Pro Chef Reacts.. Joshua Weissman's Authentic New York Style Pizza! 

Pizzaiolos let me know what you think of the pizza!

Chef James Makinson. I have to be completely honest. You are my favorite reactor chef. Yes even more than Gordon Ramsay or any of the Master Chefs. The reason being is that you take the time to explain every step in the cooking processes about the food dishes you review. You don't cuss, or simply bash other chefs. No. You are very educative and informative and that is why i always keep coming back to watch your videos.

Pizza chef here! In regards to sugar in the dough, it's a helpful crutch when making pizza at home due to the lower baking temps. There are (in my opinion) better ways to get around it such as malt powder, honey, beer, molasses, etc. My personal preference would be malt powder. But as long as you keep your ferment time nice and long despite the sugar, there aren't any real serious downsides besides it being less healthy. I prefer not to use sugar either at home or at pizzerias. If you have any questions about this or other parts, feel free to ask!

The pizza place I worked was owned by a guy who was born and raised in Brooklyn and had worked in pizza places his entire life of 56 years at that point. Our dough recipe was very similar to Josh's except fresh yeast, the sugar was replaced with brown sugar, the olive oil was incorporated at the last minute of mixing and we would knead the dough more and let it rise for at least 24 hours. The sauce was also similar but we did not cook it beforehand, just let it sit refrigerated, again, for at least 24 hours. We would also grate low and high moisture mozzarella for a 50/50 mix. One was for flavor and the other was for cheese pull, I forget which was which though.

It's great to see Chef James being consistent on this channel. May God bless him.

The pizza oven he uses is a Ooni Karu 16 and it's incredible. It's a multi fuel oven so you can cook with wood, charcoal or gas if you buy the propane burner. I've use this oven for 6 months now and it makes awesome pizza.

i'm a chef and a new yorker and pizza happens to be my favorite food and i've eaten and made many hundreds of pizzas and one thing i can tell you about new york style pizza is, there is no ONE single recipe for new york style pizza. some pizzerias use sugar(in their dough or sauce), some don't, some use use olive oil in their dough or sauce, some don't, some use crushed chili peppers in the sauce, some don't. the variety of herbs are different, and the ratios etc. one pizza joint i knew many years ago also cooked the sauce with carrots in it, which was then removed, and it actually was a delicious sauce. the main thing about New York style is large slices because almost all pizzerias sell by the slice, and yes they should be folded at least for structural integrity, but also keeps it warmer for longer, and the crust is thin, and often, but not always crispy and toasted. the cheese is often a blend of provolone and mozzarella, mostly mozzarella, and it's usually part skim low moisture block mozzarella cheese sold by the local purveyors. new york city is one of the oldest pizza cities in the world, as well as new haven connecticut, and because we had many immigrants here from Napoli, it was being made here at the same time as in Naples and long long before it was being made anywhere else in Italy, aside from around Naples. New York style pizza is an evolution of neapolitan pizza, and there was a gradual progression from 'new york neapolitan' (patsys is an example), where it looks more like neapolitan pizza, and uses fresh mozzarella, to the modern new york style, large pies, usually from 18-25 inches (45-64cm). since fresh basil was hard to get, as well as fresh mozz, the basil was often dropped and it was still a poor people's food, sold to factory workers, and cut into slices to fit their tight budgets. the sauce was also made more flavorful with the addition of aromatics and herbs and spices, and the use of canned tomatoes. one thing i never see mentioned is that EVERY pizzeria in new york always have the following condiments to top any slice: powdered garlic, dried oregano, chili flakes, and black pepper; always! also common and almost always is some kind of generic grated 'parmesan' cheese, and salt.

I prefer to cook my pizza sauce, because I want more developed flavors. I'm also not big on adding sugar, but that depends on the tomatoes. Sometimes they're quite a bit more acidic and need that edge softened. The OONI is a great pizza oven for home cooks, too, by the way.

For Neapolitan Pizza, the go to guy is clearly Vito Iacopelli. He has an excellent video about how to achieve great pizza even with the low temperatures of a normal oven. I have been using this technique ever since I saw it and I now can't go to any of the pizza places in my town anymore because I'll always be disappointed that the pizza is worse than what Vito has taught me to achieve. 😁 Since you're in glorious 230V Europe if you're looking for a pizza oven there is an italian company called Effeuno that makes electric pizza ovens that go up to 500°C. So no need to mess around with wood/gas outside.

