I posted on pizzamaking.com Well, you guys, I went to Dollar Tree tonight while shopping for other things. I found this great incognito blond long hair with sparkles, big sunglasses and a special agent badge. This thread is partly about "Those Wildwood Days and O Those Wildwood Nights where Mack's is located", so I thought I would dress up to be able to investigate.
This is another persons trip going to Wildwood and what it is like. When I was still a child, this place was very exciting to me. Always looking for memories about pizzas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL-vMq604Es
Just another feel what Wildwood is like, if other people were never there or experienced Wildwood and Mack’s pizza.
First visit to Mack’s pizza:
These are the first two videos. The first video the pieman had already opened the dough and had twirled it. I had asked him if he could now still twirl the skin. He said it was already opened, but tried.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4sm9NavMDU
The second video shows how the pieman dresses the pizza. I was talking to women beside me, that were from Wildwood and come and eat Mack’s pizza all the time. They also believe this pizza is the best. They knew I was from Amish country with my accent. I think in this video you can see how thick the hose is. The women that were from Wildwood, were talking about the hose. I asked the pieman if I could take this video. He said he was making pizza for 25 years. The oven was fluctuating between 564-570 degrees F that evening. The other days the oven temperature was different temperatures. There were no stones on any of the Roto-Flex ovens. I only bought 2 slices this night and had asked if I could come in a watch. I weighed the slices when I got back to where we were staying and the 1 slice weighed 4.6 oz. and the second slice weighed 4.7 oz. The dough looked dry and dark in color. I found out later the dough looked more moist, when on the dough trays between the wax paper. The sauce didn’t look really thick and if I would have to guess, the hose seemed like it was about 1" in diameter. It looked like the spices were added to the sauce. You could see some oregano or other spices coming out of the hose. When they were finished making the last two pies, they did wash the hose somehow. I guess it was coming from the basement. I looked behind this Mack’s and saw the trash, but someone was outside at the time. The sauce seemed thinner coming out of the hose, than what Steve and I used. I sound really corny in this video, but was just trying to ask some questions. You’ll hear the lady sitting beside me ask about the cheese.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5VtyW-TPsU
These are some of the pictures of the parbaked pie I brought home. I took some pictures in the parking lot and also some pictures in the car.
Another video I took.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbZWoq_Kz3o
Since this post is about NJ Boardwalk pizza and I had posted before other links to what Wildwood was like, I will now post what a short trip to Wildwood is like. It is an interesting place, with many things to do, besides eating Mack’s pizza.
I have been to Wildwood many times over the years and have many memories since I was a child, until I am older now. This is a trip back in time to memory lane for me and also memories to last.
It was always exciting to visit Wildwood. I still feel the same about visiting Wildwood and also eating Mack’s pizza. It is a great place to just park your car and walk and listen to the ocean.
We decided to walk to Mack’s pizza the first night we were visiting. I was going to buy a whole pie, but thought about it, and decided to go to Mack’s and just have slices different times, to be able to watch what they do in making their pizzas. Even after reheating a slice of Mack’s pizza in the microwave, the pizza was delicious. The bottom wasn’t crisp, but the flavor of Mack’s pizza was still there. I find it interesting that some people comment that Mack’s pizza has gone downhill, because after trying different slices, I didn’t find that. The piemen did tell me that Mack’s did have 5 places in Wildwood years ago.
After the first night spent at Wildwood, we awoke to the sounds of seagulls. That is a lot different than being at home. We took the dogs to the beach and walked for a long while and gathered some shells. There weren’t many people on the beach because the season isn’t in full swing at this time. There were some fishermen fishing from the shore.
We then went back to were we were staying and decided to go to Cape May to where the ferry goes with cars and passengers to Lewes, Delaware. This isn’t the ocean, but a nice place to visit and just relax. The sand is coarser there. You can watch the boats going out to the ocean. This is just about a 15 minute trip from Wildwood. When driving there you can see the many boats and yachts along the way.
When we returned to where we were staying we decided to walk the boardwalk. It is about two miles long. There are two Mack’s pizza places on the boardwalk. There is also a Sam’s pizza near the first pier. Some people say Sam’s is better than Mack’s. I also watched the piemen make their pizzas and they do it about the same as Mack’s, but don’t twirl the skins. They also have a Roto-flex oven. On the way back we decided to take the famous tram car. We had Mack’s pizza and talked to the piemen.
In the evening we took the dogs on the beach, again.
The next morning we went to the beach, again. It is so quiet there now, compared to summer. There is a boardwalk on the ground, off the beach in North Wildwood, where you can walk along the dunes. You can always hear the seagulls and hear the Atlantic Ocean hitting the shore.
When we visited Macks’ pizza different times they did have different oven temperatures. The digital readout at Mack’s fluctuated between 534 to 564 degrees F. At the Mack’s pizza in Wildwood Crest, they didn’t have a digital readout. Each time we sat at the counter to watch them make their pies. The dough seemed like it was so easy to open. The last morning we were there, they weren’t using the hose to apply the sauce. They had some kind of what looked like a stainless steel teapot that they applied the sauce with. The night before I had talked to one of the piemen about taking a whole pizza home. He said that many people take a parbaked pizza home, so it would taste fresher when reheating. We also enjoyed a slice of pizza while watching them parbake the pizza we were going to take home. I asked the piemen what temperature I should bake the pizza at home and also if you could freeze slices of the parbaked pizza. They told me that their ovens are set at 500 degrees F and to try and bake at that temperature. They also said you can cut the pie into slices and individually freeze each slice. I left one slice in the refrigerator and froze the rest. I am going to give Steve one slice tomorrow to try at home. I did buy a Mack’s pizza tee shirt and a Wildwood Hat. I enjoyed Polish ice, Douglas’s fudge, and a place that is named Curly Fries on the boardwalk. I also bought some Douglas’s fudge and saltwater taffy to enjoy at home.
