Is this the origin of London-style pizza? | Tom Vincent's Vincenzo's Pizzeria
Summary
TLDRTom Vincent, owner of Vincenzo's Pizza, shares his passion for pizza-making, from building his own coal oven to creating a unique London-style pizza. He discusses his artistic endeavors, community involvement, and the challenges of mastering dough. Tom also shares insights on managing a bustling pizzeria, offering a glimpse into the art of crafting the perfect pizza.
Takeaways
- ๐จ Tom Vincent is the owner and operator of Vincenzo's Pizza in Bushy, where he is involved in every aspect from creating pizzas to designing branding and training staff.
- ๐๏ธ Tom has a passion for art, evident in the paintings on the walls of his shop, some of which he created himself, including the frame.
- ๐ The shop's interior, including the walls and ceiling, was personally renovated by Tom, who even mixed his own plaster using an old recipe.
- ๐ฌ Tom was asked to make pizzas for a scene in the film 'A Quiet Place', which involved pizzas being blown up, and he has a souvenir from the film set.
- ๐ He built his own pizza oven in his garden, which was the first thing he made pizzas on, and it is a Coal Oven that he constructed himself.
- ๐ The shop is community-oriented, sponsoring the local football team and giving back to the community.
- ๐ฝ๏ธ Tom's motivation for opening the shop was his obsession with building an oven and making pizza, which he practiced during lockdown by making pizzas for friends, family, and NHS staff.
- ๐ Tom's pizza style has evolved into what he calls 'London style' pizza, inspired by the adaptation of traditional methods to local conditions and ingredients.
- ๐จโ๐ณ The dough at Vincenzo's is carefully managed, with a long proofing period and attention to detail in shaping and baking to achieve the perfect pizza.
- ๐ The menu is simple, focusing on a few types of pizza that Tom wants to eat himself, believing that if he makes pizza he likes, and others enjoy it, then he's successful.
- ๐ The shop has been busy from the start, with a constant hustle and bustle, and a menu that is always evolving with sought-after off-menu items.
Q & A
Who is Tom Vincent?
-Tom Vincent is the owner and operator of Vincenzo's Pizza located in Bushy.
What is unique about the interior of Vincenzo's Pizza?
-The interior of Vincenzo's Pizza is unique because Tom Vincent himself painted the walls and created the branding, including an artwork he made and the frame for it.
What did Tom Vincent do before starting Vincenzo's Pizza?
-Before starting Vincenzo's Pizza, Tom Vincent got into painting and even used an old recipe to create the walls and ceilings of the shop.
How did Tom Vincent get involved with the film 'A Quiet Place'?
-Tom Vincent was asked by a film studio down the road to make pizzas for a scene in 'A Quiet Place' where pizzas would get blown up.
What is the significance of the souvenir Tom Vincent received from the film set?
-The souvenir from the film set is significant as it represents Tom Vincent's involvement in the movie industry through his pizza-making skills.
What is special about the oven Tom Vincent built in his garden?
-The oven Tom Vincent built in his garden is special because it was the first thing he made pizza on, and it represents his passion for building things and making pizza.
How did the lockdown affect Tom Vincent's plans for Vincenzo's Pizza?
-The lockdown made Tom Vincent more determined to open a shop. He practiced making pizzas in his garden and gave them out to NHS staff and friends and family.
What is Tom Vincent's approach to making pizza?
-Tom Vincent's approach to making pizza is to use whatever ingredients and tools are available to create a style that works, which he calls 'London style' pizza.
What is the process for making the dough at Vincenzo's Pizza?
-The dough at Vincenzo's Pizza is made by a long bulk fermentation process, where it proofs for about 24 hours, then sits in the fridge for another 20 hours, and is pulled out 4 hours before service.
How does Tom Vincent handle the dough when it's not behaving as expected?
-When the dough is not behaving as expected, Tom Vincent suggests giving it a 'timeout' to allow the gluten to relax before returning to it.
What is the significance of the local football team sponsorship by Vincenzo's Pizza?
-The sponsorship of the local football team by Vincenzo's Pizza signifies the shop's commitment to giving back to the community.
Outlines
๐ Introduction to Vincenzo's Pizza
Tom Vincent, the owner and operator of Vincenzo's Pizza in Bushy, introduces himself and his pizzeria. He discusses his passion for creating pizzas, branding, and training staff. Tom shares his love for painting and how he personally decorated the shop, including making the frame for one of his paintings and applying an old recipe to the walls himself. He also talks about his involvement in a film where he made pizzas for a scene, and how he has created a unique 'London style' pizza, different from traditional New York or Italian styles. He describes the process of building his own coal oven in his garden and the journey of opening his shop during lockdown, making pizzas for friends, family, and NHS staff.