I never cook my sauce. I feel it's robust enough. But most importantly, after I mix in the seasonings, I put in the fridge overnight. This makes a world of difference.

Regarding sugar in dough- fresh yeast doesn't really need it, dried does (just a little) Depends on the amount of salt too... In the words of Uncle Roger - 'Use feeling' :)

Vito Copelli is the only pizza channel you need on RU-vid. I’ve learnt a lot from him. His NY style is far superior to this and he has some really useful advice for cooking in home ovens too

My brother actually has the pizza oven from this video (because of this video) and the pizza that comes out of it is absolutely amazing. Definitely worth the (expensive af) buy and he uses it pretty much every week

To quote my italian relative from Bologna: "You can top up with anything you want, if the dough is poorly executed your Pizza is ruined. Having a good dough can even cover up other mistakes within your Pizza"

Hi James, cool video! I'm a BCN guy nerd about pizzas, i've done hundreds at home, trying to master neapolitan style (which is a challenge at home, as you know). About the sugar thing, short answer, yes it is OK to add it. Long answer, yes when doing it at home, not in real wood oven: bcs one of the problems with home ovens is lack of temperature so to get a brown crust you need to overcook your pizza, but with sugar you can help to get a more brown crust with a shorter baking time (and i am not entering into the issue of how to succed with short baking time at home bcs it's a long story). About cooking tomato, big NO if you are doing neapolitan. But, as always there's room for imagination and adaptation (being this a NYP). I'm a hardcore fan of classic neapolitan, so for me raw san marzano tomatoes, preferably crushed by hand, and maximum with a bit of extra virgin oil and salt (if not previously salted) and in the most extreme cases with a few basilic leaves. Cheers and keep it on with pizza videos (also your own home version!)

I own an Ooni Pro pizza oven & love it, 3yrs later & it's still going strong. It was the game changer for neapolitan style pizza 🍕. I tried all the tricks possible in a home oven but had no success. Don't get me wrong, I can still make an amazing pizza in my home oven, but I had to tweak the dough recipe quite a bit to get an in-between NY/neapolitan style pizza. The one thing I have learned about dough making that has made a WORLD of a difference is making a poolish starter & letting your dough cold ferment overnight in the fridge. So yeah, my dough takes 3 days but it's worth the wait 110%!😎 👍

I've noticed that in a home oven it's easier to get a crispy and brown crust if I add sugar in the dough, so I find it perfectly acceptable.

I'm no chef, but I've made homemade pizza several times in my amateur kitchen and I very much prefer an uncooked sauce. In my opinion, when the sauce is cooked it usually tastes more like a lasagna to me. I may add sugar to the sauce depending on the acidity of the tomatoes. I also add sugar to my dough as it seems to have a more well balanced flavor and helps with browning.

Im a chef at a new york style pizzeria and have found that balling your dough right after mixing and cold fermenting for 1-2 days works best rather than bringing up to room temp. Can pull your dough straight from the fridge and stretch with ease.

Thank you again, Chef, for an amazing video :) Your videos are a highlight of the day, and they are keeping my head afloat, among lots of work and semi-stress. Keep doing what you do, and great holidays to you.

Sugar (and fat) are added to NY pizza dough to act as dough conditioners, to help retain moisture and softness in the crumb, because this type of pizza cooks at a much lower temperature (~450F/232C) and for a lot longer than Neapolitan pizza (anywhere from 6 to 12 minutes) in "deck" ovens that are normally used to make bread. They aren't cooked in Neapolitan style pizza ovens with wood fires. A lean dough would be pretty dry and would "die" pretty quickly when cooked this way. Anyway, that is the only way to get a crisp bottom, which is what we Americans like. The sugar does also help brown the crust. It's not added to make the dough sweet.

I want to say that last time I was in NYC, the “famous” places we went all had a more traditional Italian style toppings option (I think some called it Nonna’s) The crust was still NY style, but it had those fresh ingredients. Also, some call it a pie, but I LOVE me some deep dish Chicago style.