These links will show people that are following this thread, what Wildwood and the beach at Cape May inlet are like. It was windy at the shore, so in these videos you can hear the wind and see how the sand was blowing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUMcOjXdjOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HABA2gPqePc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ZT5HmMvfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrIZFkZi5hM
I even purchased a bottle of beachfront property with seashells for 1.00 at a store on the boardwalk. :)
The next formula Peter (Pete-zza) set-forth for a Mack’s dough
I thought that you had already started a Mack's clone dough so my comments in my last post were mainly to provide some guidance to Norma. It may be a while before I make the next Mack's clone dough since I am still living off of the leftovers of my last pizza. However, so as not to slow you down, what I was thinking of as my next Mack's clone dough formulation, as created using the expanded dough formulation at http://www.pizzamaking.com/expanded_calculator.html, is the following:
KABF/VWG Blend* (100%):
Water (57%):
IDY (0.20%):
Salt (2%):
Vegetable (Soybean) Oil (3%):
Sugar (1.5%):
Total (163.7%):
341.08 g | 12.03 oz | 0.75 lbs
194.42 g | 6.86 oz | 0.43 lbs
0.68 g | 0.02 oz | 0 lbs | 0.23 tsp | 0.08 tbsp
6.82 g | 0.24 oz | 0.02 lbs | 1.22 tsp | 0.41 tbsp
10.23 g | 0.36 oz | 0.02 lbs | 2.25 tsp | 0.75 tbsp
5.12 g | 0.18 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.28 tsp | 0.43 tbsp
558.35 g | 19.69 oz | 1.23 lbs | TF = 0.0773963
Note: For a single 18" pizza; nominal thickness factor = 0.07663; bowl residue compensation = 1%
*The KABF/VWG Blend comprises 332.85 grams (11.74 ounces) KABF and 8.23 grams (0.29 ounces) Hodgson Mill VWG (2 3/4 t.)
As you can see from the above dough formulation, I am planning to live or die with the 18" size. In your case, the corresponding dough formulation for the 14" size would be:
KABF/VWG Blend* (100%):
Water (57%):
IDY (0.20%):
Salt (2%):
Vegetable (Soybean) Oil (3%):
Sugar (1.5%):
Total (163.7%):
206.33 g | 7.28 oz | 0.45 lbs
117.61 g | 4.15 oz | 0.26 lbs
0.41 g | 0.01 oz | 0 lbs | 0.14 tsp | 0.05 tbsp
4.13 g | 0.15 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.74 tsp | 0.25 tbsp
6.19 g | 0.22 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.36 tsp | 0.45 tbsp
3.1 g | 0.11 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.78 tsp | 0.26 tbsp
337.77 g | 11.91 oz | 0.74 lbs | TF = 0.0773963
Note: For a single 14" pizza; nominal thickness factor = 0.07663; bowl residue compensation = 1%
I will sometimes make a change at the last moment as I am staring at the expanded dough calculating tool and thinking about things, but the above represents my current thinking. I did not note the KABF/VWG breakdown for the 14" size since I was not sure what kind of VWG you might use. However, using November's Mixed Mass Conversion Calculator at http://tools.foodsim.com/, I used a 14% target for the value of the protein content of the blend.
I am also planning to use my Cuisinart 14-cup capacity food processor together with my basic KitchenAid stand mixer with the C-hook to see if I can get results better than I can get using either machine alone. I haven't decided at this point what fermentation period I will be using. I think it will be three days again but I might go a bit shorter. This is a tougher issue because it looks like Mack's and maybe M&M are using an offsite mini-commissary to make dough balls for all of the stores. Since the stores are fairly close to each other, distance may not be a problem and, if there is adequate storage space at the mini-commissary, they may be able to make and store dough balls within a fairly wide window of usability. However, with the volume the stores seem to be doing, I would tend to guess shorter fermentation times rather than long ones. But that is just my educated guess. If I were in their shoes, I think I would want to use 1-2 days, which would mean using more yeast.
Peter
Slice had a link about comparing Mack’s and Sam’s pizza.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2006/08/in_wildwood_new_jersey_its_macks_vs_sams.html
Since this post is about Mack’s pizza, the shore and boardwalk, I thought I would include a picture under the boardwalk. This song is titled “Under the Boardwalk”, by the Drifters. The song “Under the Boardwalk” was popular in the 60's. Under the boardwalk in Wildwood many years ago, the spaces for the boards were farther apart. My brother and I went under the boardwalk many times searching for money. We did find money many times.
Since Wildwood was know as a Doo Wop town for many years, I thought I would include this in this thread.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPoPMXY4Yyo
And of course who could forget the song I had posted before “Wildwood Days”, by Bobby Rydell. I sure just had one of those “Wildwood Nights”, this past weekend. This video shows different views of Wildwood and included in this video is a picture of Mack’s pizza business almost at the end of the video. Since spring will soon be gone and summer is comin on, in my opinion this song is fitting for this post.
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfUK2g5hf2U
Norma
One thing for sure, I never would buy a par-baked pizza to take home from Mack's Pizza. It never reheated well even in the deck oven or my home oven. If I had it to do over, I would have bought a fully baked pizza to take home.
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