- I would have never
thought that coming from
this pizza, we would get this
visual outcome at the end.
Okay, so this, behind me,
is Prince Street Pizza.
It's an amazing, super-famous pizzeria
here in New York City, especially
for one thing: their Spicy Spring slice.
Dom, the owner, is gonna
show me how this slice works.
I've got eight hours to
re-create that piece of art.
- Ready? Cheers.
- Okay, cheers, man.
Mm, it's juicy.
It definitely has like a focaccia vibe,
almost a bread vibe to it, no?
I need to make it good,
I need to make you proud.
I'm going to do my best.
- Listen, whatever you give me,
whatever you make, I'm
going to be proud of you.
'Cause you're going to
give it your best effort,
I know you're going to.
- Where is the ball-breaker?
Why are you being so nice to me?
- I can break your balls, I can annoy you,
I can shoot you down, I can,
but what's the point of it?
I'm gonna knock your spirit,
you're gonna mess up,
and now you're worried about impressing me
when there's nothing to be worried about.
- [Alex] How much can you tell
me about what's in the dough?
- Sugar, salt, oil, water,
basically the regular
essentials, there's nothing
really crazy about the dough.
We don't use eggs though.
Take your paintbrush, give it a nice coat,
I'm like the Bob Ross of
pizza over here. (Alex laughs)
And now the pan's ready to be doughed-on.
Press.
Get all those air bubbles outta there.
'Cause you don't want a bubbly pizza.
And then you take the corners:
pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch,
pinch, pinch.
- So,
The pinching method, I've never seen that.
- If you don't pinch it it's
gonna fold in the middle,
you're gonna get a smaller pie.
- Yeah, but--
- You're not gonna get
a solid corner.
- But you're not gonna get,
like, a super thin,
burnt edge with this, no?
- Not even remotely, actually.
- I'm thinking you use cast iron
just because of heat retention?
- It's a factor in it,
but a lot of these pans,
they're only made cast
iron or they make it metal.
Metal will melt in there.
- What's the temperature like?
- In the winter it can go anywhere from
500 to 600 degrees, in the summer
it can go anywhere from
450 to 500 degrees.
- Okay.
- These are the ones that go
(knocks) they're cast
iron, you can hit somebody
in the head with this.
- I hope it's not gonna happen. Okay.
Next move: what can you
tell me about this sauce,
and what can't you tell
me about this sauce?
- I can tell you it's really good
and I can't tell you anything else.
All right, you're gonna take one
big scoop of the sauce, even it out.
Then you're gonna give it an even coat
on that side, and now your sauce is done.
Now you gotta layer with pepps.
- You put that much
pepperoni on the pizza?
- It's not as much as you think.
Probably gonna put a little bit more.
- [Alex] So that's how much
pepperoni you put on this pie?
- Yes, and now we have to put
the finishing touches on it.
- Which is?
- Little bit of grated Pecorino Romano.
(lively music)
See how it's golden brown,
it's not really burnt?
There's no blackish?
- Thank you, Dom, so much for this.
So we see us in six hours, okay?
And you're gonna be tasting
the pizza I'm gonna make.
- Oh yeah.
- You could be worried about something.
That I make a better pie at the end.
- Now this guy wants me to
break his balls over here.
(Alex laughs) I've been nice to him,
and then he just s**** on me.
(driving, percussive music)
- Right, so I am arriving
at the test kitchen.
I think we have six, maybe
five-and-a-half hours left.
Let's get on with this.
Let's make probably four different doughs,
playing with two variables.
The first variable we're gonna
play with is the dough hydration.
For these two I'm gonna go 57% hydration,
which means that for 100 grams of flour
I would use 57 gram of water.
And now for these two I'm gonna go
higher in terms of water content,
so I'm gonna go 67% hydration.
Usually when I'm making pizzas,
I try to use the least
amount of yeast possible,
'cause I think it's messing
up with the flavors.