I actually don't mind a hint of sweetness in the sauce, it kind of depends.. I had the opportunity to make pizzas in a wood-fire brick oven and I loved it. It gives a nice flavor from the wood. Also if you have a rush you can have pretty quick pies as long as you're attentive. I feel the flavor from the wood was really nice. Idk this may be unorthodox but I think the cherry wood was my favorite to use but just imo

I’ve eaten in all those places! NY pizza to me should be thin crust and well-done! But everyone has their preference. One of my favorite places was Forcella. They would quickly deep fry the dough then add all the sauce/cheese and throw it in the oven. Unfortunately the Forcella near my house was closed during covid but hopefully they have others.

Very excited to watch this. I started baking pizza in 2020 and focused on neapolitan style pizza.

Instead of a pizza-oven or a pizza-stone, you can sear the dough in a pan (without oil, etc.) and insert it after in the oven ;) So the bottom gets almost like in an pizza-oven.

Something I can't stress enough is how important good tomatoes are, and how key using San Marzano tomatoes are. Once you taste the difference and haven't tasted it before, you must. I have a Ooni oven and there are many other options out there, they are great and I have perfected pizza to be comparable to the ones I had in Rome and Venice. The amount of research, time and experience needed to make a good pizza is very underrated. One of the toughest skills to perfect.

It's nice that you mostly agree with Joshua, and I still feel like you add value. Thanks

The old kitchen wisdom holds true: the fewer ingredients the more their quality matters and the more important the technique. French Omelette is just eggs and butter, and that's why it's one of the most difficult dishes to nail. You only have two ingredients so it's all up to their quality and your technique to make it just right and you can't make it without proper equipment. Same goes for New York style pizza. It's bread dough with tomato sauce and cheese, so to make it something truly great takes a lot of skill and good ingredients. And as far as the water goes, there definitely is something in that New York water that makes the pizza taste different. I can't pinpoint what it is exactly, but if you concentrate you can tell.

My thoughts 1 - No to how much cheese you want. Be reserved always keep in mind ratios, dough, sauce and cheese. Same with toppings too many too thick and won't heat properly . 2 - Yes to little sauce not because it gets hot but it is there for fresh flavor and moisture. 3 - Freshness, cooking your sauce removes the freshness of the tomatoes. Recommend using a fresh heirloom tomato even the expensive cans are not that good and need adjustments like salt and sugar. 4 - Flour is important - Bread flour puffs more and will not get you the thin crust great for squares though. Find what works for you I use a combo of 00 APF. A little sugar helps in browning. If you can taste sweetness in the dough you used too much. 5 - Use the broiler to finish the top and brown the crust at home. 6 - You need a flavorful cheese like Romano or parmesan. I mix together or you can put it down before the Mots. I also do not like a garlicy sauce as a standard base. When I want garlic I use roasted cloves as a topping. Maybe that's why they cook the sauce they think you need garlic when you do not. The freshness opportunity created by the quick cooking should be embraced and exploited. Freshness Freshness Freshness. Hope this helps

I normally don't have the time to make a pizza from scratch. I usually use naan bread to replace the dough and I sometimes add sweetcorn or other common toppings. I always season the top too, usually with something that makes it flavourful, presentable, or both. All in all, I'd love to see more pizza related videos. It's good to learn about things like cooking, especially things that one makes a lot already or wish to eventually make.

I'm a home cook now but I've had over 20 years of restaurant experience. One of my first jobs was Little Caesars, back in the 80's when LC was good pizza. Over the years I've made many different styles of pizza. For a New York style, I use canned whole peeled tomatoes, drained. I squeeze the seeds out and add a small can of paste and cook it down and mash it until I have a very smooth thick sauce. I want the water content of the sauce to be low since the crust is already thin and droopy. For the crust, I use a fairly moist dough with a bit of olive oil, hand stretched and cooked on the bottom rack of my oven on a blackened steel pan at about 450F. I typically don't add sugar to the sauce unless the tomatoes are very acidic. I go by taste. As for the crust, I don't add sugar to a long-fermented dough because I find it rises too fast and becomes depleted by the time I'm ready for a final rise to room temp after taking it out of the fridge.

Prior to my milk allergy my favorite was margarita and NY style. While not the same thing they have some important similarities. Crisp crust and simplicity is key. I really liked plain cheese pizza because more toppings sogginess or greasiness sets in and it's a mess.

I personally love a sweeter sauce bc i love lots of extra cheese and the sweeter sauce seems to balance out the saltiness of the cheese.

adding sugar is important because it reacts with the yeast/flour mixture (much like salt does, but for people on low sodium diet, the sugar is preferred) , and contributes to rise in dough, helps with the browning when baked at high temperature. Every Italian knows that. IT is also added to yeast mixture, with warm water, to help activate the yeast. The mixture is then added to the dough.

