The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[pizza]

Walt wrote:

I am looking for what I believe is a pizza they sell back in New York called "Bakers Pizza" or Sicilian Pizza. It is thicker, and usually with cheese and sauce only. It is cooked in a rectangle bakers pan. There is a place on the internet called :Nirchi's Pizza that sells it. I am trying to make it at home and the recipe I have is not even close.
Also, I am use to the NY thin pizza that somehow comes out crip yet "chewy with a texture." It may be their 700 degree oven. Maybe they don't add oil...I don't know; very frustrating.

My response:

Hey Walt, thanks for writing.

That's a great question. I went to http://www.nirchis.com/ and their pizza looks great.

I do not know how to make "Bakers Pizza" or Sicilian Pizza.

My friend Peter Reinhart in his book, American Pie
http://legendsofpizza.com/peterreinhart.html
states he can de-construct any pizza just by tasting it.
He offers many different kinds of recipes and there may be one in his book that is close.

You can also contact Nirchis directly to see if they will send you the recipe, although I know that is a long shot.

Maybe somone here in the forum has any ideas?

Can anyone help?

thanks in advance,

albert
_________________
"Pizza on Earth...Good Will to All!"
Visit: http://pizzatherapy.com
http://pizzatherapy.blogspot.com/
http://legendsofpizza.com/blog

[dfandreatta]

A Google search of "Sicilian pizza" or "Sfinciuni" will give you quite a few results, most of them saying that this is a pizza with a thick crust, some saying that many ingredients are pressed into the dough. There are a number of videos that show how to make it, and a number of dough recipes as well.

Looks good to me!
_________________
"Papa Don"
Apollo Beach, Florida

[chefjane]

Hi, Walt! :)

I derived this recipe from a book called, "No Need to Knead." (The recipes in the book were screwed up, so I had to change most of them.)

It's not exactly real Sicilian pizza, but it's very close.

Enjoy!
Jane :)

--->>>
Ingredients for One 13"x18" Pizza:
For Dough:
1-1/2 cups warm water @ 95ºF
1 tsp SAF active dry yeast
4 cups (glass) all-purpose flour (22oz) (4-1/2 steel cups)
6 TBS olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
--
Procedure:

1) Sprinkle yeast over the water and let sit for one minute to soften. In the meantime…

2) Oil a medium mixing bowl and get a plastic cover.

3) Pour some oil in a small ingredient bowl.

4) Place flour and salt in food processor with metal blade and pulse for a few seconds to combine.

5) Add olive oil to the food processor and pulse again for a few seconds.

6) Stir water and yeast until dissolved.

7) Add the water+yeast to the food processor and run 10–20 seconds, until fully combined and flour pulls away from the bowl.

8) Oil hands. Remove dough. Fold dough over on itself a few times to make a nice round ball and to fold air in. Place in the oiled bowl and cover. Let sit in a warm place for 1 hour. Or skip this first rise and…

9) Fold dough over on itself a few times to make a nice round ball again and to fold air in, and then refrigerate in a sealed freezer bag (squeeze air out of bag) for a few hours or up to one week. Let dough come to room temperature for 1 to 1-1/2 hours before using.

10) PREHEAT OVEN TO 525ºF.

11) Brush jelly roll pan with olive oil. Oil hands lightly again.

12) Carefully remove dough from bag so as not to deflate it (much) and spread dough evenly over entire pan with a 1/2" lip going up the sides of the pan.

13) Dock the dough with pastry roller/docker.

14) Brush dough with oil.

15) Cover with sauce, then mozzarella, salt, fresh pepper, and a light sprinkling of dry, crushed oregano right up to, but not including, the the lip.

16) Let rise again for 15 minutes.

17) RAISE OVEN TEMPERATURE TO 550ºF.

18) Bake for 10-1/2 minutes on lowest rack in the oven.

19) Bottom will be a little soft. To make crisp, run the pan all over a medium-high flame on the stove-top until it either smokes from the pizza or it smells "done."

20) Use a flexible plastic pie server to help lift along the long edge and tilt and slide the pizza out onto a cooling rack for 3-5 minutes.

21) Slide a pizza peel between the pizza and the cooling rack for cutting. Remove peel, so the bottom crust stays crisp. Done.


