GPS #10
On July 14, the Great Pizza Search (GPS) #10 took me to Italian Kitchen in Ovid, NY. We ended up in Ovid after a 62+ mile ride around the south end of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate NY.
Also part of this ride, I was able to capture 10 Post Offices that I’d not previously rode by and pictured! Here’s a link to the Strava activity.
BTW, Montour Falls, NY is really cool!
Once in Ovid, from the outside, the Italian Kitchen had the earmarks of a “joint”; corner location, red brick, long and narrow.
Inside, tables lined both walls, and the counter was in the back! IT’S A JOINT!
Further, both customers and workers wore masks, they had plexiglass installed to separate customers from workers, and floor markings.
We ordered two slices; one white garlic and the other pepperoni, and a Diet Coke. The reheated slices were a very good size and cost $8.50 with the Coke.
The Pizza
The crust tasted great and was soft in the center which allowed for a good fold with a slight drop of oil from the back. There was also a slight crunch!
Unfortunately, the cornicione was hard and dry likely from the reheat, and there was little sauce taste, just cheese, pepperoni, and dough taste.
These flaws quickly changed what could’ve been great to merely MEH!
At first taste, I thought I’d go back, but by the end NO!
BTW, we ended up giving Stella the cornicione. She loved it! It would’ve made Grandpa Padango proud!
GPS #11 – Homemade 10 & 11
Homemade pizzas #10 and #11 were our most successful and TASTY Neapolitan style yet! I made the dough on July 15 in the KitchenAid with only a slight addition from “standard” of 2/3 cup of flour. As previous, I split into 4 boules and put them in the refrigerator.
The dough was very active. It even popped the top on one of the Tupperware while chilling! Upon removal, the dough easily worked into shape. I’d learned from last time to liberally use cornmeal to shape and move onto the peel. It then easily slid off onto the stone in the oven.
The sauce was also “standard” Aunt Theresa sauce with a few pinches of extra crushed red pepper.
We used a Cabot 5 cheese blend in the pepperoni and Wegmans Italian Classics low moisture moozedell on the Margarita. Both had ample amounts of fresh parmigian also.
I had set the oven to 550F and allowed the stone to continue to warm for at least 15 minutes after the oven had come up to temperature. As a result, pizza #10 (pepperoni) was done in 7 minutes and #11 (Margarita) took 8 minutes. Fresh basil was added after removal and still hot.
BOTH WERE GREAT! OUR BEST YET! The crust was soft, foldable, and with a slight crunch. The sauce was tangy, sweet, and a slight heat. The cheese on the Margarita was very tasty, although less apparent on the pepperoni.
I won’t use the Cabot cheese blend again. The semi-dry moozedell was much better.
I might actually be getting good at this! Next, I might try Sicilian Scaccia and Sfincione.
GPS #12 – Homemade 12
There’s a YouTube series called is it “Really Dough?” Where the hosts ask each other if the concoction that they are tasting is really pizza or not.
Great Pizza Search #12 was also the 12th homemade pizza. As a change of pace, she made Mexicali Pizza Wheel from a cookbook from Fleishmann’s yeast.
The show’s criteria for “pizza” is that it must have “dough, sauce, and cheese, nothing else!” And “dough” is “flour, water, and yeast!” PRETTY SIMPLE, right!?
The series includes many concoctions, and surprisingly, some that I’d consider not to be pizza make the “It’s a Pizza” cut.
So, is a Mexicali Pizza Wheel “really pizza dough?”
The dough has flour, water, and yeast, CHECK! There is a sauce in the form of Aunt Theresa sauce is combined with salsa, so CHECK again! And, there is cheese, the final CHECK! So, is it “really pizza dough?” In my book, YES!
I think one of the hosts might argue otherwise though by saying that beans don’t “belong” on pizza.
But since he’s not here, and I’m the judge, IT’S REALLY PIZZA, DOUGH! And it’s fabulous!
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