NY Pizza

[BrianShaw]

I must need to travel more... I had no idea that New York made this claim about their pizza.

See http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f10/...izza-2256.html (Boston-style Pizza)

I wonder what the story is: A common claim; a stolen claim; or maybe these folks haven't been Bostonians long enough to get the "New York" out of their system!

[Archena]

Originally Posted by Balty Knowles

Sounds like a New Yorker answer to me. I imagine by the time the water gets to the tap in NYC it will be the same standard as any where else. ie full of chemicals. Perhaps he gets it from the Hudson river

This Old House did a segment on a water treatment facility that I'm pretty sure was on the Hudson. Ugh!!!! My family used to drink water straight out of the lake (pumped from fairly deep) and I'd never drink the cleaned version of that Hudson water - it was soooo gross!

Another documentary I saw on the Catskills water system (they're replacing some of the infrastructure - very interesting stuff) said that the water wasn't treated - might have been chlorinated/fluorinated, but I could swear they said no treatment.

My current house has a well which could easily be reopened. The house across the street has a working well and the lady who lived there said her grandkids preferred her well water to any other. My house is a rental so I won't be building an oven here but now I'm wondering if it wouldn't be worth it to sink a well seeing as I plan to move to the country (as if my little town weren't rural enough! ).

[giannone]

If anyone doubts the quality of pizza in NYC, just go to Number 28 (28 Carmine Street) and get the 29 inch Margherita (for two hungry adults). You will find no finer pizza anywhere in the country.

Ciao,

Paulie Gee

[Dutchoven]

As a former resident of New York state and having drank the water in NYC I have to say that the NYC water is actually verrry good. It is not Hudson River water at all. It is fed by a pristine reservoir upstate from NYC in Croton. A very old aqueduct brings it to the city and absolutely truth be told the water is of a very high quality. Although New Yorkers will tell you the water is the secret to their pizza and bagels, any good quality water that you would drink will make fantastic doughs of this type. IMHO the key is in the technique, fermentation time and temperature. If you think your water has too much chlorine just leave it out for 8 hours or so before you use it in the dough and the chlorine will dissipate.
Best
Dutch

[Ryan]

Do you have a pizza dough recipe in particular that works best for you?

Thanks,

Ryan

[CanuckJim]

Dutch,

I'm with you on water quality, and I've certainly tasted NYC water, pizza and bagels; all very fine indeed. I get my bread baking water from a very deep drilled well. It's in a friend's house, and the house sits on what must be miles deep sand and gravel deposited by glaciers at the retreat of the last ice age. The water is very soft, with what seems to be quite a few trace minerals, not one of which is overbearing to the taste. This water, in short, has personality.

One of the first things I do in my bread baking workshops is to line up three glasses of water: one tap, one filtered and one well. Even in a blind taste test, the participants always single out the well water as the best of the three. This will make a subtle but noticable difference in the finished product in much the same way that good salt and good fresh flour will.

Jim

[Alfredo]

New York pizza is about so much more than just food. It's a statement, a sacrament, a defining element of the local and urban experience. And it's not like that anywhere else. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/ny...html?th&emc=th

[james]

Hey Alfredo -- best of luck to Johnny's. I think the best response is "friends don't let friends drink coffee at Starbucks."

Back to the water. We are now on a municipal system with a huge amount of clorine. You can't make anything -- bread, espresso, risotto, tea, etc. It's brutal.

We are using a Brita for now. Does that do it? What else would you do for good water on a bad city water system?

Help.
James

[Archena]

Dutchoven is right - if you let it set out the chlorine will dissipate. Run it through the Brita for good measure...

[james]

This water is tough. The fizzy chlorine bubbles dissipate, and the water goes clear, but the flavor definitely stays. Our dog doesn't even like it!

We have someone coming out with some whole-house filter ideas.

James