[geeks] Pizza anyone?

[Michael A. Turner]

> But you forgot the heinous cheese that the greek pizza places use. And
> just how little sauce most of them use. And that their pepperoni and
> sausage are usually crap. And how the crust is never properly cooked
> because the thick cheese layer leaves uncooked dough. 

	oh Oh ! I am so Excited finally a topic that I feel I am enough of
an expert on that I can pipe up. I am beside myself with excitement!

	Now to what I wanted to say :-) . I have worked as a pizza chef at
several restaurants in my area. I have worked at both  a Greek place and an
Italian place. I am hear to tell you what the secret of a good pizza is. It
is a Stone Bottom Pizza oven! If you have problems with uncooked dough they
are using proofing pans and a regular oven. One chain I slaved at went so
far as using a conveyor system to cook pizzas. Nice even poor cooking. They
also used a proofing pan. You want a gas fired oven that is heating a stone
bottom. You then want the pizza placed directly on this stone to cook. This
flash cooks the bottom and keeps you from having an uncooked area. 
	
	Now to the difference. Greek places tend to proof their dough. you
get a more fluffy crust that you deflate in the middle when you ladle the
sauce in. These tend to be more deep dish like if you need an image. You
then spread the sauce carefully so that you do not deflate the edge. this is
what causes the reported lack of sauce, It's due to the fact that you must
be careful not to rip the dough so you put very little in. Also The sauce
does tend to be thinner to facilitate spreading. Then you pile the toppings
on, due to a mental image of a pot, to that so it does tend to be thicker.
the difference in Cheese are due to the Greeks generally using a mix Cheese,
with Cheddar even, over a straight mozzarella cheese. The high proofing
dough also tends to have a lot of sugar in it causing the crust to be sweet.


	Italian joints on the other hand do almost no proofing of the dough.
Instead of a pan the dough is tossed to create the pie. This creates a very
thin pizza that is more sturdy. Because of this you can really get at it
with the sauce. Thicker is ok because the chance of ripping the dough is
low. Then you sprinkle the toppings on instead of ladling them in like with
the Greek Pizza. This , when fired in a stone bottom oven, produces a style
of pizza most often referred to as "New York" style. Thin and chewy, with an
almost bagel like edge to it.

	I prefer the above described Italian. 


Michael A. Turner
Systems Engineer WHRO
michael.turner at whro.org
http://www.whro.org