• First Try at New Jersey Boardwalk Style Pizza

In my quest to learn and master different types of pizza dough, I’ve been reading about NJ Boardwalk Style pizza, which has a similar thin profile as NY style, but with a slightly crispier crust. But there’s another difference between the two, and it’s a big one: with a typical NJ style boardwalk the cheese goes on the pizza first, then the sauce, the reverse of how most pizzas are made. I could see how this would allow for a crispier crust as the cheese acts as a "barrier" between the dough and sauce, keeping the sauce from seeping into the dough and making it soggy. This is a great article on one of the iconic NJ style pizza joints:

https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/food/a22550621/new-jersey-boardwalk-pizza/

Here’s a video of a popular NJ Boardwalk pizza stand showing how they make their pies:

https://youtu.be/Bs4h5Gr_GKc

How about that sauce hose? :biggrin1:


I was intrigued by this pizza, especially with a slightly sturdier crust than NY style, and I could see that the cheese going on first might help contribute to that, so I decided to give it a go. I used the dough (but not the sauce, as I like my own) exactly in the recipe in this video:

https://youtu.be/1510UWVHYbU


While this recipe makes 4 dough balls, each for a 10-12 inch pizza, so given that my pies are usually 14-15 inches, I split the dough into 3 portions, instead of 4. The dough cold fermented in the fridge overnight, and easily doubled in size.

I found this to be the most pliable dough I’ve ever worked with, too pliable, actually, and most likely due to the high hydration of the dough recipe. So, I followed the directions in the video to roll it out first, then finish the stretch by hand. I put a pile of whole milk mozzarella, then dollops of my homemade sauce, then a bit of sausage and pepperoni. I decided on a stone temp of 625 in the Blackstone Oven.

Here’s how it looked out of the oven:





Sliced:





A couple of skinny slices with basil, ready to eat:





Underside of crust:





I really liked how this dough came out – it was firm, a bit chewy, and had good flavor. Adding the cheese first, then the sauce was a different “mouth feel” which I also liked as well. I think I will make another batch, but next time with 50/50 AP and Bread flour, and with a slightly lower hydration and see how it comes out. The pizza odyssey continues!

Stingerhook said:

Moose is making me want Pizza!

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Shadowdog500 said:

That looks delicious! I live at the south Jersey shore and eat Mack’s pizza all of the time.

Here are a couple added things that those stories didn’t tell.
They use lard in their dough.

They use sharp cheddar cheese and not mozzarella. That’s why the cheese is on the bottom. The cheddar makes for a greasy pizza and the cheese would slide off if it were put on top. I personally saw the owner of one of the Mack’s pizza locations walking to the front of a supermarket pushing a cart full of New Yorker white American which is a sharp cheddar. It was the big blocks that the deli slices at the lunch meat counter. We use that same cheese for sandwiches at home. Here is a link. https://www.landolakes.com/products/cheese/new-yorker-white-american/

My wife and I use a 50/50 mix of mozzarella and sharp cheddar on all of our home made pies.

I do know that they gettheir base sauce in the big #10 cans, but they peel the labels off, so I can’t confirm the brand.

Here is a link that gives Mack’s recipe. That I know is correct on at least the dough and cheese department.

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=62757.0

The preferred drink to pair with the pizza is birch beer. Years ago all the locations had a barrel of Birch beer on the counter, and a lot of the locals still get the birch beer. See the barrel on the left of the counter.

This is what it looks like. This was our dinner from a couple weeks ago.
The preferred drink of choice is birch beer.

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Thanks for chiming in with such an informative reply! I'm aware of both the "authentic" way to make the NJ pie (i.e. cheddar cheese etc), as well as that recipe, which I'm going to to try soon. The only reason I didn't get too granular in my post here is I wanted to go simpler at first. A couple of questions for you:


1. Do you happen to know ingredient amounts for a 14 inch pie from the pizzamaking forum recipe you posted the link for?


2. I'm assuming you've tried the recipe? Did you make it as written, or do a cold ferment on the dough?


3. Would love to know more details on the great pizza pic you posted - dough specifics - what size was the pie etc, kind of oven you used, temp.


Thanks!

Update: I made a second pizza from the original dough batch 3 days later

Since I had an extra dough ball leftover in the fridge that had been cold fermenting for 72 hours, yesterday I cooked another pizza for lunch. Here's what I did of note:


1. I added some provolone as well as a sprinkle of Parmesan and oregano over the whole milk mozzarella.


2. In the spirit of duplicating the sauce pattern of a typical South Jersey Boardwalk pie, I put some sauce in a squeeze bottle and squeezed it out in a circular pattern similar to pies of this style, plus a few extra squeezes here and there.

3. Instead of cooking the pie at 625, I used a lower temp of 575.

Here's 3 pics of the cheese, the sauce on top, and after the pizza was cooked:











The verdict? The dough had considerably better depth of flavor than the first pie; I see first hand the benefits of longer cold rises of 2-3 days now and I'm a convert!


On the other hand, the lower temp resulted in a less browned crust, and it was less crispy, as well.



In other words, I liked the dough flavor of the second pie better, but the texture of the first pie was more to my liking. The journey continues...