Pellegrino's pizza

[Gidget]

I couldn't even post this in the pizza thread. It deserved it's own monument. Pellegrino's pizza is the best pizza I have ever had. Hands down.

[Surfah]

I couldn't even post this in the pizza thread. It deserved it's own monument. Pellegrino's pizza is the best pizza I have ever had. Hands down.

+1. Pellegrino is the king of pizza. If he offers an opinion on pizza, listen. I can't get over the white pizza still. And the zucchini. Oh my.

[Green Lantern]

Is there a way that more of us can try this pizza of all pizzas? I won't rest until I've sampled it.

[fusnik]

Recipe please.

[Green Lantern]

Recipe please.

I don't think it's just the recipe. The guy's serious pizza connoisseur and I believe he's got a pizza oven to prove it.

[FN Phat]

Dear Pellegrino,

I am not sure if Surfah mentioned that we are planning on attending the BSU/Va Tech game at FedEx Field. Maybe we can make this an informal East Coast CUF get-together. I was planning on a late lunch/early dinner at a local restaurant, however, if you were eager to try your hand at pizza once again the plans could easily change.

Regards,

FN Phat

[pellegrino]

I'm a little embarrassed. I didn't expect this from Gidge and Surfah.

edit: While I didn't expect it, I'm glad yall liked it. We had a lot of fun too.

There's a primary song, a round even, that goes something like "Our door is always open to our friends who pass this way." That's kind of been our family motto for years. If anyone here, and I mean anyone, is in the neighborhood and wants a taste, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

Green Lantern, I do not have a wood fired pizza oven, yet. For now I have a Kenmore gas oven that only heats to 550, if that. Even so, I like what comes out of it. Hopefully in the next few years I'll be able to build a proper oven. If and when I

Fus, The recipe is on www.varasanos.com. It's detailed, but very good and once you get it down it's simple. I make the dough at least the night before and from start to finish (i.e. dough goes in the fridge) it takes me about 45 minutes to an hour, half of that is just sitting around waiting for autolyse to do its magic.

FN Phat, Surfah did mention it. I don't know if I will be in town that weekend, but if it works out that I'm here and you and Surfah can come by for some pie then we'll make it happen.

[Chachi]

I checked out the recipe and got one question...what's the temp and length of time you're cooking the pizza? This guy is cooking at 800 degrees...I wish I could cook more meals in 1 min 40 sec, but instant oatmeal gets old quick.

[pellegrino]

I checked out the recipe and got one question...what's the temp and length of time you're cooking the pizza? This guy is cooking at 800 degrees...I wish I could cook more meals in 1 min 40 sec, but instant oatmeal gets old quick.

Like I said, my oven only gets to about 550. If I could get it to 800 degrees safely then I'd do it in a heartbeat. Varasano has done some crazy things with his oven that I'm not interested in trying. Rather than putting money towards purchasing new oven doors (which he's done) I'd rather put money towards a wood fired stove.

Depending on how wet the dough is, how thin I stretch the crust, and how much cheese and sauce is on it, a pizza takes between 5 and 7 minutes to cook in my oven.

I don't know that the instant oatmeal analogy is accurate. Instant oatmeal cooks fast because it has been pre-cooked, dried and finely milled. It is very different from oats. A better analogy (and one that Varasano uses) is to try baking cookies at a drastically lower temperature, say 200 instead of 350. You won't get the same results. The cookies cooked at a lower temperature will have a different texture and won't seem right.

[CJF]

A better analogy (and one that Varasano uses) is to try baking cookies at a drastically lower temperature, say 200 instead of 350. You won't get the same results. The cookies cooked at a lower temperature will have a different texture and won't seem right.

Might as well go no with bake cookies instead. Plus, they're delightful.

[UtahDan]

That was, in fact, some very, very good pizza. The Pellegrinos are the most gracious of hosts. The best part of it was watching all of our girls have so much fun together/maul each other.

[Surfah]

Here's probably the best looking and tasting attempt. We made 5 pies tonight. Started off with a four cheese with tomato sauce. Then tried our hand at a white cheese. But I think I put too much cheese and olive oil and worse, the pie stuck to the peel as I was putting it on the stone. So it came out oblong and deformed and partly folded over itself. So that part didn't cook well. Then did tomato sauce, 3 cheese, prosciutto, artichoke hearts and rosemary. That's the one pictured. Then did a white four cheese with zucchini. I loved this one. Then did another like the one pictured to use the prosciutto we had and the remaining artichoke hearts. This one came out very well also.

My dough was too wet I think. I had to add too much flour just to work with it. I wish I paid better attention to how you formed your pizzas. Also, we only had AP flour on hand. The bread flour we had was pre-mixed so we didn't use it and didn't want to go out on Sunday to get some. I think the extra gluten would have helped form more consistently thin pies. Though the AP did alright. I also could have set our stone one rung lower. But the oven did well at 550. Average cook time was probably 7-9 minutes. I am still a long ways away from matching Pellegrino but I am on my way. Thanks for the help and tips. This was fun and my family loved it. We have a pizza and a half remaining. I am looking forward to lunch.