๐จโ๐ณ The Art of Pizza Making
Tom explains the process of making pizza, starting with the dough. He emphasizes the importance of dough management and how it can change throughout the day, with the last pizza often being the best. He shares tips for managing the dough, such as giving it a 'timeout' if it's not behaving as expected. Tom also discusses the importance of hydration levels in the dough, adjusting them based on the season and weather. He talks about the simplicity of his menu, which focuses on pizzas that he personally enjoys eating. He mentions off-menu items like the 'grandma' pizza and shares his thoughts on the inclusion of pineapple on pizza. Tom also describes the process of making a potato, shallot, and pepperoncino pizza, highlighting the use of a mandolin for slicing and the importance of oven spring for a good crust.
๐ Future Plans and the Joy of Pizza Making
Tom talks about his future plans for a new, bigger shop and how he's already thinking about the decoration and management. He expresses his passion for making pizza, describing it as one of the most fun jobs despite the business side being draining and tiring. He shares the excitement and inspiration he feels every day in his shop, which is always buzzing with activity. Tom concludes by reiterating his love for the craft and his aspirations for the future of Vincenzo's Pizza.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กVincenzo's Pizza
๐กBranding
๐กCoal Oven
๐กDough
๐กPizza Style
๐กFilm Collaboration
๐กCommunity
๐กProofing
๐กOven Spring
๐กChar
๐กResidual Heat
Highlights
Tom Vincent, owner of Vincenzo's Pizza, shares his passion for pizza-making and his journey.
Tom's shop is a small space filled with art and personal touches, including his own paintings.
Tom created the branding and trained the staff, reflecting his dedication to the business.
He shares his experience of being asked to make pizzas for a film scene in 'A Quiet Place'.
Tom built his own pizza oven in his garden, showcasing his DIY spirit.
He experimented with an old pizza recipe, creating a unique blend for his pizzas.
Tom's pizza style is influenced by East Coast coal oven pizza, despite using an electric oven.
He discusses the importance of dough management and the variables that affect pizza throughout the day.
Tom's approach to pizza-making is to keep it simple, with a menu focused on quality over quantity.
He shares his process of making a classic Vincenzo's Margherita pizza.
Tom emphasizes the importance of dough proofing and the role it plays in achieving the perfect pizza.
He discusses the challenges of mastering dough and the need for a feel for it.
Tom shares his inspiration from a small shop in Naples and how he adapted the recipe.
He explains the concept of 'London style' pizza, born out of necessity and adaptation.
Tom discusses the importance of temperature control in the oven for achieving the perfect bake.
He shares tips for new pizza makers, including starting with mid-level hydration and giving the dough a timeout.
Tom's shop is always busy, and he attributes success to making pizzas he personally enjoys.
He talks about the off-menu items that are sought after by customers.
Tom demonstrates making a Grandma pizza, a style that's not on the menu but popular with customers.
He shares his experience of adapting traditional pizza-making techniques to his electric oven.
Tom discusses the art of achieving a perfect crust with char and the right amount of crispiness.
He talks about the community aspect of his business, sponsoring the local football team.
Tom shares his vision for a new, larger shop and the inspiration behind it.
