When it rains, it pours. Jeff Varasano's hometown paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, runs a profile on him today. This, in addition to the one the New York Times ran as well.
The AJC's piece has further insight into Jeff's character, painting him as a bit of a wonky engineer and pizza visionary:
To understand the Varasano mind and its approach to problem solving, it helps to know a couple of things:
> One: At the age of 14, he set the U.S. Rubik's Cube record with a time of 24.67 seconds and then published "Jeff Conquers the Cube in 45 Seconds: And You Can Too!" This achievement was noted during an assembly of his freshman class at Yale.
> Two: He is prone to saying things like, "I can watch two ducks fight over a piece of bread and go home and apply that. I see connections that other people can't."
I've met Jeff, and he's not as geeky (in the traditional sense) as this profile would make him out to be. He is, however, pizza-obsessed—a true pizza geek.
I like that this profile has more info on Jeff's upcoming Atlanta pizzeria:
Investors have approached Varasano about setting him up in the pizza business, but he and Stokley are planning on going it alone when they open this fall in the new Mezzo Atlanta building on Peachtree. Disagreements with partners, he claims, doomed his software business.
Isn't he nervous about the pressure of running and cooking in a restaurant?
"No," Varasano says. "Once I learn the brick oven, it won't be too different from what I do here."
Our own Ed Levine is quoted in the story, too, calling Jeff's voluminous pizza page the War and Peace of pizza blog posts."
Hey
I think its great this guy loves pizza so much. BUT....its like ALL civilians.....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to complicated. And ANY ANY, ANY, ANY, ANY, pizza guy who reads this will think the same. Like a lot of guys NOT in the restaurant industry, they make it more than it is. Like Alton Brown, science means sh*t when it comes to cooking. You want a GREAT pizza?
Learn a basic cold dough, water, yeast, salt, sugar, flour. Buy GREAT QUALITY products, get a proper oven and you are in business.
You know, Gabagool, you bring up a good point. Jeff really has explored all the science behind the pizza, and it seems to me that a really big part of perfecting a pie is the oven. He lives in Atlanta, in a house, which I'm guessing he owns, so my question would be: Why doesn't he quit futzing with a standard home oven, which it sounds like he's had to replace and repair several times, and just invest in a backyard wood-burning pizza oven?
I think he really likes tinkering with the OVEN as much as he does with the pizza. Figuring out the why is obviously a real big turn on for him.
And from what I know about bread baking and such (I know a LOT compared to civilians, but not that much compared to bakers) he is spot on with a lot of his science.
But for pizza, a sponge, a biga, a starter, old dough are something 99% of the pros don't do. And, from what I hear, the main NY guys, all have a simple pizza dough recipe. Bread baking, UNLIKE desert baking such as pie dough, is, IN A LOT OF WAYS, OPPOSITE in method.
If you read MOST books on baking pizza, its WAY, WAY OFF when it comes to method. I know that MOST pizza guys in New Haven DON'T neccesarily use a HIGH GLUTEN FLOUR. I also know that the dough is mixed COLD, not warm, and mixed, portioned and popped in a retarder for a couple days MINIMUM. No proofing, no warm rising, no nothing. Fresh yeast, flour, water, salt, maybe sugar, ice and mix for 12 minutes. Portion and refrig. The dough MUST be old, slow risen cold, and soft and wet. Dough, if used to green will be easier to shape, but harder to stretch, will burn because a lot of the sugar has NOT been eaten by the yeast and will NOT have developed any REAL flavor as of yet.
Adam
I BUILT a wood burning oven, using plans from a guy in California. I read a few books and built away, little by little. I had a GREAT time. I learned a lot.
It retained heat so well, that if I fired it up for pizza on Monday, on Wed, I still cook slow cook brisket (225 degrees). I moved and the new owners knocked it down. Shame really.
A key ingredient in making a restaurant succeed is having an owner that is passionate about pizza - not just making a system to make money (although you need that too). Jeff obviously has passion in spades - the big challenge will be is if he can scale the dough recipe and maintain consistency doing 200-300 pizzas per day, every day.
I own a very popular wood-burning pizzeria in the Dallas area. I've been screwing around with poolish forever and have not been able to make it work well for small quantities, never mind large quantities - but I'm no engineer. Dough shouldn't be too complicated. For us: Double Zero flour, tap water, sea salt, fresh yeast. Mix 15 minutes, rest for an hour, portion into balls, retard in fridge 24-48 hours.
Wood burning oven, 00 flour.....good. When I worked in italy, the pizza flour was weak, very weak, you really had to coax it. But the Italian style pizza, small, quick cook, minimal toppings.....that type of flour works well.
I think for our New Haven and New York style pizza, you need something with more strength, the pizzas are topped heavieer, they cook a bit longer and they are bigger.
Youre right, the dough SHOULD NOT be complicated, I think a biga, poolish, old dough flavor can be APPROACHED by retarding and using a well aged dough. When my dough has been in the refer for 3 days MIN, and its blown up quit a bit, messy and oozy, a circle is near impossible, but the taste and texture can't be beat.
You use sea salt, huh? I use kosher, the regular is just to bitter. I was reading some "professional" how to open a pizzeria books, I don't know where they got their info from, but boy, are they off...
I have a friend who went down to the San Antonio area and opened a wood burning pizza shop, from the reviews hes aceing it. I'm glad he was INTO pizza.
Ok
All romance aside. I need some info. Gas fired deck ovens, wood burning ovens, and coal burning ovens. Can I get peoples pros and cons on one or all of these type ovens. The only thing I DON'T want to hear is that pizza can ONLY be produced by one type oven. Thats nonsense, because I can pick out a top 20 pizza in the USA that is produced in EACH type oven.
