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I have a friend who grew up on SI and he swears by this place. Always been wanting to check it out.

Neapolitan-style places have a lot going for them for sure @PG, but becoming ubiquitous isn't it. It seems less special. These guys will undoubtedly do great with all the resources they have. I don't think I am the only one feeling some Neapolitan pizza fatigue -- in spite of the extraordinary technique and artistry some of these places employ. The provenance here is incredible. I know when I check it out I may very well be pretty blown away. I guess it is kind of a victory lap for Roberto and Antonio -- they def have made it. Ultimately I really wish them great success as I admire what they are doing on quite a few levels. It will be interesting to see how many similar places NYC can support or if others will see their businesses suffer some. How many more WFO places will we see? Do you think it is possible for there to be too many? Is such a thing possible? I suppose if we lose some places that aren't quite as special as a result of Don Antonio's likely success that that will be an exchange worth making. Maybe there is so much demand that we will see even more. I just don't want to see so many that they feel almost as common as Starbucks.

Just like a marinara pie there are so many things that happen to be vegan and are great just as they are (a point Kenji has been making quite a bit in these posts). It is so unfortunate that if you were to call it a "vegan marinara pizza" that many would scoff at it. Hard to take people this ignorant seriously, but the truth is that some of the people that behave this way are far from ignorant in other regards. It is kinda curious really.

That said, I think veganism gets a bad rap primarily because of the holier-than-thou attitude of some vegans, not because there is anything wrong with the food (beyond the fake meat/cheese stuff). Sometimes even vegans need to realize they should accommodate others in certain situations and not the other way around.

@atmast: Thanks for following up and the compliments on my Caputo pies :). High heat really is the key to cat spots it seems and there is no way to fake it. At home, I have a gas bottom drawer broiler oven, which never seems to achieve the cosmetics that an electric oven does. I wonder what I could do to fake it out to get it to run hotter. At the same time, I have such a tiny kitchen (even by NY standards -- just the layout of my apt. -- all the rest of the rooms are quite big) I am somewhat worried about blowback from getting it super hot.

As far as the lack of malt in Caputo, no reason you can't add a little bit (or honey) to it to "help" make up the 200 degree diff from a WFO. With a WFO there is no need for it, but with a home oven I see no foul in augmenting the flour a teeny, tiny bit (2%'ish). To me it is less a cheat than it is just working within the constraints. As far as a domestic flour than has malt but is otherwise very similar to Caputo, I can't recommend KA Organic AP enough -- fantastic taste, right protein level and very silky. A bit pricey though. Wishing you much continued success :)!

I wonder if Antonio enjoyed his time acting on Galactica ;) Love the popped collar! I wonder if Izod makes their shirts...nah, not Eyetalian enough ;)

Feels like this is the crest of the Neapolitan wave. I hope so. Nothing wrong with the pizza per se, but it is kinda antique. Be great to see more places like/of the quality of "Best Pizza", though for investors a slice joint doesn't have the sex appeal of an expensive, Manhattan loc, big, high overhead place like Don Antonio.

Do we really need another Neapolitan place serving pizza that is nearly identical to all the other good Neapolitan places? Can you imagine if you could ONLY drink beer that met the German purity standards? Boring. Thankfully we do indeed have some choice in NYC.

Anywho...I know this opening needed to get covered and the pizza is no doubt good. Just saying be nice to see some other styles get some more momentum. I suppose square pies are gaining some, so that is good.

The book says to divide the dough into 7 oz / 198 g balls — 12 inches is awfully wide for a dough that small, especially considering the tall cornicione. I would go 10 inches with a roughly 200 g dough. But whaddoIknow?! ;)

Well, you know, Dom is running his oven at 900 degrees after all ;)

Thanks @Craig! Appreciated. Had to give it a whirl. Some powdered sugar would totally work with the bones, no question.

Oh and I don't care what Sofia is making — she's got my attention :)!

I def will eat it. Something about it just feels healthy. That said, I much prefer it lightly pickled which takes a little bit of the bite and heat out.

Oh and the bulk fermentation (with a very active, well fed starter) should be probably be somewhere between 12 - 24 hours give or take, depending on the temp, starter %, how truly "active" your starter is) and other environmental variables. Once you get this down you can experiment with using even less starter (2% or less) or inactive starter to prolong the bulk fermentation. You could cold retard the dough as well. Unless your starter really is not that active, 48 hours at room temp is waaaay too long.

As far as gauging the "activeness" of your starter, it is ready when it just begins to start collapsing (not rising anymore) and is has lot of bubbles in it.

@BiereBeer: One of the reasons I have considered writing about sourdough use (I just don't really like blogging — my heart is not in it — so I haven't done it) is the problem you are encountering. It pretty much always comes up but it is not often discussed (I think because many that write a recipe or two for sourdough still have very limited overall experience with it).

Very often the sourdough mother becomes quite acidic and there is a process called "washing" which is basically aggressive feeding (with a large discard). This will dial down the overall acid level.

The simplest way to overcome the acid issue (weakening gluten) is to use a little mature starter to make a young/fresh leaven each time you make dough. A simple way to accomplish this with a straight dough is to use somewhere between 2-6% starter added to your dough formula's water. A larger percentage of starter will increase the amount of acid from the get go so if you do want to use a larger preferment make sure it is started with a small amount of mature starter, creating a viable yet young preferment to add to your dough.

That said, especially if you store your starter in the fridge in between uses, it will be more acidic overtime and washing it something that should be done periodically anyway.

Hope that helps :)!