As I said in my last post, I am not really looking to make an authentic Mack’s clone anymore, especially in the crust. I don’t mind if my crusts have some oven spring. That being said, I really pressed on the dough balls while opening them and also pressed on the edges of the skin, before fully opening them yesterday. No matter what I did, the rims still had oven spring. The only thing I didn’t try was to roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Really I think a pizza with some oven spring looks better, at least to me.
The Gangi tomato product can be really thinned down, which is really a good thing in my opinion. I have watched at the shore when the sauce was being applied with the hose and mostly always thought the sauce was thicker when it was applied, but since experimenting, I now think that the sauce is really thinned down with water. I have never been close enough to really see how thin the Mack’s sauce is, even though I have watched closely when the sauce is applied many times.
My friend Trenton Bill had sent me the little plastic cup with the spout in the one pictures and did tell me he thinks that does apply the sauce well. I agree, after using it later yesterday for some of my pizzas.
I think I am happy with the formulation I used with the Occident flour. The bottom crusts browned okay for me yesterday and the TF seems okay too. The dough balls also opened much better yesterday and I didn’t have to fight with them. The crust tasted very good and the bottom crust was crisp when cut and also the rim crust was a little crisp, but was also tender inside, with a little chew. I also really liked the Occident flour in the formulation I used. The whole pizzas just seemed better to me. I thought the IDY amount might have been a little too high for a two day cold ferment, but none of the dough balls fermented too much yesterday. The pizza prep fridge was at 37 degrees though during the two-day cold ferment. I am not sure what amount of IDY to try for a one day cold ferment next week.
I still have to work on the amount of cheese to apply both times, but the pizzas and slices held up well in the heated cabinet yesterday. The slices also reheated well. I don’t want my rim crusts to get too brown in the bake because when the short reheat is done, then the rim crust does get a little browner.
Different customers told me they really like the “boardwalk style” of pizzas yesterday. My youngest daughter and her boyfriend were at market yesterday morning and it was the first time they have tasted the “boardwalk style” of pizza. They both really liked it and my daughter’s boyfriend, that had lived in Brooklyn, NY for most of his life said the “boardwalk style” of pizza reminded him of the best pizzas he had eaten in Brooklyn. Finally, there was a woman that came to my stand yesterday and must have tried the “boardwalk style” of pizza last week. She said she has told all of her friends about the “boardwalk style” of pizzas. I couldn’t believe it, but she told me my “boardwalk style” of pizza tasted just like Mack’s pizza. She purchased some slices yesterday and said she will be back. The lady said Mack’s pizzas have been her favorite all her life too, but she wasn’t as old as I am. The lady and her husband that live in NY (that also have a house in Lititz) were also at my stand yesterday. They purchased a whole pizza to take home. I will have to wait and see what they thought of the pizza.
Norma