But I am really interested in what the good and bad points are in each oven, especially from a professionals pov, though ANY pov would be vastly appreciated. Thanks for all the info ahead of time.
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10 Comments:
Congrat's to Jeff !!! Ed was right - his blog is absolutley exhaustive.
JudgeFudge at 2:30PM on 07/02/08
My family was blessed with an invitation to a pizza party at Jeff's home last month. Great theater.
FMFats at 7:25PM on 07/02/08
Hey
I think its great this guy loves pizza so much. BUT....its like ALL civilians.....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to complicated. And ANY ANY, ANY, ANY, ANY, pizza guy who reads this will think the same. Like a lot of guys NOT in the restaurant industry, they make it more than it is. Like Alton Brown, science means sh*t when it comes to cooking. You want a GREAT pizza?
Learn a basic cold dough, water, yeast, salt, sugar, flour. Buy GREAT QUALITY products, get a proper oven and you are in business.
gabagool at 8:12PM on 07/10/08
You know, Gabagool, you bring up a good point. Jeff really has explored all the science behind the pizza, and it seems to me that a really big part of perfecting a pie is the oven. He lives in Atlanta, in a house, which I'm guessing he owns, so my question would be: Why doesn't he quit futzing with a standard home oven, which it sounds like he's had to replace and repair several times, and just invest in a backyard wood-burning pizza oven?
Adam Kuban at 9:25PM on 07/10/08
I think he really likes tinkering with the OVEN as much as he does with the pizza. Figuring out the why is obviously a real big turn on for him.
And from what I know about bread baking and such (I know a LOT compared to civilians, but not that much compared to bakers) he is spot on with a lot of his science.
But for pizza, a sponge, a biga, a starter, old dough are something 99% of the pros don't do. And, from what I hear, the main NY guys, all have a simple pizza dough recipe. Bread baking, UNLIKE desert baking such as pie dough, is, IN A LOT OF WAYS, OPPOSITE in method.
If you read MOST books on baking pizza, its WAY, WAY OFF when it comes to method. I know that MOST pizza guys in New Haven DON'T neccesarily use a HIGH GLUTEN FLOUR. I also know that the dough is mixed COLD, not warm, and mixed, portioned and popped in a retarder for a couple days MINIMUM. No proofing, no warm rising, no nothing. Fresh yeast, flour, water, salt, maybe sugar, ice and mix for 12 minutes. Portion and refrig. The dough MUST be old, slow risen cold, and soft and wet. Dough, if used to green will be easier to shape, but harder to stretch, will burn because a lot of the sugar has NOT been eaten by the yeast and will NOT have developed any REAL flavor as of yet.
gabagool at 12:17PM on 07/11/08
Adam
I BUILT a wood burning oven, using plans from a guy in California. I read a few books and built away, little by little. I had a GREAT time. I learned a lot.
It retained heat so well, that if I fired it up for pizza on Monday, on Wed, I still cook slow cook brisket (225 degrees). I moved and the new owners knocked it down. Shame really.
gabagool at 12:19PM on 07/11/08
And this guys blog is really informative. I enjoyed reading it immensely.
gabagool at 12:20PM on 07/11/08
A key ingredient in making a restaurant succeed is having an owner that is passionate about pizza - not just making a system to make money (although you need that too). Jeff obviously has passion in spades - the big challenge will be is if he can scale the dough recipe and maintain consistency doing 200-300 pizzas per day, every day.
I own a very popular wood-burning pizzeria in the Dallas area. I've been screwing around with poolish forever and have not been able to make it work well for small quantities, never mind large quantities - but I'm no engineer. Dough shouldn't be too complicated. For us: Double Zero flour, tap water, sea salt, fresh yeast. Mix 15 minutes, rest for an hour, portion into balls, retard in fridge 24-48 hours.
canerosso at 2:57PM on 07/13/08
Canerosso- RED DOG!!
Wood burning oven, 00 flour.....good. When I worked in italy, the pizza flour was weak, very weak, you really had to coax it. But the Italian style pizza, small, quick cook, minimal toppings.....that type of flour works well.
I think for our New Haven and New York style pizza, you need something with more strength, the pizzas are topped heavieer, they cook a bit longer and they are bigger.
Youre right, the dough SHOULD NOT be complicated, I think a biga, poolish, old dough flavor can be APPROACHED by retarding and using a well aged dough. When my dough has been in the refer for 3 days MIN, and its blown up quit a bit, messy and oozy, a circle is near impossible, but the taste and texture can't be beat.
You use sea salt, huh? I use kosher, the regular is just to bitter. I was reading some "professional" how to open a pizzeria books, I don't know where they got their info from, but boy, are they off...
I have a friend who went down to the San Antonio area and opened a wood burning pizza shop, from the reviews hes aceing it. I'm glad he was INTO pizza.
gabagool at 9:52PM on 07/14/08
Ok
All romance aside. I need some info. Gas fired deck ovens, wood burning ovens, and coal burning ovens. Can I get peoples pros and cons on one or all of these type ovens. The only thing I DON'T want to hear is that pizza can ONLY be produced by one type oven. Thats nonsense, because I can pick out a top 20 pizza in the USA that is produced in EACH type oven.
But I am really interested in what the good and bad points are in each oven, especially from a professionals pov, though ANY pov would be vastly appreciated. Thanks for all the info ahead of time.
gabagool at 10:41AM on 07/15/08