This page contains videos which may be of interest to any pizza lovin’ fool out there or to people with a general interest in food. With the popularity of by-the-slice-shops in the Baltimore area, which display multiple pizzas on the counter top, and with some pizza places having their oven and prep areas hidden from public view, the most familiar sight of pizza making many people in our area have is looking through a glass window at people tossing pizzas in the air, feeding the dough through a metal rollered sheeter or pummeling the dough with a roller before topping the uncooked pizzas with sauce, cheese and toppings. There is nothing inherently wrong with doing any of these. However, too few of us have seen a pizza maker really craft a pizza by hand, without the aid of sheeters, dockers, rollers and other devices. The focus of this page is to highlight some of the passionate individuals helping to raise pizza to another level. Other videos will be pizza related videos of general interest which I hope you find enjoyable as well. I plan to keep updating this page over time and I hope you find these interesting.
Domenico DeMarco; Owner and Pizzaiolo, Di Fara Pizza, Brooklyn (Midwood), New York City
Recently inducted into the Pizza Hall of Fame, the 72 year old DeMarco has been manning the ovens at Di Fara Pizza since it opened in 1964. A true throwback to the days when high quality corner slice shop pizzerias were easier to find in Brooklyn, sadly DeMarco is now one of the very last of his breed. I’m ashamed to say that at the time this was written (6/13/2009), I have not yet been to see the Master of Midwood. I’ve watched many videos of DeMarco, have read about his dough formulation, ingredients used and have read virtually every on-line interview or review I could find.
One of my favorite DeMarco quotes: “I do this as an art. I don’t look to make big money. If somebody comes over here and offers me a price for the store, there’s no price. There’s no money in the world they could pay me for it. I’m very proud of what I do”.
VIDEO #1: Some pizzerias obtain the highest quality pre-shredded cheese they can obtain. Others buy high quality blocks of cheese and shred them each night before opening. At DiFara, extremely high quality balls of cheese are freshly grated onto the pizza per order. In this video, you can clearly see that DeMarco hand shaves fresh balls of mozzarella onto each and every pizza. DeMarco insists on at least three cheeses on his pizzas; often using fresh fiore de latte mozzarella, mozzarella di bufala from his hometown near Napoli and either Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or Gran Padano….definitely a combination of some pretty serious quality cheeses. Given the generous amounts of cheese DeMarco puts on, these pizzas have to be among the most expensively topped pizzas you’ll likely find. A heavy dose of olive oil and then into the stainless steel deck oven. Some freshly grated cheese after cooking in the oven finishes the pizza in this video. You can also clearly see something which continually amuses me…..Dom frequently puts his hands directly into the oven to manipulate the pizzas. This would be a challenge in any oven, but DeMarco’s stainless steel deck oven is 100°F hotter than most modern day Baker’s Pride ovens, reaching 750°F.
VIDEO #2: Another good compilation of a trip to DiFara. At 1:13 notice a DeMarco signature, using scissors to snip fresh basil onto the finished pizza. The freshly shaved cheese ritual occurs at 2:14 and various pizzas are cooked before being eaten.
Anthony Mangieri; Owner and Pizzaiolo, Una Pizza Napoletana, East Village, New York City
This is arguably the best example of authentic Neapolitan pizza made in America. Mangieri is one of the most passionate pizza makers in the country and is crafting exceedingly high quality pizza in his East Village location. Some people may understandably not like Neapolitan style pizza, but I feel few can argue with the quality and commitment being poured into these pizzas….it is truly old world craftsmanship at its finest. The crust Mangieri is constructing is among the most flavorful and texturally pleasing I have ever tasted. You can read my review of UPN here.
VIDEO #1: “Obsessives”. I mention this video in my review of UPN (link above) and this is one of my favorite interviews of a pizza maker I have ever seen. I am a big Mangieri fan, both for his passionate devotion to pizza and for his product itself, which is very much great pizza.
VIDEO #2: “Pure & Simple” from the New York Food Film Festival. A quick commercial in the beginning. This video may load slowly, but it works. Some clear footage of Mangieri gently patting and shaping the dough while making a pizza.
Chris Bianco; Owner and Pizzaiolo, Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix, Arizona
Another passionate pizza maker, Bianco is completely committed to using only locally or regionally sourced ingredients of extremely high quality. Chris is crafting pizzas which many people have called not only the best pizza outside of New York City, but the best pizza in America. This is exactly the type of food fanatic I love, creating house made mozzarella, some of which gets smoked in his oven each night, and even having spent some vacation time visiting the Midwestern pig farmer who raises the pigs used to make the sausage featured at Pizzeria Bianco.
VIDEO #1: Chris Bianco on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. Notice how at 2:30 Chris mentions not to mess with the dough, saying to just coax it onto the board. The mention of the fresh made mozzarella comes up at 4:12 and Chris alludes to the dough being very wet later in the video. A commonality shown in the Una Pizza Napoletana and Pizzeria Bianco videos is not only how gentle the dough is handled, but how willingly the dough allows itself to be shaped with minimal manipulation. This is not simply because the dough is wetter, but because of the technique, gentler handling and kneading of the dough from its inception to being ready to fire in the oven. It’s no coincidence these two pizzerias are commonly cited as having some of the most flavorful and delightfully textured crusts in America today.
VIDEO #2: A quick video showing how fast Bianco can operate. An interesting comment by an onlooker occurs at 41 seconds into the video when he mentions the bubbles in the dough and how “the biga is at full strength”. More about this on a page I am working on, but bubbles in the dough when it is time to fire the pizzas is usually a very welcome sight indeed.
