September 4, 2023 • 45 mins
In this episode of "Bread For the People," host Jim Serpico sits down with Auggie Russo, the renowned small batch, handmade pizza maker behind Augie's Infamous. With his Neapolitan-ish style pizzas and two portable pizza ovens, Auggie has gained a dedicated following.
Auggie's love for baking extends beyond creating delicious pizzas. He thrives on the experience of serving his creations to a group of people gathered for a special event, each bringing their own unique energy. He cherishes the conscious choice people make to shop at Farmers Markets, opting for fresh ingredients over a traditional grocery store.
Before his pizza-making journey, Auggie worked as a video editor and graphics artist in the post-production industry for films and commercials. However, he found it to be a lonely pursuit compared to the communal joy of making pizza for large groups of people.
Most Monday nights, Auggie hosts a pizza pop-up at Lulu & Po in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. His talent and dedication to his craft have recently gained recognition, earning him write-ups in both the NY Times and the Times of London as a remarkable pop-up pizza maker.
During the conversation, Jim and Auggie delve into the topic of raising money for Slice Out Hunger, a charity dedicated to combating food insecurity. Auggie shares his passion for creating simple, yet inspired pizzas that reflect the flavors he enjoyed growing up as an Italian American, such as the unique combination of Salami and figs. He also reveals his love for making candied chilies, which add a delightful twist to his pizzas.
Auggie believes that pizza is a versatile canvas that allows endless creativity. He discusses the challenges he faces, including dealing with online trolls and negative commentary. Auggie combines relating to the feel of the dough with scientific measurements, and he emphasizes the importance of a long fermentation process to achieve the desired texture and flavor in his pizza crusts.
Listeners gain insights into the intricacies of running a mobile or pop-up pizza operation, including managing the flow of customers and dealing with long lines.
Don't miss this episode filled with Auggie Russo's passion for pizza-making, community engagement, and his mission to make a positive impact through his art.
Businesses Mentioned in this episode
@Gozney @Onnihq @luluandpo #Johnny'sHotTruck @doughandco_pizza @little_vincents
Follow Jim Serpico on Instagram: @sidehustlebread and @jimserpico
Follow Auggie Russo on Instagram: @tinypizzakitchen
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jim-serpico-bread-for-the-people-sourdough-pizza-life--5704379/support.
Auggie's love for baking extends beyond creating delicious pizzas. He thrives on the experience of serving his creations to a group of people gathered for a special event, each bringing their own unique energy. He cherishes the conscious choice people make to shop at Farmers Markets, opting for fresh ingredients over a traditional grocery store.
Before his pizza-making journey, Auggie worked as a video editor and graphics artist in the post-production industry for films and commercials. However, he found it to be a lonely pursuit compared to the communal joy of making pizza for large groups of people.
Most Monday nights, Auggie hosts a pizza pop-up at Lulu & Po in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. His talent and dedication to his craft have recently gained recognition, earning him write-ups in both the NY Times and the Times of London as a remarkable pop-up pizza maker.
During the conversation, Jim and Auggie delve into the topic of raising money for Slice Out Hunger, a charity dedicated to combating food insecurity. Auggie shares his passion for creating simple, yet inspired pizzas that reflect the flavors he enjoyed growing up as an Italian American, such as the unique combination of Salami and figs. He also reveals his love for making candied chilies, which add a delightful twist to his pizzas.
Auggie believes that pizza is a versatile canvas that allows endless creativity. He discusses the challenges he faces, including dealing with online trolls and negative commentary. Auggie combines relating to the feel of the dough with scientific measurements, and he emphasizes the importance of a long fermentation process to achieve the desired texture and flavor in his pizza crusts.
Listeners gain insights into the intricacies of running a mobile or pop-up pizza operation, including managing the flow of customers and dealing with long lines.
Don't miss this episode filled with Auggie Russo's passion for pizza-making, community engagement, and his mission to make a positive impact through his art.
Businesses Mentioned in this episode
@Gozney @Onnihq @luluandpo #Johnny'sHotTruck @doughandco_pizza @little_vincents
Follow Jim Serpico on Instagram: @sidehustlebread and @jimserpico
Follow Auggie Russo on Instagram: @tinypizzakitchen
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jim-serpico-bread-for-the-people-sourdough-pizza-life--5704379/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're ready to go, Yes,sir, Welcome the Bread for the People.
My name's Jim Serpico. Today,I have a guest that I've been
looking to talk to for a longtime. I think we connected over Instagram
a little over a year ago.It's been exciting to see the rise of
(00:25):
infamy of Aggy Russo from Aggie's Infamous. He's a small batch, handmade pizza
maker, Neapolitanish style, Aggie.I'm so excited to find a hook up
with you, man. Thank youso much. Man. I can't tell
you how many times I started adirect message asking can I get on the
(00:48):
podcast and then deleting it and beinglike, I'm not gonna pest through this,
dude. My name's Jim Serpico,and this should I start with my
name? What should I start with? This is bread for the People?
Do you like it like this?Welcome to bread? Or do you like
it like this? Welcome ready,Welcome to Bread for the people? Mine?
(01:10):
Is there a script? Thank youso much, man. I can't
tell you how many times I starteda direct message asking can I get on
the podcast and then deleting it andbeing like, I'm not gonna pest through
(01:32):
this. Dude, ah good,always past for me. But listen,
I really have I know we weretalking about maybe getting together at one point,
and uh, you know, partof it was one of the reasons
I didn't go head on and saylet's do it, is because I was
(01:52):
hiding the fact that I was doinga lot of the baking out of my
home and I couldn't really show it. I couldn't really show it on Instagram
and stuff because you know, whenI was out doing the farmers markets,
there were there were people coming afterme for baking in the home, right
you know. Now I have thefood truck, so I'm on wheels,
(02:12):
I'm permitted it, I'm licensed,and I've got a pizza oven in there,
so maybe we'll do something in there. You have a dome? Is
that what you put in the oven? Yeah? Man, I put the
dome in. I don't make aton of pizzas in it professionally. I
mainly use it to heat up thescutchhot of bread that I served the sandwiches
on and and use it as myheat source for whatever I'm doing. But
(02:38):
I do make pizzas personally in there, and I do plan to do catering
with pizzas and stuff like that,and and if you ever want a jam
on that kind of stuff, Iwould love to have you in the truck
and do parties together. Man.I would love that. I would love
that. I just came back froma party. I love doing I love
all of it. I love bakingfor strangers in the street. I love
(03:01):
having people in my backyard, friendsand family off the books, you know,
just casual bullshit. And I lovedoing gigs for like a group of
people that I'm getting ready to awedding after party. I just came back
from a family reunion down on theJersey shore, that kind of thing where
it's a group of people assembled togetherfor the same event or function or gathering.
(03:25):
They've already got their own vibe.I love that. I really I
never realized how much I liked peoplebefore me neither, and that is what
I like about what we're doing,and particularly I love being out with the
people in those same situations. AndI would say the joke for me for
(03:47):
a big part of my life wasI can't stand people. But I guess
it's not true. It's not Isay the same thing at every single bait
I was in post in production.I was in post, I was in
the back of the house, nointeraction with people except for my producers or
whoever or other you know, editors. And before that, when I was
(04:10):
cooking professionally, the same thing.I was in the kitchen, I didn't
really ever interact with the diners,and I viewed them as eaters. I
remember being a twenty one year old, arrogant asshole and referring to the guests
in the restaurant as eaters, whichis such a terrible like the people that
(04:30):
come and eat my pizza. Now, I, to the best of my
ability, unless I'm totally jammed up, I like to greet everybody. I
shout at people happily, you knowwhat I mean. Well, there there's
a couple of things you're touching on. I mean, one in the restaurant
business, it's a little different,I think because as you've identified some of
(04:56):
these parties, there's groups of peoplecoming together and their agenda is the have
a good time, right, theirguard is down, everyone's part of the
hang together. You're kind of likethe celebrity in the center of it,
you know, serving it. Butyou know, even at the farmer's market,
where they're not coming together. Itis a similar vibe. I guess
(05:19):
they appreciate why they're there. It'speople sure, if they're deliberately coming.
A farmer's market is less convenient thangoing to supermarket, Grand Union, Path
Mark whatever it is, right,and it's more of an experience. The
farmer's market. You're deliberately choosing thebest produce that you can for this party.
(05:40):
I just did. I got upat eight and went to the farmer's
market. I got up at sixand was there at seven thirty for an
eight am opening. And everybody isthere on purpose to get like the best,
most delicious stuff. Right. That'sa big difference mentality. Right in
the supermarket, you're going, Igotta go supermarket. I have to go
(06:00):
to the supermarket to feed my familywho doesn't do anything because they're lazy,
and I'm the one who has toget all the food for them. That
farmer's market, you go and geta cup of coffee. It's beautiful out
Saturday morning. The only people thatare up are you know. It's a
different vibe. It's very nice.I love the I love If I could,
(06:23):
I would shop the farmer's market allthe time. But it's you know,
very pregental, and it's it's alsothis one here is very expensive.