Chef James. You're so calm about about everything! You have this Zen energy that is rarely found in Celebrity or YT chefs.

Woow amazing the reaction! The pizza that he made looks really good! See you 🦇

I think the sauce has to be cooked and ideally chilled and left overnight for the best flavours… But Joshes videos are really good, he doesn’t do anything culinarily wrong, just some of his choices I don’t agree with… REAL Chicago deep dish is amazing… if your ever in chi town, George’s Deep dish pizzeria is amazing

i have never had new york pizza, i'll be honest. but the type i like best as it stands now is windsor-style. for those who aren't aware, windsor ontario has their own style of pizza. it's got crispy pepperoni, top-quality cheese and thin crusts. also the canned mushrooms. i like it. the favorite spots are naples and riviera, check em out if you're going to canada any time soon

In general I love Italian because dishes are usually very simple and easy to make IF (and this is key), IF you have some experience and know how to make them. Fabulous pizza is actually pretty easy to make, even at home, but it took me couple of years of making it from time to time and tinkering with various details until I can make it confidently and repeatably.

I think adding sugar in the sauce is an American thing but also double cooking the sauce makes it taste closer to ketchup. I personally prefer just opening the can of crushed tomatoes, adding oregano, garlic and onion powder and a touch of salt, blending that and putting it straight on the pizza, no boiling.I’m not a pro chef though just a home cook

The Gozney Dome is absolutely phenomenal. I'd look into that for your home! I am anti-sugar in both the dough and the sauce. He already used an onion in the sauce for sweetness. Seems like a lot, imho.

My favorite NY pizza is Di Fara in Brooklyn. The old guy there (DeMarco) is famous for pulling pizzas out of the oven with his *bare hands* lol. I haven't been to NY in a long time but Di Fara is still something I remember fondly.

What I like to do for sauce is purree the tomatoes with garlic and some herbs (not too much), and then let that strain in a fine mesh china cap for a while until I get half-way to tomato paste in consistency. So it's not cooked, but a lot of the water has been removed. The liquid that drains off is great for sliced mushrooms that will go on the pizza: put oil and mushrooms and the liquid in a pan, the water will boil off but the tomato "molecules" will add a lot of flavor to the mushrooms. You can also do that with eggplant chunks to make it usable on pizza.

Stay awesome Chef!

I’m an American so I gravitate towards sweet and greasy, but reading these comments has opened my eyes to the freshness aspect. I do have to say I REALLY enjoy a fresh tasting Neapolitan style with fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil. Different experiences for different scenarios. If I’m cooking for family then I’ll probably use Josh’s NY style. If it’s for me and my wife, then fresh all the way.

Lucali’s in Brooklyn is my favorite pizzeria. You have to be committed due to the wait times but it’s one of the few places worth the wait. I don’t think I’ll ever forget their ricotta.

I sell wood-fired consumer-grade pizza ovens (among other things) and every summer, we have a company pizza day where everyone gets to make their own pizza in one of our wood ovens. Being able to use a real pizza oven makes an ENORMOUS difference in the quality of the end product, though it's not always practical or affordable for a lot of home cooks. If you have the space and the budget for a real pizza oven, I highly recommend getting one. We also used to purchase pre-made dough from the store but this year I decided to make the dough from scratch for everyone. Wow, what a huge difference that made. James (and Josh) are 100% right about fresh ingredients. They make all the difference in the world. It's funny how pizza seems so simple, but man can it be super finicky to perfect. Every little change can make such a big difference in the end experience.

I think if you have a grill(gass or coal) at home its at least a much better option to use the grill then the oven with a pizza stone inside, gives you a much closer reuslt to the pizza oven used in this video! :) PS. Just make sure you buy a pizzastone for grilling that can take the heat, the one for an oven can break in a grill.

I like a more traditional sauce personally

His sauce is super close to what I do with my sauce. I don’t find the need to add sugar to it. I find if I let it simmer long enough there’s a point where the sauce naturally acquires a sweet taste. Once that sweetness shows up it’s important to stop simmering before it’s starts to get a slight bitterness.

yes, when you where talking about not cooking the tomato sauce, most pizzerias don't cook it, and most of the time it come directly from the bottle, italian tomatoes, from the south of itlay have much more taste and when formed into a "passata" which is kind of a puree of tomato, it has this nice balance not to be altered

I do 4-5 day cold ferment pizza doughs. My oven only gets 550 + a pizza steel. The sugar helps brown the crust in my limited heat options. If I had one of those monster coal/wood ovens I probably would pass.