Transcripts
yes gney I'm Tom welcome to venzo come
on
[Music]
in
venzo
[Music]
gangster oh I'm Tom Vincent owner
operator of Vincenzo's Pizza here in
bushy I create the pizzas create The
Branding uh training the staff the art
along the wall
venzo this is my little shop it's small
but you know there's a lot going on in
there so just before we started the shop
I was I got really into painting and
this is one of the ones I've done made
the frame for it and everything even the
walls you can see these walls they're uh
found an old recipe and mixed it myself
put it on the walls the ceilings were
were all dilapitated so I like hung a
new ceiling and I wanted to add some
detail on it you know P's in Harlem the
pizzeria there's a film called a quiet
place and and they asked me there's a
film studio down the road and they asked
me to make pizzas for a scene where pis
would get blown up in the film and uh
I've done the pieces for it and this is
one of the souvenirs I got from the film
set got the uh the latest collab parlay
some uh art by a local Artist A Portrait
of me a lot of people think that's a
self-portrait I didn't do that one some
more Sopranos based art people are
always doing paintings and pictures of
the shop which is lovely and people just
send them to me all the time this is the
oven that I built in my Garden the first
thing that I made pizza on real good
pizza this is a Coal Oven that was about
five three or $5 down all this was all
done by me so the only original thing in
this shop is the floor and these tiles
they just had to stay so that's the
local football team bushy and oxy venzo
sponsors the team we like to give back
to the community okay guys you've seen
the shop now let's make some pizza
[Music]
I love classical music yeah my main
motivation was to build an oven really
like I was obsessed with building things
and I always I wanted to make pizza the
building the oven took about 3 years of
like research thinking about it lying in
bed thinking how will it work and I was
more obsessed with that really and once
I got the oven down then I started
making pizza at home for like friends
friends and family and then when
lockdown hit I was obsessed with now
thinking I need to open a shop I found
somewhere local where I could do a popup
there practicing the pizza in the garden
giving them out to NHS staff giving them
out to friends and family and I was
doing it in the Woodfire oven I decided
I was going to start buy an electric
oven whatever pizza came out of it was
what what what I made by necessity a bit
like but the one the the guys that came
over from Italy to New York in like the
turn of the century they were using
Woodfire ovens but then they came over
there and they found coal ovens they
didn't have double zero flour they have
bread flour they didn't have fresh
mozzarella they made well they made
their own mozzarella and uh you know the
pizza came out differently and that's
basically what happened with my pizza it
was like whatever happens I know what I
want to make but whatever however it
comes out is how it comes out and and
and it's sort of like birthed style of
pizza I would say you know which is now
known as London style
pizza so this is just a classic
Vincenzo's Margarita so we've got some
uh
oregano three types of cheese bit of
olive oil I want every piece to be
perfect but when it does annoy me when
when when there's so many going through
and the oven starting to drop
temperature got a whole range of colors
on that see you got the
Char you got some deep tan you got some
nice sort of wheaty bready colors that's
exactly what we're after some gr padana
Char is important Char is important but
it's a fine line you know the dough is
the hardest part to master cuz you're
always learning you're never and you're
never really happy you're always trying
to tweak it and stuff like that to make
pizza you got to have a you got to have
a good feeling for the dough you got to
know where to put your hands you got to
know how much pre pressure to apply to
it and stuff like that so it's not a job
for everyone you know Jo I was watching
how he did his shop you know he had that
little shop uh he was only making 40
pizzas a night he was doing it himself
and I loved that I like the way his
pizza looked and I had a go making his
recipe that was in his book I used it as
a base but you know I brought it it just
become My Own Thing by changing the time
the temperature you know the amount of
yeast if you find a recipe you think you
like you can dial it in and scale it up
you
know so this dough here this has been
it's been proofing for about 24 hours
it's going to get bowled up and then
it's going to sit in the fridge for
another maybe 20 hours and we'll pull it
out about 4 hours before service it's
got some nice strength to it looks good
if you want to get the results that I'm
getting you can you can use poolish you
can use beer what I've always done is
just relied on a strong on a long bulk
if I cut through it here look you can
see it's nice and proofy it's got loads
of air in it it's still strong it's got
a nice charge to it and that's what you
want give it a rough ball up and then
later on once I've done a bunch of them
they'll get a nice Shuffle and uh I
think everyone who makes pizza knows
that bough management can be tricky and
you know there's variables to it so
Pizza can change throughout the day so
for us usually the last pizza of the
night is the best one and that's the one
like the guys want to eat you know
that's the one the lads one got to pinch
these up make sure it's sealed nice bit
of spring to it yeah I always say don't
needs a timeout if you're teaching
someone to make pizza and they're
getting it wrong and it's going all
funny shapes the more you agitate it the
worse it'll be but I would say just
leave it just leave give it a timeout
you come back to it and then they're
surprised how easy it is to manage cuz
the CU the gluten needs to relax a
little bit you can make your dough
behave differently if it's a really
humid day it's going to act like a a wet
a dough you know so we might fluctuate a
little bit you know we might take the
hydration down a bit in the summer
summer and up a bit in the winter so for
new people starting out with pizza I
would probably tell them to start the
hydration at a mid level and either go
up or down depending on the direction