Yeah. So just for the listeners, when you talk about your other job,
you were in the back of thehouse and post, explain what that
means. I was a video editorand motion graphics artists from like the mid
(06:48):
two thousands until right up to thelast presidential election. Let's say that's when
I really got out of it,or the special election in George is when
I really that was the last thingthat I did commercially. Right since then,
I've done a couple of music videosfor a friend, or my girlfriend
(07:09):
shoots analog film. I edit herweird films. They're not commercial. There's
no producer hovering and touching my monitor. It's a very chill I get to
do what I want. Oggie,I wish there was a producer touch in
your monitor now, because you tiltedup a little, Yes, sir,
how's that? That's good? Allright, that's awesome. The vibe in
(07:32):
the in the post house is interesting. There's a lot of pressure to turn
things out. When you're working commercially. You're the editor. You're probably answering
to some producer mostly, and thenyou have you have support people in the
front dealing with clearance and paperwork,and they're over worked and they work long
(07:54):
hours, and they have no windows, and it could be draining. And
things are a little different now,Like people have an expectation that I think
as those tools have gotten smaller andsmaller and more and more accessible. An
editor expected now to be an editor, a color correction guy down designer,
(08:16):
sourcing clips. It's a lot.It got to be, you know,
a lot more than I wanted todeal with. And it's not nearly as
fun. I'm in a dark roomby myself a lot of the time.
I sit all day. Now,I am on my feet. I jump
out of bed at seven o'clock inthe morning, and that's late, Like
I cannot wait to get started withmy day and whatever it is, if
(08:39):
it's making dough, if it's walkingup the street and sitting out in front
of the restaurant with my boss,the chef of the restaurant where I work,
and just talking about whatever, andso so not to confuse people here,
you have your own pizza business that'svery successful, and you also work
(09:01):
at a restaurant. I work ata restaurant five nights a week. It's
a block from my house. Myboss is my buddy and one of the
original supporters of the pizza thing.And on Monday nights when we're closed,
he lets me use the restaurant.I have the diner bar. I bake
out front, which is okay,so that is give us the name of
(09:24):
that. That's Lulu and Poe AndI mean so that Monday nights, you're
there five to ten, right,well, to sell out five to ten
or until we sell out. Yeah, And if somebody walked up at five
minutes after ten and I had adough, I would make them a pizza.
I love to bake pizza. Iloved I will bake anybody that walks
up, I will bake you apizza. So tell us about the setup
(09:48):
there. You're in an driveway,an alley, you're on the sidewalk.
How does this work? I basicallyhave the street in front of the restaurant
where he had his COVID structure permit. There's no structure. We pulled it
down. So every Monday morning Igo there at eight am and I secure
(10:09):
that parking spot because it's street sweepingmorning and and people. So I get
out there with some cones. Mytranspot. People show up with the truck.
We saved the spot. And thenbasically by three o'clock, I have
a little mini couple of tents andyou know, a bunch of tables set
(10:30):
up and people walk up. Icatch a lot of folks. I've been
in this neighborhood for a long time, so I know a lot of people.
And what neighborhood is that in Brooklynbutton Hill, right, So in
the truck you're you're referring to iswhat a box truck that you just keep
your supplies literally just the pickup truckwith my gear, We're okay, We're
(10:52):
very small, light set up.I have two Uni sixteens. I bring
five tables and a couple of bigtents and that's basically and some coolers.
And then I have the walk inat the restaurant, so I'm able to
use that the kitchen at my jobas sort of my spot that I operate
(11:16):
out of. But I bake outon the curb. I bake out literally
in the gutter, which is tome, it's so crazy and weird,
but it's it's cool and you mightbe small baking on the curb, but
you're now being recognized around the world. You were You were written up in
the New York Times with about fourother of the greatest pizza makers uh in
(11:41):
New York that that make malbile pizza. You were recently written up in London,
I believe, Yeah, the Timesof London. How how did that
happen? I'm not sure. Imean, it's it all has to go
back to the New York Times article. Any of the press that I've gotten
definitely goes back to Pete Wells andhe helped and that that guy is why
(12:03):
I'm so busy all the time now. It's incredible to me. And that
that comes from from Scott from Scott'sPizza Tours. Guarantee that that's the guy
that that told Pete well Was tocome try my pizza. Okay, so
Scott for Scott has been on mypodcast. I really love talking to him.
(12:24):
He's like he's he lives and breathespizza in such a great way,
and he's such a supporter of allbusinesses and pizza and all pizza and he
respects the art form and everything fromthe pizza box to every style and genre
(12:46):
of pizza. And I wasn't awarewhat did he discover you and a pop
up? How did you connect withScott? I bet I just probably was,
you know, chatting on his posts, a huge mouth on Instagram,
and I guarantee you that I justand he's a nice guy. And hey,
(13:07):
he's come out to a bunch ofmy the Slice Out of Hunger pop
ups. He's come to the onesthat I've participated in, which is awesome.
I've gotten a baker. I wantto talk about those two that's on
my list because you, as wellas a lot of people that I am
Instagram friends with, are involved withSlice Out Hunger across the nation. It's
a great charity, man, It'sa really great charity. So let's let's
(13:30):
talk about it. What is it? What is the charity? The charity
is Scott is, like you said, this wealth of pizza information, right.
He knows everything about pizza, lovespizza. He's a Jersey boy who's
just in love with pizza. Andthrough the Scott's Pizza Tour thing I'm pretty
sure is that how he, youknow, developed the Slice Out Hunger charity
(13:54):
where he's got pizzaiolos and home pizzabakers. Anybody who wants to make a
pizza get together eight ten, fiftyof your friends and bake some pizza and
raise some money, and then theysend that money to help support or help
(14:16):
fight against food insecurity. So they'llsend pizzas, twenty five pizzas to a
soup kitchen or fifty pizzas to ashelter, and he's it's a tiny staff
and they do really a huge amountof charitable fundraising. It's crazy that it's
just a few people that are ableto to do that have that loud of
(14:41):
voice. Yeah. Now, soif I wanted to do this, you're
saying, I could do it.I could host it at my house with
my pizza ovens one and get myfriends to come. And what do we
do. Are we making pizzas oram I charging them? You can do
whatever. You could have them comeand say come over. I'm not charging
you for the pizza. But ifyou make a twenty dollar donation each one
of you, or forty bucks fora couple and twenty five bucks for a
(15:05):
single person, and you eat allthe pizza one all night, and at
the end of the night, wesend that money to Slice out Hunger.
I just did a political fundraiser foran old friend of mine from High school
who was running for local office outin Huntington's and I basically went out there
for cost the cost of the fuel, the food and my staff and baked
(15:31):
pizza to help raise money for hercampaign. And then Long Island, Yeah,
Huntington, Long Island, right,And at the end of the night,
her treasurer whatever gave me a threehundred dollar check for Slice out Hunger
because I am a loudmouth and anybodythat really knows me and pizza knows that
I love. I love that charity. So at the end of the night
(15:54):
that was my tip. Basically theygave me a tip, but that was
like the little extra thing. Here'sthree bucks for the charity we know that
you love. That's so cool.They're really they do great work. They
really do great work. I lovesupporting them. I love baking at their
events. I love being able toreach out and ask Scott any dumb question
about the pizza world. He alwayshas a great, thoughtful answer. He's
(16:17):
a very very generous dude. He'sa special guy. Now, when you
were in Huntington, did you happento have the time or opportunity to check
out some of the pizza places there? Because there's a couple that are legendary.
Oh yeah, I mean I livedin Huntington's for maybe a couple of
years, and I would eat atLittle Vincent's a lot home with a colt
twice. Yeah, that's that's that'sa specific one. That's a great one.
(16:45):
I mean that was the one thatwe went to. I worked,
you know, fifty yards from thatspot, so that was weird. What
restaurant did you work at in Huntington's. No, there, I was still
doing production. I had a productionWow. So there did you get?
Did you get to go to DollingCompany, which is new and probably wasn't
there when you were there, No, suir, this would have been back
(17:06):
in two thousand and seven, twothousand and eight, maybe something like that.
Oh yeah, I didn't. Igrew up eating at at Vincent's in
Albertson. If you know Vincent's,the Italian restaurant. I mean, yeah,
sure, he's got seats in theback. Oh different, Vincent's different,
Okay, I got you. Thenthe old Nest scot shopping mall when
(17:29):
I was a kid. This isthe eighties. Yeah, great pizza,
regular, traditional, nothing fancy.No, not like me with the weird
shit on top. Just the great, great pizza, great ill zone.
Too deep front, let's get let'sget into your stuff and the weird stuff
that you do. What makes yourpizza. I know you do like you
(17:52):
have an amazing doll and stuff.But let's get into the toppings because you
kind of push the boundaries there,and I want to what inspires you and
you know how you came up withsome of these things, and give the
listeners some examples of what you do. Well, a lot of it,
honestly is outright theft. It's justit's the stuff that we ate as kids
(18:15):
and was never fancy. Growing upas an Italian American eating salami and figs
was not cool. It wasn't fancy, It wasn't cool, It wasn't,
you know, in any way exciting. It was just that's what we had
and that's what we ate. Soa lot of it is the stuff that
(18:36):
I grew up eating. So let'sstay on this Salamian figs for a second.
