Water Adjustments for Pizza?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

cannman

Beer Theorist
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
Messages
2,214
Reaction score
493
Location
Manzanar
I love pizza.

I live in California, and I'm not talking about Pizza Hut or Domino's.

I'm talking small kitchen Pizza!

-------

Regardless. No matter how fantastic the pizza, there's always some @$$hole from New York or Jersey who's always "Well this isn't as good as the east coast pizza..."

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

F*** you!

Anyway......

One day I asked one of these people why? And they seem to reply "the water."

So! I thought it might be fun to share some popular pizza water profiles! Or perhaps you have a pizza water adjustment suggestion.

Perhaps this can be the "GO TO" post for excellent water info for pizza?

How to approach... water profiles for cities a la beer? Let's have fun!

19271412-Italian-pizza-with-tomato-topped-with-melted-golden-cheese-herbs-and-basil-served-on-a-round-wooden--Stock-Photo.jpg
 
Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with the water. I mean, how can New York City tap water have that much of an influence on the overall flavor of a pizza? Does the heavy chlorination of NYC tap water really add that extra zing that everyone in New York raves about? :p :D
 
Pizza is better in the Chicago area.

That is all.

:mad::mad::mad:

Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with the water. I mean, how can New York City tap water have that much of an influence on the overall flavor of a pizza? Does the heavy chlorination of NYC tap water really add that extra zing that everyone in New York raves about? :p :D

Exactly! I'm on a well, so maybe the secret here is to chlorinate your water!
 
I'd be willing to bet that if someone actually did a blind taste test with well water versus New York City tap water as the only variable using a standard pizza dough recipe, the pizza snobs from out East probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
 
Are those whole slices of tomato on that pizza. Well, there's your problem! Replace with meat.

This morning, I did an egg frittata for SWMBO and kids where I grilled tomato slices with lemon pepper, garlic salt, and fresh basil.... and you're right. Sausage would have been so much more flavorful!
 
It's common belief that the Veggies:Meat ratio is important to cooking the best tasting pizza, but they forget that the ratio isn't as important as the overall AMOUNT of Veggies/Meat.
 
NYC water is pretty much rain water with only minor ionic content. I expect that the water company uses chlorine to disinfect and that should volatilize out of the water quickly if left out or boiled first. Of course, some pizzarias might have a carbon filter on their water supply to take out the chlorine.

Chicago water is out of the lake and it too is fairly low in ionic content, but it's higher than NYC.
 
As someone who grew up in California and lived in New York I am able to see both sides to this story and my view is: the pizza is BETTER in New York. No question. Chicago's take on pizza is totally different, almost like another category and I don't think you can compare it with the others.

To answer your question of why the pizza is supposed to be better in New York...I can't say. I have been sworn to secrecy by the Italian-speaking fraternal organization that doesn't exist.
 
That is almost a good evaluation. However, their use of TDS as the placemarker for water quality is quite flawed. It would have been better if they had ranked the waters by the content of their various ions.
 
What is with the pictures of pizza with no MEAT?????????????????????????????????????????????????


BTW, NYC water comes from upstate and possibly CT. It travels through up to ~100 year old piping ranging from hollowed out logs to Lead?.....
 
I have always loved pizza irrespective of where it's from , and even I don't think it has anything to do with water.!!
 
Back
Top