The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[tgnytg]

Hi. I'm Tom from around Utica, NY. I am closing in on a half century of life experience, I work in IT, and am a fledgling Parrothead.

I have been making pizza at home for about a year. IMHO, I think I am getting pretty good at it. So do my friends and family.

I was sort of forced into making my own. The local pizza place decided that profit is much more important than their food or their customers.

A short list of pizza related things that I would endorse, although I have no $ interest in any (darn the luck!):
- Legends of Pizza Volume 1 CD - www.legendsofpizza.com
- Fibrament-D Baking Stone - www.bakingstone.com
- SuperPeel - www.superpeel.com
- KitchenAid mixer - www.kitchenaid.com
- Book - "Pizza" by Diane Morgan and Tony Gemignani
- Book - "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart (I don't have "American Pie," yet) - BBA is my reference book on making and handling dough
- mis en place - the practice of organizing the kitchen so that all tools and ingredients are fully prep'ed and within easy reach before starting to cook, it was a revelation the first time I pulled it off!!

My dough is usually made from King Arthur All Purpose flour at about 63% hydration, autolyzed, and fridge fermented for 24+ hours. I have recently been substituting 10% whole wheat flour since it improves the taste (YMMV). I brush my crusts with garlic infused extra virgin olive oil before topping.

Some of my best pizzaiolo efforts: Margherita, BBQ Chicken, and California White Pizza (w/ Ranch dressing, from the book Pizza by Diane Morgan).

Wow, that was kind of long winded....

Cheers, Tom

[CJ]

Tom,

Do you remember Pizza Palace on Oneida Square across from Church's chicken? That is where I first started making pizza. We competed against Oscugnizzo (sp) down on Genesee. This goes back a few years as I worked there in 1981.

Good to see somebody from home on here.
_________________
Southern Yankee

[tgnytg]

Hey CJ,

I remember the name Pizza Palace, but never had a pizza from them. They were too long of a drive. Around here, a pizza needs to be VERY GOOD to go even to the next town. There are just too many good options close by.

I do remember Church's Chicken. They are long gone.

I actually live about 7 or 8 miles out of Utica, and left the area for 10 years back in the late 70s to late 80s.

The pizza joints around Utica that stand out in my memory are O'Scugnizzo's (who now have 3 or 4 locations, they are good but pricey), Capri Pizza - downtown by the Boston Store (both are now gone) at the Busy Corner, and Tony's Pizza of Washington Mills (they have upwards of 10 locations).

A recent (15 years or so) family owned chain, Grande's Pizza, grew quickly, but turned their backs on their customer base. They chose profit over quality, and their food suffers because of it.

I never found any other area with as much good Italian food and pizza as East Utica and the surrounding towns loaded with Italian populations and great cooks.

Cheers, Tom