When you prepare that pizza, Iwould assume you're topping the salami for
sure. I don't bake with figsa lot, so I'm curious do you
put them on also before you cookthe pizza and heat them up, or
do you put them on after.It depends if they're like crazy ripe and
(18:57):
amazing, I'll put them on after. If they're you know, not super
ripe beginning of the season, orthey haven't really gotten soft, and I'll
maybe I'll put I might broulet them, I might put a little I always
have some kind of spicy sugar,so I might put some spicy sugar on
top of them and make sure they'reat the very last topping on the on
(19:18):
the pie so they get the flame, so they kind of cook and get
soft and sweet and spicy. Andyou know what I mean. If if
the if the produce is not atits peak and I'm using it, I
have to do something to kind of, you know, help it along a
little bit. Okay, Now I'mnot a trained chef. I'm not from
(19:41):
I could imagine loving spicy sugar.Is that a mixture of regular sugar and
cayenne pepper or it's a pepper ofa of something that I make. I
make these candied chilies and I'll getyou some. They're really nice. I
hook chilies in bourbon and sugar andfennel and then I roll them in sugar
(20:07):
with fennel, and then I dehydratethem for thirty hours and then they're like
these long shards of glass that arespicy and sweet at the same time.
And so the guests can take itand crush it on top of the pizza
instead of the sprinkling stuff that yousee everywhere. That sounds amazing. They're
groovy. They're really really nice thatthe next batch I make, I'll make
(20:30):
sure to get you some. Thankyou, oh man. I love that.
So after rolling a few batches ofthose chilies and the sugar, the
sugar just picks up the peat fromthe seeds fall off in there, and
so that sugar is I have bucketsof it, and that sugar gets used
in other applications as I might need. Do you sell that sugar by the
(20:52):
jar? I sell the chilies,and I sell the liquid. The liquid
that I cook everything is awesome.It's just a spicy, simple syrup.
So I do the fennel and bourbonone, great for an old fashioned.
I do a tequila and cariander andcitrus one, which is great for like
a margarita that when I cook pineappleand chilis and so my pineapple and ham
(21:21):
pizza has dehydrated pineapple that's very spicyand chewy. It's dehydrated. It's phenomenal,
really nice. Great, So Iget I guess I know where you
stand on one hundred percent pineapple.I'm one hundred and anything on a pizza
that is delicious. I'm gonna putbarbecue pork on a pizza. Absolutely,
(21:45):
I'm with you. It's the craziestthing I've ever heard that you can't put
And you know what they eat inMaples. They put hot dogs and French
fries on a pizza, so whynot? And I'm not No, I'm
not poo pooing a French fried hotdog. That sounds to me. I
want that. I want a FrenchRyan hot dog pizza. I want to
Philly cheese steak. I think anythingpizza is an amazing vehicle. It's an
(22:10):
open piece of beautiful bread and youcan put whatever you want on top of
it or nothing, olive oil andsea salt. How satisfying is that?
Do you ever go on to thesites on Facebook, the pizza sites and
just watch for entertainment? Yes?I never ever go on and participate like
I'm I follow all of those pizzaattic groups as my regular person self,
(22:33):
not as the tiny pizza thing,and I there it's horrifying. There are
some people. I don't understand howpeople can be mad in a situation it's
a pizza. I have people whohate my goggles. I get trolls who
shit on my goggles stupid glasses forbeing out of literally that's it. There's
(22:55):
nothing clever about them. It's soI can see. So it's only the
people in the pizza groups that complainabout your glasses, right, well,
non on Instagram, I have somelike new trolls since the New York Times
thing, and so I do.I've gotten a lot of like negative commentary
(23:15):
on the weird shit on the pizzaand also my goggles. Well the pizza
thing, listen, it comes withthe territory. It's unbelievable. Especially Pineapple
and ham Man that is just likea fire starter, so good I use
spec or nice Serrano ham I meannot putting board, you know, iron
(23:36):
and Dole, Pineapple, God,I think that's a bad idea. Everything
is thoughtfully produced, and you knowthat it's a white pizza. There's no
tomato sauce on my ham and pineapplepizza. It's a white pizza with greair
and what could be what could tastebad about gre air and speck and spicy
pine Half of those people were morethan half don't know what spec is,
(24:00):
so I wouldn't worry about it.And that's probably very true. That's probably
very What is uh a most popularpizza that you serve? I mean,
I was a little surprised last well, I do a weird interpretation of and
(24:22):
my French is awful. The croakmadame and the croak monsour. Yeah,
that's ham and cheese, right,So I do a serrano ham, salted
red onion, preserved lemon, reair, quail eggs and breadcrumb, a
(24:44):
buttery toasted breadcrumb so that you tastethe butter like you would on a grilled
cheese sandwich. Yeah, those twodid really well. It's too hot now
I don't serve them, But inthe late winter, early spring, that
was a really popular one. Peoplelike that. They're they're crunchy, they're
(25:06):
the preserved lemon is really nice andbright and has no business being on that
sandwich. But it just works anyway. It's it's a non traditional interpretation of
a sandwich on a pizza, soit's as like on its ear as it
can get. It's wrong across theboard. I love that. I love
the way you think about this stuffman. And my process, my doughmaking
(25:30):
process, it's one hundred percent notright. So let's talk about that.
I don't know what I'm doing.I honestly am just kind of like I've
gotten a point where I can tellfrom the feel of my dough what what
I might need to do. Butthere I have a lot of gaps in
my domemaking. I need a doughdaddy, is what I need. I
(25:52):
need like a real serious two weekswith somebody that can answer all of my
like about this, what about questionslike that? What about you know,
Aggie, I'm thinking about doing thatin January or February. I think I'm
one of a recent podcast about going, yeah, taking a class. I
think I'm gonna use my downtime todo uh maybe Tony gem and Yanni's school
(26:18):
or something like that. I wantto do something like that with my time
and do exactly what you you're talkingabout, because I'm much like you self
taught. I kind of understand thescience enough, but I never really put
a ton of time into that partbecause quite frankly, it bores me.
(26:38):
But you need to know enough ofit. I want the real details,
and I can't get them off theinternet from like other people that know as
little as I do. I needa well that's like a real baker that
can tell me definitively this is whatthis is about. This is why is
my dough doing this? I don'tget it, but I'm I mean,
(26:59):
I make enough mistakes that I'm ableto course correct and kind of figure out
what I'm doing. And even ifI make dough that's not easy to work
with in a correct situation, thatpizza always turns out to be like crazy
good, right, And I'll tellpeople this. I will never make dough
(27:19):
quite like this again for this manypeople. But if it was five people,
this is what I would do becauseit's wet and hard to work.
But man, the pizza is comingout sick. So I'm you know,
I've been do you try to stayconsistent in your ratios and you're saying sometimes
(27:41):
it comes out feeling more wet andsticky than others. Well, the wet
and the most recent wet and sticky. I know the source of that is
I used. I'm trying to Ihave a convenience thing where if I make
a twenty four hour dough, Ican make it the day before. It
(28:02):
just works better with my schedule atwork. So I thought, let me
try and make dough on Sunday.But I wanted to taste like something.
I don't want it to just bethis like twenty four hour dough that doesn't
really have too much going on interms of I usually ferment for seventy two
hours, so I mixed in olddough. But I mixed in way too
much old dough, so I littleenthusiastic. I should have done like two
(28:25):
or three pizzas to test it out. Instead I did a whole batch,
So I wound up making eighty pizzaswith a dough that was seventy percent new
dough and thirty percent old dough,or maybe even more old dough than that,
so it was difficult to work.Now I'm doing about for about ten
(28:48):
two hundred and eighty five grand pizzas, I'll put two hundred and eighty five
grands of old dough into that.Much more manageable and it's easy to work
within a fast you know, whenI've got to make a lot of pizzas
in a row, and it hasa funky, funky flavor to it that
I want from a dough that isonly twenty four hours old. So that
(29:11):
preferment, which I guess is likea poolish or a vega, but not
quite that. You know, Yeah, it sounds like it's a vega.
It helps give flavor to a dough. That's but I'm going to go back
to the seventy two hour. That'swhat I like, That's what I'm comfortable
with. But I do try.Oh let me see. I saw this
guy do this. Let me seeif I like the result of that.
(29:34):
What's your rising agent? I useactive dry yeast. Okay, it's straight
up active dry yeast. I get, you know, a good two pound
block from Baldoor. And what kindof flower are you using? You know,
I'm not one hundred percent sold onthe main flower. I use the
Caputo double zero pizzeria and I goseventy percent that to thirty percent Arthur Sir
(30:00):
Galahad, which I think is thewrong flower for pizza, but it's not.
Somebody told me to do the Lancelot. I got the lancelot and I
hated it. So I've got twotwenty four cameras of Lancelot that I use
as bench flower. Oh oh uh, sir, they're both amazing flowers.
And I can tell you, likeDan Richard, who I'm sure you know
(30:22):
who he is, he uses thehe uses the Sir Galahad. He does,
he uses it. Yes, thatthat's encouraging. Listen. It's a
lower protein flower. Certainly, SirLancelot is the highest King Arthur protein.
And then you have then you havethis the special patent, which is a
(30:42):
bread flower, and then you havethe Sir Galahad. And the Sir Galahad's
good because it's not as bretty asthe other two. Certain Lancelot's gonna be
bretty because it's got so much ofthat protein. But it also it's good
for Roman pizza, really good,good Roman pizza. We got a place
(31:03):
right around the corner that makes impasto. If you're in this area, you
should come check out Impasto. Yeah. His though is like a cloud.
Yeah that's and he's probably using becauseyou could do that with Sir Lancelot.
