kinda amazed it has stayed so polite 
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Against my better judgement, I am going to try Leopardo again this week, on a guys night-out. The wife, smiling when I told her where we are going, offered, “Glad I’m not being dragged back there.”
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Do you guys actually like that big bulbous crust? I’ll be honest I am sure the flavor is great but that looks horrible
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It TASTED good but the ratio of it to the actual part of the pizza with things I want to eat was so fucked. Each slice you’d get one bite with cheese/sauce and then be at the breadstick.
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We love it. It’s the only crust I’ve ever seen Peony eat (usually she leaves behind a plate of topping-less pizza crusts). It’s by far my favorite pizza crust I’ve ever tasted. For me, the gap between this crust and the next best crust is so large that no other restaurant is in the competition for #1 pizza in LA, though a few restaurants have competitive toppings (e.g., Funke’s prosciutto-fig pizza). We like to save the sauces from other dishes to dip the crust in.
god speed
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Fascinating. I think Sei, Ronan, Gra all have better crusts/dough structure.
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I feel like Bestia’s pizza is in the same style as the places you just mentioned. I do like that style. I just like Leopardo’s style significantly more. It’s totally subjective, as there’s obviously a major stylistic difference.
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Absolutely. Is it the softness or the sweetness that you find appealing?
I am by no means an expert pizza maker, but when I make pizza at home using conventional yeast and my ooni, I get crazy puffy and sweet crusts like Leopardo. Which might explain my aversion to it lolol
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I like both the texture and the flavor. Texture-wise, I like the combination of crispiness, graininess, and airiness. Just from appearance it’s something I find appealing. It’s less dense and spongy
(gluten-y?) than the crusts you mention. (Interestingly, Peony has even more polarized views in this regard. There is a reason we both like Gjelina.) Flavor-wise, it has richer grain flavor than other crusts. Somewhat sweet. It reminds me vaguely of the ancient-grain bread at Providence (too hard to spell). Note: I know nothing at all about the ingredients or the process of making the crust.
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Interesting… what flour, hydration, and other ingredients are you using? What’s your fermentation?
Would love to know what they’re doing… Neo-Mochito as a descriptor has me thinking there’s some rice flour in the mix a la pinsa??
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I never made the mochi connection.
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Typically 65% hydration. Sometimes 67-68.
If I’m not lazy, I’ll do sourdough, but usually I’m doing a yeast pre-ferment. I do a mix of central milling bread flour & a bit of whole wheat.
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the biscoff cookies are definitely not made in house, they are the official Lotus-branded Biscoff cookies lol. Josh confirmed to me personally
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i loved the cookie. lol.
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btw I was not trying to make fun of your take…I also thought they were made in house before I asked and he chuckled and said they’re just the ones you can buy at World Market or get on a plane.
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how does one improve on perfection?
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So far as I can find, “mochito” has no meaning other than as a name for a person, place, or animal or (most often) as an alternative spelling of mojito.
This article says Skenes was previously calling it “neo-Minato.”
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Thanks for that! From the article…
"The dough is high in hydration, as you might expect for a puffy, Neapolitan pie. The gluten is beautifully gelatinized, and the crust very light despite being very big”
Seems with the language - gelatinized and high hydration - they’re doing a tangzhong. Apparently there’s a similar recipe/technique in Modernist Pizza, which wouldn’t surprise me given Skenes background.
But who knows?
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Made from a blend of nine different flours (which Skenes and team took months to source), the dough is naturally leavened using a completely wild yeast made from a two-year old starter. The recipe is inspired by the springy, chewy texture of mochi, in what Skenes dubs a “neo-mochiko” crust.
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