Did you lose some experience? You used to cook for “many many years” :(

Former NYC resident here: I actually think Joe's is the best of the three spots Josh reviewed. Each Joe's location is consistent. 2bros isn't bad, per se, but it's just super-cheap. It's nice for a late night on St. Marks and you want something super-quick. Some of my favorite spots: Di Fara (actually lives up to the hype) Denino's in Staten Island (honestly my favorite pizza in NYC) Nunzio's in Staten Island Joe and Sal's in Crown Heights Brooklyn Pizza Master in on 58th and 1st Prince St. Pizza Artichoke Pizza (has my favorite vodka square slice, not a fan of their famous artichoke slice) Keste (I think they're still in the Financial District) John's on Bleecker sLICe in Long Island City Williamsburg Pizza in Williamsburg (also a location in the Lower East Side) Vinnie's Pizza in Williamsburg L&B Spumoni Garden near Bensonhurst (more of a cool spot to have get-togethers with a bunch of friends)

I grew up in New Jersey where the style of pizza is basically identical to that from NYC and an uncooked sauce is absolutely the taste I remember from childhood, just blend in a splash of olive oil, some salt, and some oregano.

I visited NYC for a week and ate at a different pizzeria each day. On some nights I'd go to 4 different places so I could try 4 different slices. I might've tried about 20 different places. So it was not a very large sample size, but my favorite was Champion Pizza. I'm not sure how much locals like it or not, but as an outsider doing a blind taste test, Champion was definitely my favorite and the only pizzaria I went back to twice.

I make pizza at home every week! I found the sugar in the dough to work better for two reasons. 1. I only have tops an hour for the dough to rise. 2. It helps the dough brown a bit in a conventional oven that won't go over 500.

Well now I'm hungry for pizza! I lived in Ny and that was my favorite thing to do was try the different pizza shops. To just be able to walk in and grab a slice on the go is one of the things I truly miss about NY. Great video, insightful commentary I think Josh did a really good job with the pizza he made.

I have the same Ooni pizza oven and I absolutely love it. My family and I make pizza once a week and it’s so much fun and very delicious.

You may not have heard of it but the channel Food theory actually has an episode on New York style pizza and talks about how the differences in in ingredients matter. He even makes pizzas using water from all over the country and shows that you get completely different results.

You may add a tiny bit of sugar or honey to your vessel that you are blooming your dry yeast in, however I wouldn't ever put enough to affect the flavor of the dough. It's only to boost the yeast to get a more aggressive rise, and I only do this if I need to make pizza less than 3 hours after mixing the dough.

In December of 2021 I stood on a sidewalk in Brooklyn and consumed some of the best pizza I've ever tasted: Di Fara Pizza.

The second pronunciation of 'mozzarella' Joshua used is from a dialect of English used in areas of New York City and the surroundings, especially New Jersey and Staten Island.

I sometimes use sugar in my dough to help the yeast along. More often than not, I will add a little bit of lager to add a little flavor.

I've never been to NY but - man oh man - I have watched the crap out of Scott's Pizza Tours. Just fantastic.

I'm 75 years of age, born and raised in Brooklyn New York. I've been making home pizza for over half a century. I love New York style pizza. For me, a New York style pizza has to be xtra large to duplicate NYC pizza. One trick I do is I go to Home Depot and buy unglazed quarry tiles. I line them up and cover my large outdoor BBQ grate. I preheat the tiles for 45 to 60 minutes. I use high glutton bread flour so I can get enough stretch to make the dough (window pain) thin enough to see light through it without breaking. I also splatter a little bit of sauce on top of the cheese. I sprinkle some Regiano cheese as well. I'm getting hungry.

flour, water, yeast- mix 6 minutes. rest 30 minutes add sugar and salt mix for 2-3 minutes. rest and shape. adding the sugar, and salt after the first rest makes the pizza less chewy. giving a better mouth feel.

I use a bread machine on dough setting, leave in until doubles in size , before balling and second rise .So easy .

