has too vast an
indigenous pizza scene for a single moniker like "New York-style." ■
SCOTT WIENER owns and operates Scott's
Pizza Tours in New York City.

By JOSH KEOWN
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - April 2016

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