I that's what I use for myScotch out of bread because I want it
light and airy with big holes andcrumb and stuff like that. Just strictly
(31:26):
that flower. Do you use likethat? That's it? Really? Yeah,
really, if I'm got to onpurpose, I sometimes use the the
Caputo Cloud, the super Novello orwhatever it is. Yeah, I just
don't have a lot of that becauseI'm not really a pizza maker by trade.
I'm doing a lot more breads righton. And I did buy the
(31:49):
Caputo double zero blue, and Iuse that to make pizza at home and
I like it a lot. Ilike it, but I want to try
There's a there's a few other brandsthat I think I would like to check
out and see if I prefer them. The Kapudo's fine, and it's better
than I was using an a brandfrom the supermarket. Yeah, I used
(32:09):
to use that. The first timeI have the first batch I made with
the Capudo, I mean you couldfeel the difference it was. Yeah,
the dough is so tender and it'sincredible. It's incredible. I'm mixing.
It's a lot of money, though, man, It's fifty bucks for the
fifty five pound bag about and thechatter is like thirty bucks for the fifty
(32:30):
five pound bags so I don't knowthe name of it, but there's a
pizza place around me that I love. He makes just amazing pizza. He's
got like one guy in the backand he also cooks, and he's in
the front, and his pizza's amazingand he buys whatever. There's double zero
that restaurant depot sells for twenty fivebucks for fifty pounds and it's awesome.
(32:53):
I bought a bag of that ina pinch and I hated it. You
hated it, Okay, felt likewhen I was working the dough, it
was not fully absorbing the water,and there was always kind of like this
weird excess water in the dough thatI never ever experience. That's interesting,
(33:19):
like when you're putting clay together andyou make that extra wet clay mush to
join jo. Yeah, I knowwhat you mean. It was very strange.
No matter how I needed, Icould not get it to And that's
another one that I used as benchflower for six months. I went through.
You know what. Some of ittoo, is like it's that science
(33:40):
that we aren't measuring every step ofthe way, because the science with each
one of these are going to bedifferent. And I know in bread that
seventy two hours. Listen, there'sa thing about Oh I for met my
doll for three weeks, right,and it sounds really cool, But there
is a point where it passes whatthe peak could be. And from what
(34:06):
I know about sour toe, baking, seventy two hours is getting close to
the pass mark on a lot ofbread again. But I'm going by this
guy I follow Tom Cacuza, whoI think is a genius. But you
know, he measures it scientifically,and it's probably with certain flowers. So
I would think that any of theseflowers might be able to work better than
(34:30):
the results you experienced if you hadlike six months to try different ways.
I think each flower requires its ownunique amount of hydration or what exactly.
I bet you're right. I meanit didn't. And it's just like if
you and I moved to Denver andwe're making pizza up in the mountains with
the same exact ingredients we work withnow, it would be different, Yeah,
(34:52):
for sure, for sure. Yeah, the altitude, everything, all
of these environmental factors have an impact. And I honestly, coming into summer,
I learned a hundred lessons about thatthis summer, Like I can't have
your dough out next to me likeI do in the winter. I had
(35:13):
to. You know, there area number of evenings that were so hot
that I had to work right outof the ice box the dough because if
I left it on the counter,it was gone destroyed in forty minutes,
just way overblown, ninety degrees.And then under the tent next to the
ovens, it's one hundred and fivedegrees. Right, So you know,
I'm gradually learning about making dough ona rainy, hot day as opposed to
(35:38):
making dough on a cold, dryNovember day. A totally different results with
the same process, totally different.Now here's something I'm really curious about because
I put myself in these dream positionsof being at a party like you,
and of course the first one Iwould have assume you were nervous because because
(36:01):
that I'm scared shit to do myfirst party with forty people at on pizza.
Yeah, Like, how do youLet's say you had two ovens.
You have two ovens. I haveone, and then I have a rock
box in my yard that I couldfold up and bring right, how could
I prep this dough? Like Idon't I can't get my mind around the
(36:24):
workflow. I mean, what itreally depends on. What we have learned
is we have to control the flowof how orders come in and how food
goes out at parties. What Ifound works best is I make a menu,
(36:46):
just like I do for a partfor a regular gig, no prices,
just the menu, so the guestsknow what they're getting, and I
just push pizzas out. I don'ttake orders. I push pizzas out.
Have somebody watching the table where Iput stuff. And this does a couple
of things, one of which Istill and I hate that I do.
(37:09):
I burn a pizza every night.I break a pizza every night in the
oven. I drop a pizza everynight coming out of the oven, whatever
it is. If I burn ithalf a pizza at a sales thing,
I can't sell that pizza at all. That becomes staff food. If I
burn half a pizza at a party, I cut half out that burnt thing.
(37:30):
I eat the three good slices Islice up and put on another round
with half of another pizza, andthat goes out to the guests. So
I have the flexibility of salvaging somethingthat I might otherwise not be able to
salvage. If I'm selling a wholepie to a guest at a pop up
(37:50):
and I just have whoever's watching thefront, my staff person tells me,
we could use another two marks.We could use another two and I'll just
bake two pie. I build themside by side, two pieces at a
time on the board, load themup onto the peel at the same time,
launch them at the same time whilethey're in. If I can get
(38:12):
two more does out and set up, I will get those pizzas out.
And it's just a cycle. Andwhen they're not placing orders and you're just
making the flow happen, you justget into the rhythm of making the flow
happen. You're not going to getall forty people want your pizza at one
time, you know what I mean. They're not all going to show up
at one pm when the party starts. So like, I was scared out
(38:36):
of my mind that everybody would bethere in the beginning. I was going
to get crushed. I brought abuddy of mine who grew up in a
pizzeria and Noe, you know,is like a legit pizza guy. I
made him come to a bunch ofparties with me in the beginning, and
he, honestly, he just stoodthere and told me to figure it out
in the nicest way possible. He'smy buddy. I love it. But
(38:57):
he was like, you have it, go ahead. I'm not coming in
until I see that you really needme. Why would I And that dr
fire in what I imagine great.What I imagined was like, you're at
the party. You're setting up theand you've arranged a time with the host
and they say, okay, everyone, forty people, it's dinner time,
(39:17):
come out and get your pizza.It depends if it's a wedding. Sure,
at a wedding, everybody sits atthe same time, and the kitchen
in the back they've got one hundredand fifty plates laid out and fifteen chefs
down the line. Each chef isputting one component on the plate, so
all of those plates are built atthe same time. The staff loads up
(39:40):
trays and brings them out. That'severybody eats. That's one hundred and fifty
bucks ahead. You're making pizza inthe backyard for a cocktail party, and
this guy is having a drink overhere, and maybe there's a bowl of
olives that's another thing I do.I bring some snacky things that I can
put out, a couple of patchesthat I can cut up and put out
(40:00):
in different places, a couple ofbowls of really nice black olives that I've
dressed with herbs or whatever, somecorne fie garlet clothes, a corn salad
if it's the summer, so thatthey can help themselves to some stuff while
to take the pressure off of me, you know what I mean, And
(40:21):
then they can have a few thingson the plate. And when the pizzas
come out, they come out,and at parties, people are very gracious.
They're very happy, you know whatI mean. They don't expect to
eat, in my experience, allforty of them at once. That's great,
and it's fixed. They want to, you know what I mean,
bullshit with them. They love tochat with the pizza guy. That's great.
(40:44):
You know. I get my contextwell. Comparison is is having people
online at an event where they're payingand ordering and then stepping aside and waiting.
Right That's why I do my sandwichesright now. And I did an
early warning Farmers Market on Sunday.My youngest son won't like me telling this
(41:04):
story. But he shows up withme and he had two and a half
hours sleep and he's hungover, yeah, and he's puking. He say he's
got to go home, so I'min the truck. He's gonna be pissed
if he hears this, and mywife has to come in. And then
luckily my other son, my olderson, came because we had no business
(41:25):
during this four hour event except foran hour and fifteen minutes, and we
got hammerd. Yeah, in anhour and fifteen minutes. We had tickets
that I've never had before lined upand I had to, you know,
make these sandwiches by order and eachone customers ordering six, and I heat
up all the bread and I like, it's not just cut bread and throw
(41:46):
shit on it, right, Yeah, And it was nerve wracking me out
of pressure. I limit pies sometimeswhen we get busy at a pop up,
you can get two pies each andthen you got to get back in
line. I've got only two ovens. It's just me. We have people
who wait an hour and forty fiveminutes for their peace. See that's cool.
(42:10):
It's as long as they know that. Yeah. I feel like at
some of the events I'm doing.If they wait, they start complaining and
they don't understand that that's part ofit. But I do remember in college,
way before pizza trucks was a thingU there was a truck that was
very unique. It was called Johnny'sHot Truck and he made French bread pizzas.
