Varasano’s Pizzeria is famous for making pizzas like Patsy’s. Their owner Jeff Varasano talks about how he broke ovens to bring out this taste.
Honestly, you can find a recipe for making a Varasano’s pizza at their official site. But, the information there is all over the place.
Here’s where we come in. We’ve analyzed all the information from there. And only included the things that you need to know to make their pizza.
Let’s not waste any more time and get right into it.
- Difficulty Level: Hard
- Servings: 3-4 servings
Nutritional Facts:
| Ingredients | Calories |
| Bread Flour | 616 |
| Sourdough | 45 |
| Instant Dry Yeast | 2 |
| Grated Romano Cheese (60 grams) | 258 |
| Sugar | 8 |
| Romano Cheese | 550 |
| Mozzarella Cheese | 430 |
The total amount of calories in the pizza is 1,909 calories.
Ingredient List:
For The Dough
- 110 grams of filtered water
- 168 grams of Bread Flour
- 6 grams of Sea Salt
- 15 grams of Sourdough
- 0.5 gram of Instant Dry Yeast
For The Sauce
- Can of Crushed Tomatoes
- 50-60 grams of grated Romano Cheese
- ½ tsp of sugar
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of dried oregano. Crush it to release the oil inside
Toppings
- 4-5 slices of Romano Cheese
- 4-5 slices of Mozzarella
Required Cookware:
- Brick Oven
- Electrolux DLX mixer (optional)
Step-by-Step Procedure of Making a Varasano’s Pizza
Jeff Varasano has tried almost 1000 pizzas to perfect his cooking recipe.
To make your pizza exactly like the Varasano’s, you need 3 things:
- High Temperature
- Wet Kneading Technique
- A kind of yeast culture or starter that can be used with the fermentation technique
Now, let us start making the Pizza.
Step 1: Preparing The Dough
Jeff doesn’t measure his ingredients except for the water and salt. The measurement of the other ingredients can be flexible. When it comes to the flour, he likes to ‘add it until it feels right’. We’ve still provided a measurement for the flour from the information provided by Jeff.
Pour all the ingredients for the dough into the bowl, except for the flour. You’ll use only 75% of the flour now. You don’t have to warm up anything. The room temperature is perfect.
Set the speed of your mixer at the lowest and mix for 2 minutes. The mixture should be wetter than a normal dough at this point.
Now, cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20 mins. This is very important. In these 20 minutes, most of the water gets soaked and looks more like dough.
Step 2: Wet Kneading
Get the bowl back on the mixer at a low speed. You’re supposed to mix the dough for 8 minutes. But when you’re 5 minutes in, start adding the rest of the flour.
You’ll notice that the hook of the mixer is going through the dough now. And if you lift the hook, the dough will fall off by itself.
Now start mixing the dough again. Mix for 6-8 minutes at ⅓ speed of the mixer. After some time, the dough will get firm. That’s what you’re aiming for here. Not a tight dough, but a soft one.
Now let the dough rest for 20 mins.
Now, flour your work surface and drop the dough there. The dough should literally be pouring out. The hydration should be at 65% at least.
Knead it with your hands for 30 seconds. Then put it in a greased container so it doesn’t stick to it.
Before putting the container in the fridge, leave it out for 10 minutes. Then you can store the dough for around 1-6 days. But, the more the dough stays in the fridge, the more it’ll get flattened out. That’s not a problem though.
Step 3: Making The Sauce
Take a can of tomatoes. Peel them and take off the seeds and the twigs. You don’t need to cook the sauce as it will be cooked with the pizza.
There’s a bitterness that comes with canned tomatoes. To remove the bitterness, mix all the ingredients together. Whenever your sauce is ready, spread it on the dough.
Step 4: Making The Pizza
Flour your workspace and place the dough there. Make a rim using your fingers and slowly flatten out the dough. Don’t use any rolling pin for this dough.
Once you’ve flattened it for the perfect large size, paste the sauce on it. Then place 8-10 pieces of cheese. As a finisher, top it with a basil leaf. Now, it’s ready to go in the oven.
For making a pizza exactly like Varasano’s, you’re going to need a brick oven. They make their pizza at 800 degrees Fahrenheit. You won’t be able to get that heat using an electric oven.
At 800 degrees Fahrenheit, you can cook the pizza in just 2-3 minutes. The use of this excess heat is also the reason why the dough is so wet.
Now, let’s discuss how you can get this done in an electric oven. Your goal should be to ensure the top of the oven is hotter than the bottom.
Cover the stone with a loose fit of aluminum foil. Then preheat the oven at the maximum capacity of your oven (which generally is 500 degrees Fahrenheit). After 30 minutes, take the upper foil off of the stone.
Now, your stone is cooler than the oven. Place the pizza on the stone and wait for 2-3 minutes and your pizza is done.
Extra Tips
Your delicious pizza is all ready to be eaten now. But you still have some questions unanswered. Let’s answer them-
How Can I Cook in Cleaning Mode on My Electric Oven?
Before we answer this, you should know that this method shouldn’t be tried at all. It can be very dangerous. Now the answer, push a wrapped foil in the lock of the oven door while keeping it open. Then wrap up the opening with a foil.
What is Wet Kneading?
It’s a term made up by Jeff Varasano himself. It’s called wet kneading because the dough is wetter than usual.
Remember not to break your oven. Let us know in the comments about how yours turned out.
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