This reminded me of the teacher meme.
“You won’t always have a calculator in your pocket…”
lol. Sure, it’s good to understand the process and how things work, but not using the best tool available to achieve results faster isn’t how the real world operates. I totally get doing things the hard way even from an appreciation standpoint.
this is peak internet discussion board response. thread asking for ideas for the best mixer for pizza dough, and a response of you don’t need a machine and why are you eating so much pizza? hahahah. well done, mate.
I don’t do this anymore, but when I was lifting a lot more cheat meal was 2, two topping XL Papa John’s pizzas, an entire box of Oreos, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.
While I more than willingly accept that my contribution is of very little interest indeed I nevertheless find myself wondering whether you habitually comport yourself with quite such charm and elegance in your quotidian life.
no idea what that means, but there’s a real meme on internet discussion boards where if you want to know what the best X for Y is, then you don’t ask that. You instead claim that “Z is by far the best for Y” and then wait for everyone to reply how wrong you are and give their own suggestions. of course we’ve seen this play out with wines on this board. your reply reminded me of that.
i too love making bread, usually in the tartine style. all by hand, with a starter i’ve been nursing for close to 15 years i reckon. free the gluten!
Anyway…
I had a great time in Korea using 220v appliances. I did look for mixers that work on 110v, but electric ovens like the effeuno only work on 240v.
I wasn’t thinking that hard, it merely seeming to me that the machine v no machine discussion is of some relevance. Clearly I am wrong.
i’m certainly not the relevance police. this board is replete with tangents. if this thread goes on long enough, statistically, we will eventually be discussing corkage policies. hand vs machine is very much on point.
I tried very hard to use the bassinage method with my KitchenAid the other day and it didn’t turn out great.
I also think that KitchenAid saying you shouldn’t go above level 4 for doughs indicates that their machine is really more of a mixer not a kneader.
i came across this recently in another rabbit hole; how good is this oven?
Most doughs regardless of how the doughs are combined get some sort of stretch and folds. It’s never 100% automated process… even in bakeries with large Hobart mixers there is a lot of stretch/folds and hand forming going on.
Never used one myself, but paired with the biscotto stone it looks like the closest thing to a “wood fired” style electric oven.
I’m having issues with my NG line and can’t figure out why my Koda 16 isn’t getting gas… so I’ve been using the Breville Pizzaiolo and my Yoder ys480 with pizza steels to bake pizzas.
Soooo true. All this special machinery stuff is 1,000-angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin material. Does it make a difference? Sure —- I’ll just stipulate to that, even though I assume one would really need to be looking for some of these differences to even notice. As such, do these differences really matter much, if at all? I find it hard to believe the answer is Yes, especially when cost of special machinery is factored in.^
But, maybe if you make and eat a ton of homemade pizza then your palate becomes highly attuned to these things, and these differences do come across as meaningful… I dunno.
^ I use a regular Kitchen Aid for my dough, and would honestly give the dough I make an A grade. I have zero complaints about it, and don’t give it an A+ only because I generally believe — with all things — there always is, or could be, a better version of the same.
I was surprised when I just looked up the prices of the machines recommended in this thread. Largely $500 - $1,000.00, which is faaaar more affordable than y’all were making them sound! At these prices, I could be convinced to buy, assuming I have space and the palate to notice a meaningful difference.
I was looking at Facebook marketplace for old Hobarts, but to service them I’m like… I’m a hobbyist… I’m not a professional.
About $1k is my limit for these types of things (don’t ask me about my photography/videography hobby 
or my wine hobby)
A lot more affordable mixers are on the market then ever before.
I’m a curious person. If a pizzeria tells me what their tomatoes / cheese brand it is I get very interested like are they going Stanislaus, Bianco, San Marzano, or Jersey Fresh? Are they spending $$$ on the more expensive Grande brand cheese? My local pizzeria finds a guy that hand stretches burrata locally… and they do a 3 day ferment on their doughs.
I suppose the next big step is to mill my own flours, but I don’t think I’m there yet.
good friend has an italian restaurant in the east village and he mills grains from local farmers throughout NJ and the the hudson valley for his pastas. i’ve tried several for my bread and the difference is remarkable, not surprisingly. grain mills in comparison to the other equipment on this thread are dirt cheap.
scarr’s here in NYC famously does this. unfortunately, the pizza isn’t as good as it used to be. but it’s still very good.
I’ve heard a lot of division about Scarr’s… I think mostly to your point where there are new kids like l’industrie or Wizard Hat putting out some great pizzas… does a place like Scarr’s merit the long wait?
I still need to get to Luigi’s.
l’industrie isn’t new and is great. but it’s now always a long line in williamsburg. i haven’t been to the WV location yet, but unless i’m close and no line, i doubt i’ll make the effort.
we have tons of great pizza here. the past decade was a massive renaissance in a city that most would have thought already achieved peak pizza.
so many new spots taking it very seriously; proper ingredients, better ovens, longer ferments, etc.
scarr’s moved across the street to a bigger spot. i’ve had it maybe 20 times, mostly in the old location. the new location is very, very good. the original was superb. no clue what changed.