New York Style Cheese Pizza

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New York Style Cheese Pizza

How to Make a Great Pizza

The Dough

The dough is a mix of bread flour and wholemeal. The wholemeal isn’t traditional but I use a fair bit because it adds a nutty depth to the crust that pure white flour can’t give you. After the flours and water come together, we add the salt and oil. The salt can slow the yeast if added too early. From there it’s 8 to 10 minutes of kneading by hand until the dough is smooth, then a 48-hour bulk ferment in the fridge. The slow cold fermentation is what builds the flavour and the structure, so I advise you do it.

New York Style Cheese Pizza

Stretching Your Dough

Stretch with semolina instead of flour. Semolina is coarser, doesn’t absorb water as quickly, and any that ends up on your oven deck just burns off rather than turning into smoke. Use your fingers to push the dough down and away from the centre, leaving a one-centimetre rim around the edge for the crust. Once it stops moving easily, drape it over your knuckles and let gravity finish the stretching. Patch any holes immediately, a hole on the deck of the oven is a nightmare to clean up.

New York Style Cheese Pizza

Topping

Rub some semolina on the top of your peel and then get the pizza onto your peel before you put the toppings on. But you'll need to move quick as the longer the sauce sits, the more it soaks in and sticks. Keep giving the peel a shake while you build to make sure the pizza still slides.

Cook

New York style is baked at a lower temperature than Neapolitan, around 330 to 400°C, for 5-6 minutes. The lower heat gives the dough time to dry out and crisp through rather than charring fast like a Neapolitan. If your oven gets too hot from preheating, turn it down before the pizza goes in so the dome heat drops but the deck stays hot. Once the pizza is in, give it a turn halfway through with the peel so it cooks evenly. Rest the cooked pizza on a wire rack with a tray underneath for a couple of minutes before cutting, otherwise steam from the base will soften the crust and you’ll lose the crunch.

Ingredient Notes

Bread flour:

Bread flour has higher protein than plain flour, which means more gluten development and a chewier crust. Look for 12-13% protein on the bag. Don’t substitute plain flour, the result will be too soft and tear when you stretch it.

Low-moisture mozzarella:

Fresh mozzarella has too much water and will leach out into the cheese, turning your pizza into a puddle. Look for block low-moisture mozzarella, sometimes called pizza mozzarella. Grate it yourself as pre-grated cheese is coated in anti-caking agents that stop it melting cleanly.

Tinned tomatoes:

San Marzano or any good Italian whole peeled tomatoes are best. Avoid pre-crushed or pre-flavoured varieties, you want control over the seasoning. Crush by hand for a more rustic texture or blend gently if you prefer a smoother sauce.

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Ingredients

700g (24.7 oz) bread flour
300g (10.6 oz) wholemeal flour
25g (0.9 oz) cooking salt (not table salt), for the dough
30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
20g (0.7 oz) sugar, for the dough
5g (0.2 oz) dry yeast
570ml (19.3 fl oz) water
2 tins tomatoes, for the sauce
10g (0.4 oz) salt, for the sauce
5g (0.2 oz) sugar, for the sauce
2g (0.07 oz) dried oregano, for the sauce
low moisture mozzarella, to taste
parmesan cheese, to taste

Equipment

Large mixing bowl
Bench scraper
Kitchen scale
Greased tray with lid (for the second prove)
Pizza peel (wooden or metal)
Pizza oven (gas, wood-fired or electric)
Wire rack and tray
Box grater
Blender or stick blender
Cling film

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Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread flour, wholemeal flour, 20g sugar, dry yeast, and 570ml water. Start mixing by hand to form a dough. Just before turning it out onto your workbench, add the 30ml olive oil and 25g cooking salt. Knead briefly to distribute.
Knead the dough on your workbench for 8-10 minutes, until you achieve a smooth texture. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 48 hours for slow fermentation.
3 hours before you're ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge. Divide into 260g (9.2 oz) portions and roll into tight balls. Place them on a greased tray with a lid. Let them prove at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
Preheat your oven to 400°C (752°F) at least an hour in advance to properly heat-soak it. Note: New York-style pizzas are baked at a lower temperature than Neapolitan-style pizzas, with some shops baking at temperatures as low as 330°C (626°F). Have a play and see what works best for you.
For the sauce, blend (or crush with your hand) the tinned tomatoes with 10g salt, 5g sugar, and dried oregano until smooth. Be careful not to over-blend and incorporate air into the sauce.
Stretch the dough to fit your pizza peel or baking surface. Top with the tomato sauce, low-moisture mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 3-5 minutes, aiming for a crispy bottom and golden cheese topping.
Rest on a rack with a tray for a couple of minutes before cutting.

Notes

Chef Tips

My Variation - Pepperoni with Hot Honey

In the video I make this version with pepperoni instead of plain cheese. Spread regular pepperoni slices over the mozzarella before baking. Cup-style pepperoni is hard to find in Australia, regular pepperoni works fine, it just won’t curl up into little cups. When the pizza comes out, drizzle with hot honey, scatter with torn basil and grate over fresh Parmesan. The sweet, spicy honey against the salty pepperoni and rich tomato is one of my favourite pizza combinations. In the video I also use 400g dough balls instead of 260g, which gives you bigger pizzas if you have a larger pizza oven.

New York Style Cheese Pizza

Get the pizza on the peel before topping

Stretch the dough straight onto a peel dusted with semolina, then top it there. If you stretch on the bench and try to slide a fully topped pizza onto the peel, the sauce will soak through and stick. Give the peel a shake every minute or so while you build to make sure the pizza still slides freely.

Rest on a rack, not a plate

After the pizza comes out of the oven, sit it on a wire rack with a tray underneath for 2-3 minutes before slicing. If you put it straight on a plate, the steam coming off the base turns the crust soggy. A rack lets the steam escape and keeps the bottom crisp.

Storage

The dough keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days during the cold ferment. After that, the yeast will start to overproof and the dough gets hard to work with. You can freeze portioned dough balls for up to 3 months, wrap them tightly in cling film. To use, thaw overnight in the fridge then bring to room temperature for 2 hours before stretching. Cooked pizza is best eaten fresh, but leftover slices reheat brilliantly in a hot pan or under the grill, never the microwave.

FAQs

Do I need a pizza oven?

It helps, but you can do this in a home oven on a pizza steel or stone. Crank the oven as hot as it’ll go, usually 250-280°C, and bake on a preheated stone for 8-10 minutes. You won’t get the same char or speed as a dedicated pizza oven, but the dough quality will still shine through.

Why semolina and not flour for stretching?

Semolina is coarser than flour and doesn’t burn as quickly when it falls onto the hot deck of the oven. Flour can scorch and put smoke through the oven, semolina just chars and brushes off. It also slides off the peel more easily so the pizza launches cleanly.