(42:36):
I don't know what the heck ovenhe had back in nineteen eighty four
where it was in Ithaca. Ican't even believe I lived there. No,
you didn't, did you there?I did. I lived right on
Serrity Road, across the street froma bunch of Serrity houses. No way,
So I would go. I wouldgo. I went to Ithaca College
(42:57):
and this was on the Cornell campus. Yeah, I know exactly talking about
dude. But we would drive andlike part of the experience was the weight
and it was cool. Yeah.I mean I find that people as long
as they know I'll go. IfI go to a nice restaurant, I'll
wait for a table. I knowI'm gonna wait for a ta you know
(43:19):
what I mean. So as longas I have a reasonable understanding, Yeah,
and we've gotten good not me,I saw, they don't. My
front of the house protects me frommyself. They've gotten really good at predicting
how long to tell everybody. Ittakes three minutes to bake, make and
(43:40):
bake that pizza. But when I'vegot forty people stacked up, that three
minutes is at the end of Andwe have a nice dining room where people
can sit down, it's air condition, they can have a drink, so
it's uh and we don't take theirorder until I'm ready to make that's you
wait in line and then they callyou up when we're ready to make it.
(44:04):
You put your name on a list. You know, Honestly, I
don't even know what the system isthat they're using because I'm not involved in
that. They just basically feed meno more than four pizzas at a time
of what I'm making and will onlygive me an over under of fifteen.
So then I'm not panicking. Wow, I'm gonna come out with my wife
(44:24):
on a Monday. Monday is agreat night for me. Come out,
dude, Conday's a great night.It sounds like a field trip. I'm
definitely doing it. I will bethere within the month. Awesome. I
want to check this thing out.I want to see what you got going
on and I want to stay intouch and collab. Man, come and
come out and bake. I gotan apron for you. Come out and
(44:47):
I don't know if you want mebacon. Man, I'm not that good
at pizza. I'll be perfectly honest. I want to learn. Come out
and learn, Come out and let'scook together. I would love that,
all right, brother, I appreciateI've enjoyed talking to you, and you
and I will stay in touch forsure, buddy, outstanding man, Thank
you very much, sir. Thisepisode of Bread for the People was brought
(45:09):
to you by Side Hustle Bread,Long Island's handcrafted, artisanal bread company.
Side Hustle Bread is a family runbusiness that's bringing the neighborhood field back to
Long Island, one loaf at atime. If you like what you're hearing,
don't forget to head on over tieiTunes and rate and review this episode.
Reviewing and rating is the most effectiveway to help us grow our audience.
(45:30):
This episode was produced by Milestone TVand Film. I'm your host,
Jim Serpico. Less it be thebread, Everyone
You're ready to go, Yes,sir, Welcome the Bread for the People.
My name's Jim Serpico. Today,I have a guest that I've been
looking to talk to for a longtime. I think we connected over Instagram
a little over a year ago.It's been exciting to see the rise of
(00:25):
infamy of Aggy Russo from Aggie's Infamous. He's a small batch, handmade pizza
maker, Neapolitanish style, Aggie.I'm so excited to find a hook up
with you, man. Thank youso much. Man. I can't tell
you how many times I started adirect message asking can I get on the
(00:48):
podcast and then deleting it and beinglike, I'm not gonna pest through this,
dude. My name's Jim Serpico,and this should I start with my
name? What should I start with? This is bread for the People?
Do you like it like this?Welcome to bread? Or do you like
it like this? Welcome ready,Welcome to Bread for the people? Mine?
(01:10):
Is there a script? Thank youso much, man. I can't
tell you how many times I starteda direct message asking can I get on
the podcast and then deleting it andbeing like, I'm not gonna pest through
(01:32):
this. Dude, ah good,always past for me. But listen,
I really have I know we weretalking about maybe getting together at one point,
and uh, you know, partof it was one of the reasons
I didn't go head on and saylet's do it, is because I was
(01:52):
hiding the fact that I was doinga lot of the baking out of my
home and I couldn't really show it. I couldn't really show it on Instagram
and stuff because you know, whenI was out doing the farmers markets,
there were there were people coming afterme for baking in the home, right
you know. Now I have thefood truck, so I'm on wheels,
(02:12):
I'm permitted it, I'm licensed,and I've got a pizza oven in there,
so maybe we'll do something in there. You have a dome? Is
that what you put in the oven? Yeah? Man, I put the
dome in. I don't make aton of pizzas in it professionally. I
mainly use it to heat up thescutchhot of bread that I served the sandwiches
on and and use it as myheat source for whatever I'm doing. But
(02:38):
I do make pizzas personally in there, and I do plan to do catering
with pizzas and stuff like that,and and if you ever want a jam
on that kind of stuff, Iwould love to have you in the truck
and do parties together. Man.I would love that. I would love
that. I just came back froma party. I love doing I love
all of it. I love bakingfor strangers in the street. I love
(03:01):
having people in my backyard, friendsand family off the books, you know,
just casual bullshit. And I lovedoing gigs for like a group of
people that I'm getting ready to awedding after party. I just came back
from a family reunion down on theJersey shore, that kind of thing where
it's a group of people assembled togetherfor the same event or function or gathering.
(03:25):
They've already got their own vibe.I love that. I really I
never realized how much I liked peoplebefore me neither, and that is what
I like about what we're doing,and particularly I love being out with the
people in those same situations. AndI would say the joke for me for
(03:47):
a big part of my life wasI can't stand people. But I guess
it's not true. It's not Isay the same thing at every single bait
I was in post in production.I was in post, I was in
the back of the house, nointeraction with people except for my producers or
whoever or other you know, editors. And before that, when I was
(04:10):
cooking professionally, the same thing.I was in the kitchen, I didn't
really ever interact with the diners,and I viewed them as eaters. I
remember being a twenty one year old, arrogant asshole and referring to the guests
in the restaurant as eaters, whichis such a terrible like the people that
(04:30):
come and eat my pizza. Now, I, to the best of my
ability, unless I'm totally jammed up, I like to greet everybody. I
shout at people happily, you knowwhat I mean. Well, there there's
a couple of things you're touching on. I mean, one in the restaurant
business, it's a little different,I think because as you've identified some of
(04:56):
these parties, there's groups of peoplecoming together and their agenda is the have
a good time, right, theirguard is down, everyone's part of the
hang together. You're kind of likethe celebrity in the center of it,
you know, serving it. Butyou know, even at the farmer's market,
where they're not coming together. Itis a similar vibe. I guess
(05:19):
they appreciate why they're there. It'speople sure, if they're deliberately coming.
A farmer's market is less convenient thangoing to supermarket, Grand Union, Path
Mark whatever it is, right,and it's more of an experience. The
farmer's market. You're deliberately choosing thebest produce that you can for this party.
(05:40):
I just did. I got upat eight and went to the farmer's
market. I got up at sixand was there at seven thirty for an
eight am opening. And everybody isthere on purpose to get like the best,
most delicious stuff. Right. That'sa big difference mentality. Right in
the supermarket, you're going, Igotta go supermarket. I have to go
(06:00):
to the supermarket to feed my familywho doesn't do anything because they're lazy,
and I'm the one who has toget all the food for them. That
farmer's market, you go and geta cup of coffee. It's beautiful out
Saturday morning. The only people thatare up are you know. It's a
different vibe. It's very nice.I love the I love If I could,
(06:23):
I would shop the farmer's market allthe time. But it's you know,
very pregental, and it's it's alsothis one here is very expensive.
Yeah. So just for the listeners, when you talk about your other job,
you were in the back of thehouse and post, explain what that
means. I was a video editorand motion graphics artists from like the mid
(06:48):
two thousands until right up to thelast presidential election. Let's say that's when
I really got out of it,or the special election in George is when
I really that was the last thingthat I did commercially. Right since then,
I've done a couple of music videosfor a friend, or my girlfriend
(07:09):
shoots analog film. I edit herweird films. They're not commercial. There's
no producer hovering and touching my monitor. It's a very chill I get to
do what I want. Oggie,I wish there was a producer touch in
your monitor now, because you tiltedup a little, Yes, sir,
how's that? That's good? Allright, that's awesome. The vibe in
(07:32):
the in the post house is interesting. There's a lot of pressure to turn
things out. When you're working commercially. You're the editor. You're probably answering
to some producer mostly, and thenyou have you have support people in the
front dealing with clearance and paperwork,and they're over worked and they work long
(07:54):
hours, and they have no windows, and it could be draining. And
things are a little different now,Like people have an expectation that I think
as those tools have gotten smaller andsmaller and more and more accessible. An
editor expected now to be an editor, a color correction guy down designer,
(08:16):
sourcing clips. It's a lot.It got to be, you know,
a lot more than I wanted todeal with. And it's not nearly as
fun. I'm in a dark roomby myself a lot of the time.
I sit all day. Now,I am on my feet. I jump
out of bed at seven o'clock inthe morning, and that's late, Like
I cannot wait to get started withmy day and whatever it is, if
(08:39):
it's making dough, if it's walkingup the street and sitting out in front
of the restaurant with my boss,the chef of the restaurant where I work,
and just talking about whatever, andso so not to confuse people here,
you have your own pizza business that'svery successful, and you also work
(09:01):
at a restaurant. I work ata restaurant five nights a week. It's
a block from my house. Myboss is my buddy and one of the
original supporters of the pizza thing.And on Monday nights when we're closed,
he lets me use the restaurant.I have the diner bar. I bake
out front, which is okay,so that is give us the name of
(09:24):
that. That's Lulu and Poe AndI mean so that Monday nights, you're
there five to ten, right,well, to sell out five to ten
or until we sell out. Yeah, And if somebody walked up at five
minutes after ten and I had adough, I would make them a pizza.
I love to bake pizza. Iloved I will bake anybody that walks
up, I will bake you apizza. So tell us about the setup
(09:48):
there. You're in an driveway,an alley, you're on the sidewalk.
