Anyone know "Valentinos"?
theres a pizza place where I grew up, (southeast nebraska) called Valentinos. its the name for good pizza there, and its great.
by my memory, their main pizza crust is a relatively thick, fluffy, moist, buttery and light. but at the same time having enough stiffness to not be completely flimsy. it had a nice gold browning on the bottom. it could stand up to a relatively heavy load of toppings, and have a presence, but not be overwhelming.
very different from the artisan-y, lightly topped, paper thin crusted pizza that some seem to see as the ideal. I mean that has its good points too, but I miss that breadier, richer pizza experience.
I want to try to simulate that sort of crust more. what would be the best way to go about trying to mimic that sort of crust?
Hi there,
Having grown up in Sioux City MANY moons ago, I remember Valentinos, but can't say that I specifically remember all the nuances of their crust. From the little I remember, though, I would say it has a fair amount of olive oil in it to promote the golden toasty browning.
My suggestion would be to take a good pizza dough recipe, make sure it has 2-3 T olive oil, and stretch it a little on the thick side.
A quick search online shows these supposed copycat recipes:
I think the key, with a thicker crust, is to balance the temperature of your oven so that the crust is done to your liking without burning the cheese. You may want to ensure your pizza stone is as low in the oven as possible. And practice! Every oven is different. With my oven I find that 500+ results in crisp (thin) crust and burned or nearly burned cheese. I bake at 475 because I'm not the best at stretching that cracker-thin crust. You'll have to figure out what works for you with that thicker crust you desire.
Good luck!
MommaT
Just to let you know I live in Omaha and Valentino's is still around and doing well. I haven't had their pizza in awhile (we favor a place called Zio's which makes a thin crust pizza). Maybe we'll try a Valentino's pie next week. Editing to say that Valentino's does ship their pizzas frozen. Here's a link to their site: http://www.valentinos.com/
thanks!
click on the list of recipes on the left. It's Peter Reinhart's formula for a nice crust you bake up thick or thin and tastes wonderful.