My favorite pizza style is Chicago style in a cast iron skillet. I always cook my pizza sauce, and never add sugar to it. I like a little kick in my sauce so I throw in a good amount of crushed red pepper. Oh and I use bread flour instead of all purpose for a really thick, bready pizza. Cold fermenting the dough overnight in the fridge is best.

Great video! I dont have a pizza oven, but the best workaround that I use is a basic weber kettle grill. Load up with wood, get it roaring hot and use a pizza stone. Lid off, slide the pizza from the peel straight on the stone and lid back on - you do lose a bit of temp pulling the lid off a kettle grill, but its pretty close. First pizza is a little guesswork and a peak here and there, but typically cooked within 5mins. Its not as good as a pizza oven of course, but you can get significantly higher temps than a regular oven, and you dont need to turn the pizza around which is a small bonus.

Never been to NY, I live in the US though, but I used to work at a Chaldean pizza place and our dough was made without sugar and the sauce also was not pre cooked. It was taken straight from the cans, given some added oregano and whatnot into it, then put on the dough.

I once had a pizza that had a little bit of strawberry added to the sauce to bring sweetness, I usually don't like it sweet but that was really interesting!

I do like to sauce the whole thing, the sauce of the crust will caramelize nicely (burn if you're not careful) and get really savoury, i suggest giving it a try. Note, I've never used a pizza stone/steel/oven, but I hhave made tons of pizzas when i was studying abroad in a student flat.

Alot of knowledge there that I didn't know about pizza learnt alot from the video

No such thing as extra virgin olive oil. It is called virgin extra. Virgin means that the oil was extracted with mechanical processes only. Extra means that the taste, acidity and properties were tested before being bottled. Loving your channel.

I used to work in one of the Radisson Hotels, in a fine dining Italian restaurant (now closed and turned into a different restaurant). If I am recalling correctly, we never cooked our pizza sauce. For the dough, we used honey instead of sugar. That dough was fermented over night to several days.

In my opinion, the best classic slice in Manhattan is from Scarr's Pizza on Orchard St. in Chinatown. They mill their own flour, have a well balanced sauce, and keep their prices comfortable. It's my go-to when I'm in the area. I think the essence of NY style pizza is its convenience. It can be eaten one-handed quickly and without getting grease all over yourself. The other hallmarks are important, of course, but they're all secondary to the convenience.

I do a single rise on my dough and stretch it out to about a 3/16" ( 4-5 mm) or less but have never been able to turn up the temp that high. I use a pizza stone that is pre heated but when I go anything over 450deg F (232 C) it burns on the outside way before the dough cooks or rises on the bottom.

Excellent video and review Chef. Well done! I love pizza! Thin crust, thick crust, deep dish, New York style, Chicago style, etc. I enjoy eating them all (the exception being pineapple). Keep up the great work and looking forward to your next video Chef!

I’ve got a NY pizzeria. Yes we use sugar in the dough (extra food for the yeast). No we don’t cook our pizza sauce. Fun video!

There is a restaurant in Montreal called B&M that made my favourite pizza. Standard crust, but loaded with toppings and a ton of stretchy mozzarella. It was expensive even back in the 90s.

I prefer the brighter tomato flavor from not pre cooking the sauce especially if it's going to get a long bake time with something like Lou Malnati's deep dish in Chicago

I ran a Sicilian restaurant for 9 years. The owner was from Long Island. His father was from Rome, and his mom was from Messina so our recipe was a culmination of ideas from Italy, Sicily, and New York. We did not use sugar in the mix and only used fresh yeast, and we added a splash of oil into the mix before the flour went in. The sauce was never, ever cooked. Canned San Marzano tomatoes chopped tomatoes in sauce, salt, pepper, oregano and just a hint of basil. We cooked in a large Blodget stone double oven set at 600 degrees preheated at least 90 minutes ahead of service time. The oven would hold 6 18" pizzas with space in between each on each deck. We grated and blended our own mozzarella 60/40 part skim to whole. More whole it would get greasy, more skim, it would dry out easy. Slapped and flattened the dough by hand the thickness we wanted, never by rolling pin and were to busy to "throw" the dough. It is an absolute wonder that I did not leave that place weighing 400 pounds.

New Haven Coal fired is my Fav. Specifically Sally's!

Here in BC, there’s a place called Hot Oven Pizza, and if I could magically send you a fresh slice, I think you might be impressed, or at least intrigued. They don’t put sugar in the dough; rather the crust is glazed with a touch of honey. It’s by far the best pizza I’ve ever had.