How does this work? I basicallyhave the street in front of the restaurant
where he had his COVID structure permit. There's no structure. We pulled it
down. So every Monday morning Igo there at eight am and I secure
(10:09):
that parking spot because it's street sweepingmorning and and people. So I get
out there with some cones. Mytranspot. People show up with the truck.
We saved the spot. And thenbasically by three o'clock, I have
a little mini couple of tents andyou know, a bunch of tables set
(10:30):
up and people walk up. Icatch a lot of folks. I've been
in this neighborhood for a long time, so I know a lot of people.
And what neighborhood is that in Brooklynbutton Hill, right, So in
the truck you're you're referring to iswhat a box truck that you just keep
your supplies literally just the pickup truckwith my gear, We're okay, We're
(10:52):
very small, light set up.I have two Uni sixteens. I bring
five tables and a couple of bigtents and that's basically and some coolers.
And then I have the walk inat the restaurant, so I'm able to
use that the kitchen at my jobas sort of my spot that I operate
(11:16):
out of. But I bake outon the curb. I bake out literally
in the gutter, which is tome, it's so crazy and weird,
but it's it's cool and you mightbe small baking on the curb, but
you're now being recognized around the world. You were You were written up in
the New York Times with about fourother of the greatest pizza makers uh in
(11:41):
New York that that make malbile pizza. You were recently written up in London,
I believe, Yeah, the Timesof London. How how did that
happen? I'm not sure. Imean, it's it all has to go
back to the New York Times article. Any of the press that I've gotten
definitely goes back to Pete Wells andhe helped and that that guy is why
(12:03):
I'm so busy all the time now. It's incredible to me. And that
that comes from from Scott from Scott'sPizza Tours. Guarantee that that's the guy
that that told Pete well Was tocome try my pizza. Okay, so
Scott for Scott has been on mypodcast. I really love talking to him.
(12:24):
He's like he's he lives and breathespizza in such a great way,
and he's such a supporter of allbusinesses and pizza and all pizza and he
respects the art form and everything fromthe pizza box to every style and genre
(12:46):
of pizza. And I wasn't awarewhat did he discover you and a pop
up? How did you connect withScott? I bet I just probably was,
you know, chatting on his posts, a huge mouth on Instagram,
and I guarantee you that I justand he's a nice guy. And hey,
(13:07):
he's come out to a bunch ofmy the Slice Out of Hunger pop
ups. He's come to the onesthat I've participated in, which is awesome.
I've gotten a baker. I wantto talk about those two that's on
my list because you, as wellas a lot of people that I am
Instagram friends with, are involved withSlice Out Hunger across the nation. It's
a great charity, man, It'sa really great charity. So let's let's
(13:30):
talk about it. What is it? What is the charity? The charity
is Scott is, like you said, this wealth of pizza information, right.
He knows everything about pizza, lovespizza. He's a Jersey boy who's
just in love with pizza. Andthrough the Scott's Pizza Tour thing I'm pretty
sure is that how he, youknow, developed the Slice Out Hunger charity
(13:54):
where he's got pizzaiolos and home pizzabakers. Anybody who wants to make a
pizza get together eight ten, fiftyof your friends and bake some pizza and
raise some money, and then theysend that money to help support or help
(14:16):
fight against food insecurity. So they'llsend pizzas, twenty five pizzas to a
soup kitchen or fifty pizzas to ashelter, and he's it's a tiny staff
and they do really a huge amountof charitable fundraising. It's crazy that it's
just a few people that are ableto to do that have that loud of
(14:41):
voice. Yeah. Now, soif I wanted to do this, you're
saying, I could do it.I could host it at my house with
my pizza ovens one and get myfriends to come. And what do we
do. Are we making pizzas oram I charging them? You can do
whatever. You could have them comeand say come over. I'm not charging
you for the pizza. But ifyou make a twenty dollar donation each one
of you, or forty bucks fora couple and twenty five bucks for a
(15:05):
single person, and you eat allthe pizza one all night, and at
the end of the night, wesend that money to Slice out Hunger.
I just did a political fundraiser foran old friend of mine from High school
who was running for local office outin Huntington's and I basically went out there
for cost the cost of the fuel, the food and my staff and baked
(15:31):
pizza to help raise money for hercampaign. And then Long Island, Yeah,
Huntington, Long Island, right,And at the end of the night,
her treasurer whatever gave me a threehundred dollar check for Slice out Hunger
because I am a loudmouth and anybodythat really knows me and pizza knows that
I love. I love that charity. So at the end of the night
(15:54):
that was my tip. Basically theygave me a tip, but that was
like the little extra thing. Here'sthree bucks for the charity we know that
you love. That's so cool.They're really they do great work. They
really do great work. I lovesupporting them. I love baking at their
events. I love being able toreach out and ask Scott any dumb question
about the pizza world. He alwayshas a great, thoughtful answer. He's
(16:17):
a very very generous dude. He'sa special guy. Now, when you
were in Huntington, did you happento have the time or opportunity to check
out some of the pizza places there? Because there's a couple that are legendary.
Oh yeah, I mean I livedin Huntington's for maybe a couple of
years, and I would eat atLittle Vincent's a lot home with a colt
twice. Yeah, that's that's that'sa specific one. That's a great one.
(16:45):
I mean that was the one thatwe went to. I worked,
you know, fifty yards from thatspot, so that was weird. What
restaurant did you work at in Huntington's. No, there, I was still
doing production. I had a productionWow. So there did you get?
Did you get to go to DollingCompany, which is new and probably wasn't
there when you were there, No, suir, this would have been back
(17:06):
in two thousand and seven, twothousand and eight, maybe something like that.
Oh yeah, I didn't. Igrew up eating at at Vincent's in
Albertson. If you know Vincent's,the Italian restaurant. I mean, yeah,
sure, he's got seats in theback. Oh different, Vincent's different,
Okay, I got you. Thenthe old Nest scot shopping mall when
(17:29):
I was a kid. This isthe eighties. Yeah, great pizza,
regular, traditional, nothing fancy.No, not like me with the weird
shit on top. Just the great, great pizza, great ill zone.
Too deep front, let's get let'sget into your stuff and the weird stuff
that you do. What makes yourpizza. I know you do like you
(17:52):
have an amazing doll and stuff.But let's get into the toppings because you
kind of push the boundaries there,and I want to what inspires you and
you know how you came up withsome of these things, and give the
listeners some examples of what you do. Well, a lot of it,
honestly is outright theft. It's justit's the stuff that we ate as kids
(18:15):
and was never fancy. Growing upas an Italian American eating salami and figs
was not cool. It wasn't fancy, It wasn't cool, It wasn't,
you know, in any way exciting. It was just that's what we had
and that's what we ate. Soa lot of it is the stuff that
(18:36):
I grew up eating. So let'sstay on this Salamian figs for a second.
When you prepare that pizza, Iwould assume you're topping the salami for
sure. I don't bake with figsa lot, so I'm curious do you
put them on also before you cookthe pizza and heat them up, or
do you put them on after.It depends if they're like crazy ripe and
(18:57):
amazing, I'll put them on after. If they're you know, not super
ripe beginning of the season, orthey haven't really gotten soft, and I'll
maybe I'll put I might broulet them, I might put a little I always
have some kind of spicy sugar,so I might put some spicy sugar on
top of them and make sure they'reat the very last topping on the on
(19:18):
the pie so they get the flame, so they kind of cook and get
soft and sweet and spicy. Andyou know what I mean. If if
the if the produce is not atits peak and I'm using it, I
have to do something to kind of, you know, help it along a
little bit. Okay, Now I'mnot a trained chef. I'm not from
(19:41):
I could imagine loving spicy sugar.Is that a mixture of regular sugar and
cayenne pepper or it's a pepper ofa of something that I make. I
make these candied chilies and I'll getyou some. They're really nice. I
hook chilies in bourbon and sugar andfennel and then I roll them in sugar
(20:07):
with fennel, and then I dehydratethem for thirty hours and then they're like
these long shards of glass that arespicy and sweet at the same time.
And so the guests can take itand crush it on top of the pizza
instead of the sprinkling stuff that yousee everywhere. That sounds amazing. They're
groovy. They're really really nice thatthe next batch I make, I'll make
(20:30):
sure to get you some. Thankyou, oh man. I love that.
So after rolling a few batches ofthose chilies and the sugar, the
sugar just picks up the peat fromthe seeds fall off in there, and
so that sugar is I have bucketsof it, and that sugar gets used
in other applications as I might need. Do you sell that sugar by the
(20:52):
jar? I sell the chilies,and I sell the liquid. The liquid
that I cook everything is awesome.It's just a spicy, simple syrup.
So I do the fennel and bourbonone, great for an old fashioned.
I do a tequila and cariander andcitrus one, which is great for like
a margarita that when I cook pineappleand chilis and so my pineapple and ham
(21:21):
pizza has dehydrated pineapple that's very spicyand chewy. It's dehydrated. It's phenomenal,
really nice. Great, So Iget I guess I know where you
stand on one hundred percent pineapple.I'm one hundred and anything on a pizza
that is delicious. I'm gonna putbarbecue pork on a pizza. Absolutely,
(21:45):
I'm with you. It's the craziestthing I've ever heard that you can't put
And you know what they eat inMaples. They put hot dogs and French
fries on a pizza, so whynot? And I'm not No, I'm
not poo pooing a French fried hotdog. That sounds to me. I
want that. I want a FrenchRyan hot dog pizza. I want to
Philly cheese steak. I think anythingpizza is an amazing vehicle. It's an
(22:10):
open piece of beautiful bread and youcan put whatever you want on top of
it or nothing, olive oil andsea salt. How satisfying is that?