=======================
Walt wrote:

I am looking for what I believe is a pizza they sell back in New York called "Bakers Pizza" or Sicilian Pizza. It is thicker, and usually with cheese and sauce only. It is cooked in a rectangle bakers pan. There is a place on the internet called :[b]Nirchi's Pizza [/b]that sells it. I am trying to make it at home and the recipe I have is not even close.
Also, I am use to the NY thin pizza that somehow comes out crip yet "chewy with a texture." It may be their 700 degree oven. Maybe they don't add oil...I don't know; very frustrating.

[dfandreatta]

Jane:

Looking at your dough recipe, I am intrigued by the differentiation of the "glass" and "steel cup" measuring cups. You mentioned 22oz. A "cup" being 8 oz., 4 cups would be 32 oz. Is there a difference in how glass measures, compared to steel (or stainless steel)? That might explain why I find myself adjusting ingredients after I start making my dough.

Your recipe also includes 6 Tbs (3 oz.) of olive oil. The most I use for a 4 cup recipe is 4 oz. (8 Tbs). What does the additional oil offer? What if I leave the oil out altogether? (maybe that should be a separate question)

I know.... I should get Peter Reinhart's book and figure this all out myself. But I enjoy trying out all the things our members post here.

Thank you for your input!

Last week I found an interesting thing about making pizza dough, but I'll put that in another post.
_________________
"Papa Don"
Apollo Beach, Florida

[pizza]

I just got this great email from Jason and I had to share it:


Hello!

My name is Jason House, I'm originally from Binghamton, N.Y. and now live in Brooklyn. My girlfriend and I were doing a search for local pizza parlors this evening which started a conversation about "round" vs. "square".

She mentioned that the technical term for Nirchi's is "Sicilian". I ran into your site while looking for conformation. I was pleased and pleasantly surprised that someone would be trying to make a Nirchi's style pizza (we all secretly want to know the recipe).

The post is about a year old now, but I thought I'd give you a few of those details that you wouldn't think of unless you'd ever had what we refer to as "sheet pizza". I'm not sure if it's a style limited to upstate N.Y., but it's definitely very common there.

I think one of the most important things is the consistency. The dough is cooked to the same chewy consistency throughout with just a light browning on the bottom, not like a round pie with its contrasting crisp crust and soft top layer. I would approximate the thickness at about a half-inch, a little thinner than the square pieces I've seen here in NYC.

I wish I could give you exact ingredient lists and preparation tips, but I can describe the common toppings. The sauce is pretty straight forward old style thick Italian tomato covered in mozarella.

Other than plain cheese, there is "white"(garlic, olive oil and mozarella) pepperoni, sausage, Buffalo wing (chicken strips w/ traditional wing sauce), Speedie (marinated chicken), and If I recall, there's a "Hawaiian style" with ham and pineapple.

I'm a vegetarian, so I don't notice the meat choices as much.

If you really want to try a regional style, the Speidie version is something worth checking out. The main ingredient is most commonly chicken or pork, but any meat can be used.

This style of preparation is only used in the Binghamton area and the meat is grilled and used in sandwiches or added to dishes, or int his case pizza where chicken is used.

The meat is tenderized and marinated in a sauce similar to Italian dressing and then baked as a topping with the pizza. The spices soak into the sauce and the dough. For more info or to order the sauces go to http://www.spiedie.com

Hope this was usefull! I'll be looking through your old and new posts for tips and information. I sent a link to a few friends!


Thanks so much for adding to the knowledge base of of pizza! You thoughts and ideas are greatly valued.

Pizza All Over Binghampton,

albert
_________________
"Pizza on Earth...Good Will to All!"
Visit: http://pizzatherapy.com
http://pizzatherapy.blogspot.com/
http://legendsofpizza.com/blog

[augiedoggie]

The glass measuring cups are usually used for liquid measure and a cup of liquid equates to 8 ounces. A cup of flour is a dry measure and would equate to 5 ounces. I usually weigh the flour because it changes with the humidity especially here in Florida. I only put 1 tablespoon of oil in the dough mixture and 1 tablespoon of yeast. here is what I use for half sheet pizza:
Dough:
1 tbls yeast
2 cups of warm water
1 tbls salt
6 cups of flour
1 tbls olive oil
1 tsp sugar
Proof the yeast in the 2 cups of warm water and sugar
Add 3 cups of flour
Add the tbls of olive oil
Add the other cups of flour

We always called this tomato pie where I am from in PA.

[rtsholmes1]

papa don

oil/fat will make your dough more tender, less chewy. if you like it crisp,leave it out, if you like it soft, add more. hopes this helps

[amybrodney]

I haven't heard of sheet pizza before. It's amazing how many different kinds of pizza are made today. First I heard of "tomato pie" too.