I've had New York pizza in NYC, but it was a long time ago. But in my old college town of Ann Arbor, there was a place called New York Pizza Depot (NYPD), run by some guys from NYC, had those same giant slices just like this, that you basically had to fold to get in your mouth. I loved their 4-cheese Blanco, and their one with baked ziti pasta on it. I do tend to like thicker types, though, Chicago-style and Detroit-style (pretty similar to Sicilian) are both great, in my book. Even French bread style can be great, if you get the right bread.

IMO there are 2 "secrets" to a good (home made) pizza: 1) Pizza stone (or dedicated pizza oven if you have the space) 2) The dough - and this is for sure the hardest part to perfect and get it right. Hint: it can't be rushed and takes time. The good thing: pizza dough can be kept in the freezer for months.

D' Fara's pizza, e16 street on ave. J, Brooklyn NY. I've been eating NY pizza for sixty years and although I haven't sampled EVERY NY pizza, this one is my favorite.

I literally stumbled on your channel accidentally but now its amazing to see that you're up 30K subscribers

"It doesn't look 'as good'" is being too nice. "It doesn't look good" is what I followed up with, in perfect synch with Chef James! Keep up the good work!

AT 5:22, from what I've learned, from the channel Chain Baking and experience, sugar can be used for multiple things: - flavor - weakening the gluten bonds - removing access to water for the yeast, thus slowing down the fermentation process and modifying the flavor. Contrary to what people think, yeast does not need the sugar for energy. You want the yeast to synthesis the amylase of the starch in the flour to get its energy. This will also help the propagation of the yeast and yeast has a lot of umami flavor, it is delicious. Here's a quesiton for you: What do you think about chefs that pre-cook the dough and then add the toppings and cook the pizza a second time. I'm asking because I like thick dough and I had bad experiences where the dough wasn't completely cooked.

I use always fresh yeast without sugar. I start with the fresh yeast and a lukewarm water/milk mix and a little bit of flour to start the fermentation. IMO the flour is the most important part - it must have a very fine grind and be the right type. After half an hour I finish the dough with salt, olive oil and the rest of the flour and wait for another hour. I dont cook my tomato sauce, but no thyme for me (only dried oregano and if wanted fresh basil). I prefer different types of cheese on my pizza, like gorgonzola or camenbert.

Sugar is useful when cooking at lower temps to help browning; at the temperature used to cook Neopolitan pizza (~450 C) no sugar is needed in the dough, and the sugar would simply burn! When I make NY-style pizza at home I often use malt powder instead, which has a similar effect. When I make Neopolitan-style, flour water salt yeast are the only ingredients. Using a cooked tomato sauce is pretty typical in NY, though some places definitely use raw tomato sauces (which I prefer). Note that "raw" tomato sauces are rarely truly raw. Generally canned tomatoes are used, and the tomatoes inside are cooked as part of the canning process.

Good video. I like the “Italian Grandma makes pizza “ video. Reminded me of my mom.

Been away working on a project for the past month(s) so im catching up on a lot of videos, just realized you have now more than doubled your subs since i started watching your channel. It's really awesome to see, and very well deserved chef! Also, pizza looks amazing, i mean it's a pizza 🤷‍♂

Sugar is sometimes used in home pizza, but in a very small quantity. Sugar helps to get the brown color in the home owen, which rarely can reach the high temperatures needed for the job.

My favorite is ham, cheese and mushroom over tomato sauce. In Croatia, this is known as capricciosa. Italian capricciosa apparently also has artichokes which is not a standard pizza ingredient anywhere in Croatia lol.

I got the Ooni koda 16 gas powered pizza oven and i am loving it very easy to use and gets great results goes up to close to 800 degC .

I am a home cook and have been making pizza for years. My ingredients have changed over the years to where I have been using the same recipe for about five years now. I use 00 flour, dried yeast, a little olive oil, filtered water and a teaspoon of sugar (to feed the yeast). I use the double fermentation method. My gas BBQ has a lid (round, like a weber kettle but smaller) has a stone on the grill and after about 30 minutes on full can reach 450 to 500C. Cooks my thin crust pizza in about 3 to 4 minutes. I end up with a crusty bottom, moderately charred. I live in SE Asia so it is pretty warm here which helps the fermentation time and the cook time.