How To Make The Best New York Style Pizza.

One of the characteristics of a New York pizza is the puffy crust which paves the way to a thin crisp middle. To achieve this effect, the pizza is usually cooked on a stone not a pan or tray. You can still make New York style pizza without it but if you plan to make it a lot, you might want to invest in a pizza stone or quarry tiles. Mind you it might take a while before you perfect the recipe. You may find that you want to add your own touches to it. Have fun with it.

The dough recipe is used widely throughout many pizzerias. You would use about 16 ounces or 3 ½ cups of high gluten flour. You will also need 9 ounces of warm water, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of yeast and ¾ teaspoon of salt. Try to use the best flour you can get. You want to mix all these together until they form the dough and then add the olive oil into the dough. You can use a stand mixer for this. A stand mixer will also knead the dough for you. If you do not have one, you can need the dough yourself for fifteen minutes and then place it in an oiled bowl. Some people recommend you do the windowpane test. This is where you stretch the dough thin to see if it is transparent but not breaking. After the dough is in the bowl, you can put that in the fridge for twenty four hours.

Next you are ready for your pizza sauce. You want a 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, 1 garlic clove or more if you like garlic, and 1 teaspoon of dried oregano flakes. The simplest way to prepare this is to combine it all in a blender and then put it into a sauce pan and simmer for thirty minutes.

Your oven should be preheating to about 550. A good tip is to put your stone or tiles in the oven as it is warming up. Only do this if you have a pizza peel to use also. Now you have to work the dough. First step is to press it out into a disk and then start to press it out and stretch it into a large circle that fits your peel. You want to make sure it isn't too thick so that it winds up with a doughy taste. Make sure you put some flour on the stone or the pizza peel if you have one before the dough goes down. If you are not using a peel, make sure you put flour on your stone also.

Next place your sauce and other toppings on. To create a true New York style pizza, it is best if you use fresh mozzarella and not the store bought shredded kind. Not only will it look better with the fresh mozzarella but it will also taste better also. Once this is done, cook the pizza until the crust is dark and crispy. Usually no more than ten minutes.

Making your own New York style pizza takes a lot of practice, but do not get discouraged. Remember these people in New York have been doing it for years.