Recipe Fail. Not bad looking square pizza… but Frank Pepe’s clam pie, it’s not.
When you have a recipe fail as badly as my attempt to replicate the clam pie served at Frank Pepe’s in New Haven, you might wonder how any attempt to make a dish outside your experience could ever succeed. But in fact there were clear breaking points along the way and by studying them we can be more confident of not making the same mistakes twice.
- Recipe Fail. Frank Pinello hosts a terrific pizza show on the Munchies web channel and we thoroughly enjoyed the episode in which he visited New Haven. We based our own prep on this recipe, also from Frank Pinello. Because he is such a genial guy, we failed to ask obvious questions such as why he only uses 4 chopped garlic cloves, ½ c olive oil and ¾ c Pecorino for two pizzas when at the shop the pies are drowning in these things (in a good way). Another red flag should have been raised when we started stretching the dough, which was supposed to make two ten-inch pies, and found it could easily make 3. I went back and took a closer look at the subhead on the recipe page: “Bring the flavors of New Haven home with the recipe inspired by the #1 pizza in America: the white clam pizza from Frank Pepe’s.” So it never actually says this is Frank Pepe’s recipe, does it? More likely this is what they give to people who say they want to make the pizza at home, knowing they’ll never be able to duplicate it.
- Equipment Fail. Pinello’s recipe asks you to heat the pizza stone under the broiler then switch to 500 degrees F before you put the pizza in. I did this on my new BlueStar and the stone cracked. Tom Thibeault from BlueStar LOL’d when I reported this to him and pointed out that the broiler heats to 1800 degrees F, hotter than any commercial pizza oven. He also advised me what I should have done. Heat the stone on the bottom rack with the oven at 550, then crank on the broiler for 10 minutes before loading the pizza. (I’m collecting BlueStar tips which I will share in a future post.)
- Operator Fail. When I saw that cracked stone I panicked a bit, then made the bad decision to piece the two sides back together the best I could and load the pizza anyway. It stuck to the peel and all the toppings ended off sliding off one cracked half of the stone onto the other so I ended up with burned toppings plus a mass of puffy bread. I need more peel work and guidance which I could have attained in advance at Pizzacraft and doubtless other sites. This is an example of something I learned in my marketing career: never test more than one thing in a time. In this case it was a new recipe AND a new oven AND underdeveloped skills and I paid the price.
- Ingredient Fail. The key component of the Frank Pepe’s clam pizza is, of course, the littleneck clams which are harvested fresh from Long Island Sound and shucked live. I relied on a Korean brand of frozen clam meat which I found at my Asian supermarket. It had very little taste so I was without the briny flavor this pie needs.
In the end, I went with what I know. I heated a half sheet pan upside down on the bottom rack at 500 while I shaped a the remaining to fit the dimensions of a 17×12 Silpat. It didn’t char on the bottom the way I wanted, and it didn’t taste like Frank Pepe’s pie, but at least it was an acceptable white pizza. Live and learn.
Lessons learned and you at least got something edible out of it….I’d say you turned a negative into a positive!!!
Kind of you to say that, and lessons learned (rather than ignored) are always a positive. I thought I had a photo of the other pie but don’t… that one went right in the garbage. But 1 out of 2 is better than nothing.
I did some quick math. That’s enough dough for 4 thick 10″ pies. Also, it’s 75% hydration. No wonder it was difficult to launch. I make my dough with high gluten All-Trumps @ 58% hydration. I have no problem launching a 20″ pie on a 20″ stone. If you haven’t already replaced the stone, I would recommend cordierite. They’re nearly indestructible.
The problem I have with clam pies is that the salinity varies. The last time I made one, the clams were so salty, the pie was inedible. If you don’t have fresh clams, I would recommend the Snow’s/Bumblebee chopped canned clams. If you do have fresh clams, taste them first.
Is Rick’s still on Lake ave? I haven’t been out of the house since we closed up our Berkshires cabin Columbus day weekend.
Rick’s has moved to Congress Plaza, in the strip behind Purdy’s where Taylor Brewing used to be. But call before you go…. there are reports they have been closed for extended periods for whatever reason.
I actually added a bit of flour during the kneading so probably ended up at 70%, but you’re right it’s way too much dough for the pizzas specified. I have tried making clam pies with canned clams in the past but didn’t use Snow’s/Bumblebee and will try that.
Re the stone, I’ll check out cordierite. I see on Amazon it’s quite a bit cheaper and also I assume a lot lighter than a baking steel, which Tom from BlueStar recommended. Thanks!
Good luck getting out of the house. You missed a chance when things were fairly calm. Now, who knows?
I don’t have a steel, but I’m sure it makes a fine pizza. I’m a NY guy. You can’t do that on steel.
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=26286.msg533965#msg533965
Is JKB you in this thread? and you’re referring to the slice on the paper plate? I’m going to take your advice and order the cordierite, with some comfort because in younger days I was a clay kiln guy.
As high as your Blue will go.
You are saying I should subject the cordierite stone (which I have now acquired) to 1800 degrees under the BlueStar broiler? A little dubious about that since it’s rated up to 1500 degrees. Will first try Tom’s idea of heating the stone to 550 on the bottom rack then a blast from the broiler to make it hotter. Stay tuned.
I never use the broiler.
The Frank Pinello touring videos are fun to watch but his how-to videos aren’t the best instructions. First thing I would recommend doing is getting a kitchen scale if you don’t have one already. Weights are much easier to deal with than cups of flour. Rhode Island little necks were much better than any other fresh clams I have tried. I also used Locatelli Peccorino Romano and found it was too salty for the clam pie. I forgot the brand I used last time and it worked well. I’d recognize it in a Price Chopper. Bel Giosioso, maybe? It was a wedge that I had to grate. Sorry I don’t remember the name. In bakers percentages, lately I’ve been using 100% bread flour, 63% water, 2.25% salt and 0.25% instant yeast for dough. Balled in the fridge for about 48-72 hours and I let it come up to 50-60 degrees sitting at room temperature before stretching.
I bet that oven can put out a great pie. Just going to take a little time to dial it.
Thanks Jon. I always use grams in my personal baking and when I refer to cups it’s generally because that is what the original recipe called for and there seems to be wiggle room. There are several decent kitchen digital scales on Amazon for around $20.
And thanks for the formula! A WFO friend referred me to a similar recipe but left out the yeast and salt percentages. I’m liking the lower water percentage since I had trouble sticking on the peel last time. Going to Roma anyway so I will check on their cheese.
I next plan a double Frank Pepe’s experiment, a clam pie plus a tomato pie made with San Marzanos. Would I use the same Pecorino Romano for that? And garlic or no?
P.S. A giveaway that Frank Pinello’s dough recipe is not the real thing is the inclusion of olive oil, no?
I don’t really know much about the Pepe’s tomato pie. On the rare times we go, I always pick the clam/bacon and the rest of the group doesn’t go for the tomato pie. My last visit, probably 2 years ago now, wasn’t great. We had three pizzas and all were just OK. Certainly not destination pizza. When they are firing on all cylinders, they are still capable of making some special pizza, but they were off at my last visit.
Going back to the pizza forum, there was discussion years ago about replicating the dough. Anyhow, here’s a link to the recipe they kind of dialed in on back then. The proportions are a little different that what i posted earlier. Personally, I don’t like my dough when the salt goes below 2% and this recipe dips below 2.
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=32540.msg322137#msg322137