Also what kind of Gorgonzola did you use? I had Gidget pick up piccante instead of dolce but I am wondering if the latter wouldn't have been better. The piccante we got had a lot of bite. I learned after the first pie to go easy on it. We got all of our cheese from Wegman's.

[FN Phat]

Is that a smiley face?

I think a pizza night making pies would be a great time had by all! Maybe when I pony up the cash to get my wife a new stove we will try it out.

[pellegrino]

Here's probably the best looking and tasting attempt. We made 5 pies tonight. Started off with a four cheese with tomato sauce. Then tried our hand at a white cheese. But I think I put too much cheese and olive oil and worse, the pie stuck to the peel as I was putting it on the stone. So it came out oblong and deformed and partly folded over itself. So that part didn't cook well. Then did tomato sauce, 3 cheese, prosciutto, artichoke hearts and rosemary. That's the one pictured. Then did a white four cheese with zucchini. I loved this one. Then did another like the one pictured to use the prosciutto we had and the remaining artichoke hearts. This one came out very well also.

My dough was too wet I think. I had to add too much flour just to work with it. I wish I paid better attention to how you formed your pizzas. Also, we only had AP flour on hand. The bread flour we had was pre-mixed so we didn't use it and didn't want to go out on Sunday to get some. I think the extra gluten would have helped form more consistently thin pies. Though the AP did alright. I also could have set our stone one rung lower. But the oven did well at 550. Average cook time was probably 7-9 minutes. I am still a long ways away from matching Pellegrino but I am on my way. Thanks for the help and tips. This was fun and my family loved it. We have a pizza and a half remaining. I am looking forward to lunch.

Also what kind of Gorgonzola did you use? I had Gidget pick up piccante instead of dolce but I am wondering if the latter wouldn't have been better. The piccante we got had a lot of bite. I learned after the first pie to go easy on it. We got all of our cheese from Wegman's.

You are on your way! That one looks pretty good for your first attempt. You have to remember that I've been making pizza for the better part of my life and somewhat seriously for the past ten years so you shouldn't feel bad about a few misshaped pizzas.

From what you described, I don't think your dough was too wet. Varasano's recipe produces a really wet dough, you'll always have to use flour to handle it. If you want you can make it drier, in fact when cooking at lower temperatures you might get a better char on the bottom with a drier dough. You can experiment and see what you like better. I'll admit that sometimes when I have my students over I'll make the dough a bit drier because it will cook faster, which is important when you're trying to make a dozen or more pizzas in an hour or so, but when it's dry I can really toss it in the air (they like the theatrics). The one suggestion I'll give on the shape is try and make sure you create a lip around the edge. If you do that first, it makes it easier to shape the whole thing.

I honestly don't know if our gorgonzola is piccante or dolce. I think it's piccante, but have no way of knowing until we buy another one (september at the earliest). I'll let you know if I can. I don't think it matters which one you use, but how you use it. You can use any blue cheese that you like in its place.

As for the peel, it can be tough to keep it from sticking, particularly on rainy days. I use whole wheat flour because it reduces friction with less flour than white flour does. Plus, if some of the grist sticks with the pizza it won't hurt your teeth if you bite down on it wrong (like corn meal). We grind our own so we have it all the time. If you only have white flour you'll need to put a bit more on it. These are all things you learn by doing though so keep it up!

[Surfah]

You are on your way! That one looks pretty good for your first attempt. You have to remember that I've been making pizza for the better part of my life and somewhat seriously for the past ten years so you shouldn't feel bad about a few misshaped pizzas.

From what you described, I don't think your dough was too wet. Varasano's recipe produces a really wet dough, you'll always have to use flour to handle it. If you want you can make it drier, in fact when cooking at lower temperatures you might get a better char on the bottom with a drier dough. You can experiment and see what you like better. I'll admit that sometimes when I have my students over I'll make the dough a bit drier because it will cook faster, which is important when you're trying to make a dozen or more pizzas in an hour or so, but when it's dry I can really toss it in the air (they like the theatrics). The one suggestion I'll give on the shape is try and make sure you create a lip around the edge. If you do that first, it makes it easier to shape the whole thing.

I honestly don't know if our gorgonzola is piccante or dolce. I think it's piccante, but have no way of knowing until we buy another one (september at the earliest). I'll let you know if I can. I don't think it matters which one you use, but how you use it. You can use any blue cheese that you like in its place.

As for the peel, it can be tough to keep it from sticking, particularly on rainy days. I use whole wheat flour because it reduces friction with less flour than white flour does. Plus, if some of the grist sticks with the pizza it won't hurt your teeth if you bite down on it wrong (like corn meal). We grind our own so we have it all the time. If you only have white flour you'll need to put a bit more on it. These are all things you learn by doing though so keep it up!

I read that one guy uses rice flour on his peel to keep the pizza from sticking. I thought that was interesting. My dough looked very much like Varasano's pictures. That's what I was going for and slowly added the flour during the wet knead until I got to that point. The next time though will also be with some bread flour and not AP. I am hoping the extra gluten will help. And I reviewed his website and noted how he makes the outer lip first. That is something I will work on. It's a process. But a fun and tasty one at that.