My Dough Takes 72 Hours

The dough goes in 72 hours before a pizza comes out.

That's how long the fermentation takes to produce a crust worth eating. If you cut that time, you get a different crust — softer in the wrong way, without the chew or the flavor that comes from a long, cold proof. At East Village Pizza, the dough is made in-house every day and sits for 72 hours before it goes anywhere near the oven.

I've been making it this way since 2003. The process hasn't changed. The execution keeps getting better.

The Oven

The Baker's Pride gas oven is old. I bought it when I took over this place and I'm not replacing it. People ask me about that. The answer is always the same: the oven produces a specific result. The heat, the way it distributes, the way the crust finishes — you don't get that from a newer oven. You definitely don't get it from a conveyor belt. If you're making real New York pizza, you're not using a conveyor.

Three Toppings

I tell every customer the same thing: don't put more than three toppings on your pizza. Not because we can't do it. Because when you stack four or five toppings, you stop tasting the dough, the cheese, the crust. You're just eating the toppings. The pizza underneath it disappears.

The dough took 72 hours. It deserves to be tasted.

I've been at this corner since 1997. I've made a lot of pizza. The reason the product is what it is has nothing to do with shortcuts — it's the time, the equipment, and not changing the things that work.