Do you ever go on to thesites on Facebook, the pizza sites and
just watch for entertainment? Yes?I never ever go on and participate like
I'm I follow all of those pizzaattic groups as my regular person self,
(22:33):
not as the tiny pizza thing,and I there it's horrifying. There are
some people. I don't understand howpeople can be mad in a situation it's
a pizza. I have people whohate my goggles. I get trolls who
shit on my goggles stupid glasses forbeing out of literally that's it. There's
(22:55):
nothing clever about them. It's soI can see. So it's only the
people in the pizza groups that complainabout your glasses, right, well,
non on Instagram, I have somelike new trolls since the New York Times
thing, and so I do.I've gotten a lot of like negative commentary
(23:15):
on the weird shit on the pizzaand also my goggles. Well the pizza
thing, listen, it comes withthe territory. It's unbelievable. Especially Pineapple
and ham Man that is just likea fire starter, so good I use
spec or nice Serrano ham I meannot putting board, you know, iron
(23:36):
and Dole, Pineapple, God,I think that's a bad idea. Everything
is thoughtfully produced, and you knowthat it's a white pizza. There's no
tomato sauce on my ham and pineapplepizza. It's a white pizza with greair
and what could be what could tastebad about gre air and speck and spicy
pine Half of those people were morethan half don't know what spec is,
(24:00):
so I wouldn't worry about it.And that's probably very true. That's probably
very What is uh a most popularpizza that you serve? I mean,
I was a little surprised last well, I do a weird interpretation of and
(24:22):
my French is awful. The croakmadame and the croak monsour. Yeah,
that's ham and cheese, right,So I do a serrano ham, salted
red onion, preserved lemon, reair, quail eggs and breadcrumb, a
(24:44):
buttery toasted breadcrumb so that you tastethe butter like you would on a grilled
cheese sandwich. Yeah, those twodid really well. It's too hot now
I don't serve them, But inthe late winter, early spring, that
was a really popular one. Peoplelike that. They're they're crunchy, they're
(25:06):
the preserved lemon is really nice andbright and has no business being on that
sandwich. But it just works anyway. It's it's a non traditional interpretation of
a sandwich on a pizza, soit's as like on its ear as it
can get. It's wrong across theboard. I love that. I love
the way you think about this stuffman. And my process, my doughmaking
(25:30):
process, it's one hundred percent notright. So let's talk about that.
I don't know what I'm doing.I honestly am just kind of like I've
gotten a point where I can tellfrom the feel of my dough what what
I might need to do. Butthere I have a lot of gaps in
my domemaking. I need a doughdaddy, is what I need. I
(25:52):
need like a real serious two weekswith somebody that can answer all of my
like about this, what about questionslike that? What about you know,
Aggie, I'm thinking about doing thatin January or February. I think I'm
one of a recent podcast about going, yeah, taking a class. I
think I'm gonna use my downtime todo uh maybe Tony gem and Yanni's school
(26:18):
or something like that. I wantto do something like that with my time
and do exactly what you you're talkingabout, because I'm much like you self
taught. I kind of understand thescience enough, but I never really put
a ton of time into that partbecause quite frankly, it bores me.
(26:38):
But you need to know enough ofit. I want the real details,
and I can't get them off theinternet from like other people that know as
little as I do. I needa well that's like a real baker that
can tell me definitively this is whatthis is about. This is why is
my dough doing this? I don'tget it, but I'm I mean,
(26:59):
I make enough mistakes that I'm ableto course correct and kind of figure out
what I'm doing. And even ifI make dough that's not easy to work
with in a correct situation, thatpizza always turns out to be like crazy
good, right, And I'll tellpeople this. I will never make dough
(27:19):
quite like this again for this manypeople. But if it was five people,
this is what I would do becauseit's wet and hard to work.
But man, the pizza is comingout sick. So I'm you know,
I've been do you try to stayconsistent in your ratios and you're saying sometimes
(27:41):
it comes out feeling more wet andsticky than others. Well, the wet
and the most recent wet and sticky. I know the source of that is
I used. I'm trying to Ihave a convenience thing where if I make
a twenty four hour dough, Ican make it the day before. It
(28:02):
just works better with my schedule atwork. So I thought, let me
try and make dough on Sunday.But I wanted to taste like something.
I don't want it to just bethis like twenty four hour dough that doesn't
really have too much going on interms of I usually ferment for seventy two
hours, so I mixed in olddough. But I mixed in way too
much old dough, so I littleenthusiastic. I should have done like two
(28:25):
or three pizzas to test it out. Instead I did a whole batch,
So I wound up making eighty pizzaswith a dough that was seventy percent new
dough and thirty percent old dough,or maybe even more old dough than that,
so it was difficult to work.Now I'm doing about for about ten
(28:48):
two hundred and eighty five grand pizzas, I'll put two hundred and eighty five
grands of old dough into that.Much more manageable and it's easy to work
within a fast you know, whenI've got to make a lot of pizzas
in a row, and it hasa funky, funky flavor to it that
I want from a dough that isonly twenty four hours old. So that
(29:11):
preferment, which I guess is likea poolish or a vega, but not
quite that. You know, Yeah, it sounds like it's a vega.
It helps give flavor to a dough. That's but I'm going to go back
to the seventy two hour. That'swhat I like, That's what I'm comfortable
with. But I do try.Oh let me see. I saw this
guy do this. Let me seeif I like the result of that.
(29:34):
What's your rising agent? I useactive dry yeast. Okay, it's straight
up active dry yeast. I get, you know, a good two pound
block from Baldoor. And what kindof flower are you using? You know,
I'm not one hundred percent sold onthe main flower. I use the
Caputo double zero pizzeria and I goseventy percent that to thirty percent Arthur Sir
(30:00):
Galahad, which I think is thewrong flower for pizza, but it's not.
Somebody told me to do the Lancelot. I got the lancelot and I
hated it. So I've got twotwenty four cameras of Lancelot that I use
as bench flower. Oh oh uh, sir, they're both amazing flowers.
And I can tell you, likeDan Richard, who I'm sure you know
(30:22):
who he is, he uses thehe uses the Sir Galahad. He does,
he uses it. Yes, thatthat's encouraging. Listen. It's a
lower protein flower. Certainly, SirLancelot is the highest King Arthur protein.
And then you have then you havethis the special patent, which is a
(30:42):
bread flower, and then you havethe Sir Galahad. And the Sir Galahad's
good because it's not as bretty asthe other two. Certain Lancelot's gonna be
bretty because it's got so much ofthat protein. But it also it's good
for Roman pizza, really good,good Roman pizza. We got a place
(31:03):
right around the corner that makes impasto. If you're in this area, you
should come check out Impasto. Yeah. His though is like a cloud.
Yeah that's and he's probably using becauseyou could do that with Sir Lancelot.
I that's what I use for myScotch out of bread because I want it
light and airy with big holes andcrumb and stuff like that. Just strictly
(31:26):
that flower. Do you use likethat? That's it? Really? Yeah,
really, if I'm got to onpurpose, I sometimes use the the
Caputo Cloud, the super Novello orwhatever it is. Yeah, I just
don't have a lot of that becauseI'm not really a pizza maker by trade.
I'm doing a lot more breads righton. And I did buy the
(31:49):
Caputo double zero blue, and Iuse that to make pizza at home and
I like it a lot. Ilike it, but I want to try
There's a there's a few other brandsthat I think I would like to check
out and see if I prefer them. The Kapudo's fine, and it's better
than I was using an a brandfrom the supermarket. Yeah, I used
(32:09):
to use that. The first timeI have the first batch I made with
the Capudo, I mean you couldfeel the difference it was. Yeah,
the dough is so tender and it'sincredible. It's incredible. I'm mixing.
It's a lot of money, though, man, It's fifty bucks for the
fifty five pound bag about and thechatter is like thirty bucks for the fifty
(32:30):
five pound bags so I don't knowthe name of it, but there's a
pizza place around me that I love. He makes just amazing pizza. He's
got like one guy in the backand he also cooks, and he's in
the front, and his pizza's amazingand he buys whatever. There's double zero
that restaurant depot sells for twenty fivebucks for fifty pounds and it's awesome.
(32:53):
I bought a bag of that ina pinch and I hated it. You
hated it, Okay, felt likewhen I was working the dough, it
was not fully absorbing the water,and there was always kind of like this
weird excess water in the dough thatI never ever experience. That's interesting,
(33:19):
like when you're putting clay together andyou make that extra wet clay mush to
join jo. Yeah, I knowwhat you mean. It was very strange.
No matter how I needed, Icould not get it to And that's
another one that I used as benchflower for six months. I went through.
