[Sca-cooks] White Pizza- OOP

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Feb 3, 2008, at 2:24 PM, Lilinah wrote:

> Dude! You've re-invented the Chicago pizza of my youth! OK, OK, you
> probably continue to eat that cardboard thin crust of the typical NY
> pizza, rather than the thick crust of a Chicago pizza... but... the
> original Pizzeria Uno (back when there was, indeed, only one) in
> Chicago, when i was eating there in the 1960s, made their pizzas in
> cast iron skillets. Apparently it was founded in 1943...

Jeff Smith claimed, rightly or wrongly, that they used deep, round,  
thin iron cake pans that could be seasoned (sort of like my cheap  
steel omelette pan). That may be what they use now, though. He also  
seemed to feel there was a cornmeal component to Uno's dough. While I  
have done that on occasion, I generally avoid it. This is more like  
the standard margarita napolitano, and the fact that it is baked in a  
deep dish doesn't make it deep dish pizza, if you get what I mean.

My typical crust is somewhat thicker than the cardboard of which you  
speak, but then I'm using AP or bread flour, usually. It's also not as  
thick as the crust typically used for Sicilian pizza. My primary  
concern is a decent crunch on the bottom, which I find to be the most  
serious defect of the horrid national chains.

> I never cared for the greasy cardboard pizzas of NYC when i lived in
> Manhattan in the late 1960s. I guess we just prefer the pizzas of our
> youth...
>
> On the other hand, you and i are in accord about the pleasures of the
> tomato-y butterfat, the blisters and burnt spots. They give a pizza
> character.

You haven't lived until you've heard Mario Batali go on a tirade about  
this...

> Well, i'm off to get a couple slices at my local worker-owned co-op
> bakery (Arizmendi). They make only one kind of pizza every day - the
> crust is their sourdough bread dough. Today's very yummy topping, a
> favorite of mine, is a Spinach, Kalamata Olives, Feta Cheese,
> Garlic-Oregano Oil, Fresh Parsley, Parmesan.

There used to be a place in the neighborhood I lived in as a kid, that  
made what they alleged was an Argentine-style pizza. I now see a great  
deal of Italian influence over the menus at some of the Argentine  
steakhouses in New York, so perhaps this is not so strange, but at the  
time it was pretty interesting, and quite uncommon in the area. As I  
recall it involved spinach, ham, roasted peppers, and cheese, but no  
tomatoes, and it was extremely good...

Adamantius