Turn Your Home Oven into an NYC Pizza Machine — cooking recipes, healthy foods Guide

In my video I walk through how to turn a regular home oven into a New York–style pizza machine. This step‑by‑step cooking recipes, healthy foods guide focuses on dough technique, cold fermentation, oven setup, and finishing tricks that produce a large, lively slice with a crisp underside and tender chew. Whether this is the first pizza you’ve made or the hundredth, these methods will lift your results.

Step 1: Make the dough (mix, hydrate, and develop)

Ingredients for dough (makes 4 × 385g balls):

• 575g water, 68–70°F
• 10g instant yeast
• 20g extra virgin olive oil
• 25g sugar
• 20g salt
• 450g all‑purpose flour + 450g bread flour

Stir the yeast into the specified temperature water, add oil, sugar, salt, and both flours. Mix with a sturdy spoon until shaggy. Switch to a wet hand and use a claw squeeze motion for ~2 minutes to hydrate the dry lumps, then knead lightly for another minute to start gluten development. Aim for a final dough temperature of about 76–78°F.

“Nailing down the dough temperature like this might seem nitpicky, but it’s one of the main differentiators between professional‑level pizza and crappy stuff people make at home.”

Step 2: Strengthen with stretch‑and‑fold and cold ferment

Cover and rest 20 minutes. Perform a stretch‑and‑fold (pull until resistance, fold; repeat 4–5 times), round the dough, cover and rest another 20 minutes, then repeat once more. After ~60 minutes total you can divide and shape into four 385g balls. Place two per parchment‑lined half sheet, spray lightly with olive oil, cover, and refrigerate 24 hours for cold fermentation—this step is essential to achieve authentic flavor and texture.

Step 3: Preheat the oven and mimic restaurant thermal mass

Remove dough 45–60 minutes before baking to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven for at least 45 minutes to its highest setting (ideally 550°F). Place a primary pizza steel on the lower rack and a second steel ~6–8" above to simulate a professional oven: heat from above and below speeds the bake, traps a bit of steam, and prevents the cheese from becoming an oily mess.

Step 4: Make the sauce and prepare the cheese

Sauce: Stir 800g crushed tomatoes with 15g sugar and 8g salt. Purée half with an immersion blender and recombine to create a texture that’s both chunky and cohesive—this gives the orange, melty finish New York slices are known for.

Cheese: Grate equal weights (≈225g each) of part‑skim and whole‑milk mozzarella. The blend balances structure and creaminess; freshly grated cheese melts and behaves better than pre‑shredded blends.

Step 5: Shape, assemble, and bake

On a lightly floured surface, place the dough ball skin side down, degas big bubbles, and press a one‑inch rim so the center is thin. Work from ~8" to ~12–13" using fingertip stretches and the wrist‑flip technique, then transfer to a semolina‑dusted peel. Top with a heaping ladle (≈4–5oz) of sauce and a modest two handfuls of the cheese blend—don’t overload.

Launch onto the bottom steel. Bake ~3 minutes, rotate 180°, then another 2–3 minutes until golden and bubbly (about 6–7 minutes total on a 550°F oven). Remove to a wire rack to avoid steaming the crust.

Step 6: Refresh slices like a New York slice shop

For peak experience, place a single slice on parchment directly on the hot steel for 90–120 seconds. This refire crisps the bottom for that whisper‑thin crunch, re‑melts the cheese, and reactivates the flavors. The result is a lively, dynamic slice—big, foldable, and utterly addictive.

This cooking recipes, healthy foods approach emphasizes technique over gimmicks: control dough temperature, give the dough time in the fridge, simulate oven thermal mass, and finish slices with a quick refire. Try it once and you’ll understand why cold fermentation and two steels matter so much.

Quick checklist

• Dough temp: 76–78°F
• Divide into 4 × 385g balls
• Cold ferment ≥24 hours
• Oven: 550°F with two steels (or highest possible)
• Refire individual slices 90–120 seconds

If you follow this cooking recipes, healthy foods guide you’ll get the closest home approximation of a New York slice: crispy bottom, tender crumb, balanced sauce, and that irresistible cheese pull. Enjoy the process and the pizza.