Making Better Pizza

Lately, I've really been focusing a lot on making better pizza at home. I've been cooking a lot of different breads and things to learn more about yeast, flour, and dough, in the hopes that it will inform what I do when I make pizza. Also, I've been reading a lot on the forums at Pizzamaking.com, and have learned a great deal. I love reading of experiments in reverse-engineering food recipes.

A lot of it is trial and error, but it's always fun. Here is my first attempt at making a stuffed pizza, in the style of Giordano's of Chicago:



I made it in a springform pan on my pizza stone. The top rim is a little jagged, and the dough recipe isn't exact yet, but it tasted really good. I handmade some sausage, and I was satisfied with how it turned out. It made me start thinking about getting my own meat grinder. I've heard that Escalon's 6 IN 1 tomatoes are preferred for this style of pizza, so I'm going to order some for my next try.

I had a little bit of dough left over, so I made a mini-pizza:



This tasted great as well. I just ordered some hi-gluten flour from King Arthur, so I'll hopefully be making New York style pies this weekend.

St. Louis Style: Faraci Pizza and Cusanelli's

Faraci's Pizza

Cusanelli's

I recently tried the pizza at Faraci's for the first time, and was instantly reminded of Cusanelli's. These are pizza joints that, perhaps, most adequately represent the "St. Louis" style of pizza. The crusts are thin, and airy, rather than crackery or stiff. The sauce is light, smothered in soft Provel, and the sausage is handmade. The slices are cut into small squares, which are soft and flexible, but have enough heft to eat with one hand without the toppings sliding off.

Both parlors originated as family businesses, but Faraci's remains a family owned and run establishment to this day, and the family's presence is obvious when you eat in. Faraci's and Cusanelli's each take pride in their ingredients and the art of pizza making, and it pays off.

The pies are almost identical in texture and flavor, but the last time I went to Cusanelli's I felt that the sausage wasn't as flavorful as it could have been. A few sprinkles of fennel could have taken it up a notch and made it the superior pizza.

I'm going to have to order a pizza from both of these places sometime and do a side by side comparison. I've been trying to get my own handmade thin crust pizza to be close to these, so I have a lot to learn from them.


Faraci Pizza
http://www.faracispizza.com
15430 Manchester Road
Ellisville, MO 63011
(636)230-0000
Monday - Saturday 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday - Closed


Cusanelli's
705 Lemay Ferry Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63125
(314)631-7686
Sunday - Monday 4:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Tuesday - Thursday 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Friday - Saturday 4:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Pizza Format

This is a pizza that I picked up a while back at Joe Boccardi's in Eureka, MO. While the pizza wasn't very memorable, I just really love the shape. I wish that it was in a rectangular box, though. Presentation is such a big part of the experience.

Stubborn Love

When I was a small child, there was a period of time when my mother worked every Friday night, and my dad either couldn't cook, or didn't want to, so we would inevitably have pizza delivered. Eventually, my mom was back for Friday nights, ready to cook any number of meals, but my brothers and I demanded pizza. It had become a respected ritual. Pizza night was born.

Ever since then, I have had pizza almost every Friday night. Even when I've been deep in the jungle, or lost in the desert, I've just about always managed to find pizza. Because I have a stubborn love for pizza.

I often (most would say TOO often) have pizza other nights/afternoons/mornings, but the ritual remains, and I do not foresee it changing any time soon.