they want to go in also I would
encourage them to ball up quite far in
advance you know people come in here and
they say Tom I'm making pizza we bowled
Up 3 hours before and the dough keeps
stringing back just give the dough a
timeout if it's not doing what you want
it to do give it a time out you know
sometimes I see people making a pizza
and it's a funny shape and they're just
fighting against the uh the gluten work
you know if you leave it for 2 minutes
come back you're going to easily be able
to just pull it around or just put or
just sauce it top it it might look funny
once you get on that pill it's it's by
default it's had it's time to relax and
you can just yeah so just be calm don't
do anything silly and just take your
time give it a timeout yeah the shop has
been busy from day one we're always up
against it it's always the service is
always crazy it's always crammed in the
menu is Just Pizza that I want to eat I
always say if you make pizza that you
want to eat and people like it then
you're on to something something you
know and uh I like to keep it simple but
we've got seven pieces on the menu
there's not many and then there's a few
off menu items as well which are sought
after whenever I do the vodka sauce you
know people are asking for it and I'll
say like it's just one day within it
today but then the rest of the week
everyone's asking you got any left you
know we do grandmas every day but we
don't put it on the menu because we
we've only got a few tins it slows us
down
so you could call it a sicilian you
could call it a pan pizza my customers
know it's a grandma so I'm going to
adopt the a little bit so just put a few
holes in it when it rises it's going to
it's going to fill the pan so if you
don't get it in the corners it doesn't
really matter this ain't this ain't a
slice shot where it needs to be perfect
this is more of a you know it's going to
go on a pan it's going to go out to the
customer and they're going to eat the
whole thing so not a lot of sauce just
enough just to smear so it don't dry out
there's a few off menu items here that
everyone wants actually put pineapple on
a pizza recently said I'd never do
it like everyone loves it right look at
that that's got a nice par bake on it
bottom should be starting to get a
little bit
crisp this will stop the cheese from
burning because it's a longer bake this
is like maybe 10 12 minutes bake that
can really destroy cheese so you know
this is how they used to do it in the
old school coold oven places like tonos
John blea cuz those coold ovens got like
a hot dry heat so you would uh you w
want that cheese to burn goes back in
for another however long it takes
that's nearly done I'm going to go a
little bit little bit
[Music]
darker oh that's done
perfect if we leave it on the tray for a
minute you know the
bottom will stay nice and crispy well
everyone knows the best part is the
corner isn't it because you know you got
the crunch from all the way around so
I'm going to go for this one it's light
as a feather look at that can you see
those
bubbles nice crispy
crust the real inspiration was uh Co
oven pizza from the east coast of
America you know places like uh in New
York New Jersey New Haven those places
by default you know you we don't have Co
ovens I've got an electric oven you know
we have different ingredients it's all
crispy pizza it's all nice light and
Airy they're all using great ingredients
but everyone's is slightly different and
I think you know londoners is is giving
everyone else a run for their money in
pizza for this pizza we're doing potato
shalot mozzarella and we're going to
finish it with the pepperoncino always
be careful when using a mandolin right
I'm going to hit that with some salt and
pepper some oil get them all coated and
they're dressed and ready got some nice
Lively dough today if your dough is not
very Lively and you're going to stick it
in oven this when you're turning the
heat down you're never going to get that
oven spring but there's plenty of gas in
these bubbles which is just going to
react and open it up to about 14 15 in
give it a final stretch on the pill got
the
potatoes and the shots dressed just a
bit of olive oil salt and pepper cook
they're nice and thin they should cook
perfectly right the oven's on full flame
going to take it down a bit going to
take it all the way down so it doesn't
burn because we're cooking this a lot
longer than you would a neapolitan
[Music]
pizza pretty much got all the oven
spring we're going to get it's it's got
the rise on it all we really want is the
color and for it to firm up now so I'm
just going to keep an eye and make sure
it doesn't get too burnt on one Edge cuz
it is a big pizza but this Arc will
definitely take a 16in pizza no problem
I'm really happy with how that's come
out but if I wanted to like cook it even
longer without burning it what you could
do you could just turn it off and just
let it sit in there a couple of minutes
so you just turn it all the way down to
zero now there's no flame but the
residual heat will just keep it cooking
and and crisp it up and you can just
it's it's like a safe way of cooking it
without burning it you'll get a much
harder bake on it with the residual Heat
[Music]
pepperoncino with some olive oil I'm
just going to drizzle it on to finish
off here with some Granite
[Music]
[Applause]
padana so this is my pizza with potato
shalots and pepperoncino in the gni
[Music]
AR right so cooking it in the ark and
dropping the temperature on it will
create the same sort of effect that you
get at venzo in the shop as you can
see it's crispy as anything beautiful
bottom and uh just cooked all the way
through lovely making pizza is is one of
the most fun jobs ever you know there's
the business side of it no you know it's
it's really draining it's really tiring
but when you're here you're making pizza
people are coming in the shop and
there's a b there's always a buzz in
this shop you know it's it's ins it's
inspiring every day and uh um I'm hoping
to get a new shop you know soon so a
bigger one so I'm already thinking about
how I'm going to decorate it what I'm
going to do you know what sort of like d
management are we going to have you know
what will it be like and uh yeah yeah
I'm Keen to like yes it's it's inspiring
every day yeah it really is
[Music]
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