But here, I've got a
very narrow time frame,
so I'm gonna use quite a bit of yeast,
just to make sure that
I get the proper rise.
Let's make a s*** ton of dough.
(driving, percussive music)
My four different batches
are more or less done.
I can already see that some of them
are more active than the others.
Okay, time to tackle the sauce.
(upbeat music)
So the onion just brings an underlying
structure to the sauce.
Would be very fun if the guy just
takes a bite into the pizza at the end
and just goes like, "It's
too oniony." (laughs)
I don't feel super good
about timing at the moment.
Dom is supposed to show
up in about two hours.
The sauce alone needs
two hours. That's great.
It's time to shape the pizzas.
So this is A1, it's 57% hydration,
it feels soft, and it's the one where
I didn't use that much yeast.
I'm trying to get to the edge.
There is this pinching on the
side that is very important.
A2: this one has more yeast, and that
definitely makes the
dough softer to work with.
Now this is working better.
Now, the first wetter dough. Oh.
I feel like it has more spring
than the previous one, which is odd,
'cause I thought it would be otherwise.
We have one hour left, and I'm still
spreading dough inside those sheets.
Can start with the big one.
It's spreading out easier,
so using more yeast,
in my case at least, really is a key.
Just gonna have a quick
look at the temperature.
I'm at 560.
- [Daniel] Woo!
- It's gonna work.
This is the process we're gonna follow:
I'm gonna bake all four of
them, I'm gonna pick the best.
(dramatic orchestral music)
A1, A2, B1, B2.
No. I would call this one not good.
This one is nice.
It's a game between A2 and B2,
so let's build two mini-pizzas
and see which one we're
gonna pick at the end.
Cheese first.
Sauce.
Pepperoni, finishing touch.
Let me introduce you to A2 and B2,
the strongest contenders so far.
I can't believe I'm gonna
say this about pizza,
but I gotta be strong.
There is definitely some
good crisp on these.
We got a winner, I think this is A2.
Let's go, okay, good. Wish me luck.
Dom should be there any minute.
In fact, I think somebody
knocked on the door.
- [Dom] What's up, man?
- Oh, the stress is on, man, welcome.
- What is that, provolone?
- I don't think so, I think
it's mozzarella cheese.
Was advertised as mozzarella cheese.
- Where'd you get this?
- I don't know, I... it's not right?
- This is more on the muenster side.
This...cheese.
(Alex groans)
- Listen to me, you want
some friendly advice?
When you want to get Italian products,
you don't go to a Whole Foods.
You go to an Italian delicatessen,
you go to an Italian market.
- Let's wait 'til you taste the pie.
- How we lookin'?
(lively orchestral music)
- I'm gonna hand you the slice.
- I see you got a bottom that's more
focaccia, like I told you about.
You have a very airy middle,
your crust looks very nice.
All right.
(suspenseful music)
I think for the first time,
you did a very good job.
Key factors that I can
tell you right off the bat:
your dough has too much salt.
- Oh wow, wow.
- You did get a very good
consistency with your dough.
It's not as crispy as mine, but still,
it's very light, it's very airy,
you're still getting a good crunch.
I'm not a big fan of
the pepperoni of choice
that you used, it's also
adding to the saltiness.
And let me ask you a question.
Number one question of
the day: did you have fun?
- Yes, very much.
- That's all that matters.
- So much fun.
- As long as you're having
fun, that's all that matters.
If you're not having fun doing
what you're doing, even if
it's French food for you,
pizza for me, this goes
out to anybody that asks:
if you're not having fun and loving
what you're doing,
there's no point to do it.
- Yes! Thank you, man.
- Much love.
- It's a pleasure, it's a pleasure.
- You're invited to my
mother's Sunday dinner now.
- Oh, cool.
- Now you're family.
- Oh yes, victory! Thank you man, so much.
- Any time.
- Thank you.
(spirited lounge music)