You know what. Some of ittoo, is like it's that science
(33:40):
that we aren't measuring every step ofthe way, because the science with each
one of these are going to bedifferent. And I know in bread that
seventy two hours. Listen, there'sa thing about Oh I for met my
doll for three weeks, right,and it sounds really cool, But there
is a point where it passes whatthe peak could be. And from what
(34:06):
I know about sour toe, baking, seventy two hours is getting close to
the pass mark on a lot ofbread again. But I'm going by this
guy I follow Tom Cacuza, whoI think is a genius. But you
know, he measures it scientifically,and it's probably with certain flowers. So
I would think that any of theseflowers might be able to work better than
(34:30):
the results you experienced if you hadlike six months to try different ways.
I think each flower requires its ownunique amount of hydration or what exactly.
I bet you're right. I meanit didn't. And it's just like if
you and I moved to Denver andwe're making pizza up in the mountains with
the same exact ingredients we work withnow, it would be different, Yeah,
(34:52):
for sure, for sure. Yeah, the altitude, everything, all
of these environmental factors have an impact. And I honestly, coming into summer,
I learned a hundred lessons about thatthis summer, Like I can't have
your dough out next to me likeI do in the winter. I had
(35:13):
to. You know, there area number of evenings that were so hot
that I had to work right outof the ice box the dough because if
I left it on the counter,it was gone destroyed in forty minutes,
just way overblown, ninety degrees.And then under the tent next to the
ovens, it's one hundred and fivedegrees. Right, So you know,
I'm gradually learning about making dough ona rainy, hot day as opposed to
(35:38):
making dough on a cold, dryNovember day. A totally different results with
the same process, totally different.Now here's something I'm really curious about because
I put myself in these dream positionsof being at a party like you,
and of course the first one Iwould have assume you were nervous because because
(36:01):
that I'm scared shit to do myfirst party with forty people at on pizza.
Yeah, Like, how do youLet's say you had two ovens.
You have two ovens. I haveone, and then I have a rock
box in my yard that I couldfold up and bring right, how could
I prep this dough? Like Idon't I can't get my mind around the
(36:24):
workflow. I mean, what itreally depends on. What we have learned
is we have to control the flowof how orders come in and how food
goes out at parties. What Ifound works best is I make a menu,
(36:46):
just like I do for a partfor a regular gig, no prices,
just the menu, so the guestsknow what they're getting, and I
just push pizzas out. I don'ttake orders. I push pizzas out.
Have somebody watching the table where Iput stuff. And this does a couple
of things, one of which Istill and I hate that I do.
(37:09):
I burn a pizza every night.I break a pizza every night in the
oven. I drop a pizza everynight coming out of the oven, whatever
it is. If I burn ithalf a pizza at a sales thing,
I can't sell that pizza at all. That becomes staff food. If I
burn half a pizza at a party, I cut half out that burnt thing.
(37:30):
I eat the three good slices Islice up and put on another round
with half of another pizza, andthat goes out to the guests. So
I have the flexibility of salvaging somethingthat I might otherwise not be able to
salvage. If I'm selling a wholepie to a guest at a pop up
(37:50):
and I just have whoever's watching thefront, my staff person tells me,
we could use another two marks.We could use another two and I'll just
bake two pie. I build themside by side, two pieces at a
time on the board, load themup onto the peel at the same time,
launch them at the same time whilethey're in. If I can get
(38:12):
two more does out and set up, I will get those pizzas out.
And it's just a cycle. Andwhen they're not placing orders and you're just
making the flow happen, you justget into the rhythm of making the flow
happen. You're not going to getall forty people want your pizza at one
time, you know what I mean. They're not all going to show up
at one pm when the party starts. So like, I was scared out
(38:36):
of my mind that everybody would bethere in the beginning. I was going
to get crushed. I brought abuddy of mine who grew up in a
pizzeria and Noe, you know,is like a legit pizza guy. I
made him come to a bunch ofparties with me in the beginning, and
he, honestly, he just stoodthere and told me to figure it out
in the nicest way possible. He'smy buddy. I love it. But
(38:57):
he was like, you have it, go ahead. I'm not coming in
until I see that you really needme. Why would I And that dr
fire in what I imagine great.What I imagined was like, you're at
the party. You're setting up theand you've arranged a time with the host
and they say, okay, everyone, forty people, it's dinner time,
(39:17):
come out and get your pizza.It depends if it's a wedding. Sure,
at a wedding, everybody sits atthe same time, and the kitchen
in the back they've got one hundredand fifty plates laid out and fifteen chefs
down the line. Each chef isputting one component on the plate, so
all of those plates are built atthe same time. The staff loads up
(39:40):
trays and brings them out. That'severybody eats. That's one hundred and fifty
bucks ahead. You're making pizza inthe backyard for a cocktail party, and
this guy is having a drink overhere, and maybe there's a bowl of
olives that's another thing I do.I bring some snacky things that I can
put out, a couple of patchesthat I can cut up and put out
(40:00):
in different places, a couple ofbowls of really nice black olives that I've
dressed with herbs or whatever, somecorne fie garlet clothes, a corn salad
if it's the summer, so thatthey can help themselves to some stuff while
to take the pressure off of me, you know what I mean, And
(40:21):
then they can have a few thingson the plate. And when the pizzas
come out, they come out,and at parties, people are very gracious.
They're very happy, you know whatI mean. They don't expect to
eat, in my experience, allforty of them at once. That's great,
and it's fixed. They want to, you know what I mean,
bullshit with them. They love tochat with the pizza guy. That's great.
(40:44):
You know. I get my contextwell. Comparison is is having people
online at an event where they're payingand ordering and then stepping aside and waiting.
Right That's why I do my sandwichesright now. And I did an
early warning Farmers Market on Sunday.My youngest son won't like me telling this
(41:04):
story. But he shows up withme and he had two and a half
hours sleep and he's hungover, yeah, and he's puking. He say he's
got to go home, so I'min the truck. He's gonna be pissed
if he hears this, and mywife has to come in. And then
luckily my other son, my olderson, came because we had no business
(41:25):
during this four hour event except foran hour and fifteen minutes, and we
got hammerd. Yeah, in anhour and fifteen minutes. We had tickets
that I've never had before lined upand I had to, you know,
make these sandwiches by order and eachone customers ordering six, and I heat
up all the bread and I like, it's not just cut bread and throw
(41:46):
shit on it, right, Yeah, And it was nerve wracking me out
of pressure. I limit pies sometimeswhen we get busy at a pop up,
you can get two pies each andthen you got to get back in
line. I've got only two ovens. It's just me. We have people
who wait an hour and forty fiveminutes for their peace. See that's cool.
(42:10):
It's as long as they know that. Yeah. I feel like at
some of the events I'm doing.If they wait, they start complaining and
they don't understand that that's part ofit. But I do remember in college,
way before pizza trucks was a thingU there was a truck that was
very unique. It was called Johnny'sHot Truck and he made French bread pizzas.
(42:36):
I don't know what the heck ovenhe had back in nineteen eighty four
where it was in Ithaca. Ican't even believe I lived there. No,
you didn't, did you there?I did. I lived right on
Serrity Road, across the street froma bunch of Serrity houses. No way,
So I would go. I wouldgo. I went to Ithaca College
(42:57):
and this was on the Cornell campus. Yeah, I know exactly talking about
dude. But we would drive andlike part of the experience was the weight
and it was cool. Yeah.I mean I find that people as long
as they know I'll go. IfI go to a nice restaurant, I'll
wait for a table. I knowI'm gonna wait for a ta you know
(43:19):
what I mean. So as longas I have a reasonable understanding, Yeah,
and we've gotten good not me,I saw, they don't. My
front of the house protects me frommyself. They've gotten really good at predicting
how long to tell everybody. Ittakes three minutes to bake, make and
(43:40):
bake that pizza. But when I'vegot forty people stacked up, that three
minutes is at the end of Andwe have a nice dining room where people
can sit down, it's air condition, they can have a drink, so
it's uh and we don't take theirorder until I'm ready to make that's you
wait in line and then they callyou up when we're ready to make it.
(44:04):
You put your name on a list. You know, Honestly, I
don't even know what the system isthat they're using because I'm not involved in
that. They just basically feed meno more than four pizzas at a time
of what I'm making and will onlygive me an over under of fifteen.
So then I'm not panicking. Wow, I'm gonna come out with my wife
(44:24):
on a Monday. Monday is agreat night for me. Come out,
dude, Conday's a great night.It sounds like a field trip. I'm
definitely doing it. I will bethere within the month. Awesome. I
want to check this thing out.I want to see what you got going
on and I want to stay intouch and collab. Man, come and
come out and bake. I gotan apron for you. Come out and
(44:47):
I don't know if you want mebacon. Man, I'm not that good
at pizza. I'll be perfectly honest. I want to learn. Come out
and learn, Come out and let'scook together. I would love that,
all right, brother, I appreciateI've enjoyed talking to you, and you
and I will stay in touch forsure, buddy, outstanding man, Thank
you very much, sir. Thisepisode of Bread for the People was brought
(45:09):
to you by Side Hustle Bread,Long Island's handcrafted, artisanal bread company.
Side Hustle Bread is a family runbusiness that's bringing the neighborhood field back to
Long Island, one loaf at atime. If you like what you're hearing,
don't forget to head on over tieiTunes and rate and review this episode.
Reviewing and rating is the most effectiveway to help us grow our audience.
(45:30):
This episode was produced by Milestone TVand Film. I'm your host,
Jim Serpico. Less it be thebread, Everyone
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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