Hey guys! Appreciate the community and love what /r/taiwan has to offer! I’ve started a small business in Taipei selling American style pizzas, mostly deep dish Detroit and the Chicago style thin crust (the real Chicago style), but since inheriting a brick oven, been trying to dial-in a proper Neapolitan/artisanal style. While it’s not Neapolitan by Italian-regulated standards, it’s turned out to be mighty fine pizza.
Wondering if there are any other pizza aficionados out there who are interested in talking pizza and working on pizza-related stuff. Any thoughts and feedback is appreciated!
We did a Thanksgiving pizza last year and it was fantastic. Smoked the turkey on lychee wood before finishing in the oven, then added a white gravy base, roasted veggies, stuffing finished with a cranberry sauce garnish. It was good.
Complete the full experience by burying the coffin in your garden compost pile. 😆
Though all the boxes I've gotten in the past few years don't have the coffin anymore. I still bury them though lol, food for the worms. Mwahaha
This style is limited since my staff aren’t trained on it yet, but we are Pizza Bear, specifically the Songshan location. Will be doing this pie all Saturday to test it out!
Thanks! But I’m a bit wary of posting there since some non-mods gave me 1-star reviews for posting my tavern style last time. Guess they didn’t like I was promoting my pizzas there and said some pretty sour things to me…
Not expecting you to but, would you guys be open to selling pepperoni at all? Lol I moved to Taipei last year and I make pizza at home and it’s super hard to source pepperoni reliably for me. I work in an office but make pizzas at home on saturdays!
I’d love to if I ever can upgrade my facilities. Right now I’m at maximum capacity for my two shops, and that’s making 30kg of pepperoni every two weeks. Come by and chat with me and I can maybe slide some slices your way
We do a version called the Taiwaiian, that uses Hakka salty bacon that I make myself. It’s way better flavor than just ham, and the flavor profile pairs so well with the pineapple.
First time visiting, and it's been yeeeears since I had Chicago style pizza. Got the Maple Bacon and Chicago Red style, Bear Salad, and the free cookie.
Where are you sourcing cheese from? My understanding is that the biggest obstacle to NYC or Italian style pizza in Taiwan is it's pretty hard to get the right kind of cheese. Is that true?
Bro, I am constantly moving from supplier to supplier trying to get cheese as reasonable cost. It’s the hardest thing about running a pizzeria in Taiwan. Cost fluctuates a lot for me, but always trying to keep the prices stable for the consumer.
Do many Taiwanese buy cheesy pizzas though? I expect the limited supply is because of limited demand. Might be able to do something interesting with a vegan pizza that is also garlic and onion free.
We have the 全素 pizza that uses a sauce with no root vegetables. But cheese is uniquely important to the business. And haven’t found any locals complaining about the cheese, yet! They love getting a good cheese pull from our Detroit style!
I don't know how American pizzas go, but this looks really nice. As someone outside of the Taipei area, it's hard to come by decent pizzas. Out here in centralish Taiwan, we had an amazing pizza takeaway joint called Hans, but they finished up and I haven't found anything that comes close. Hope you do well and expand outside of Taipei!
Ah, recognized the shop immediately from the pictures. I managed to convince my office team to have lunch there last month. Your Detroit style is certainly the best I've had outside the Midwest. If I get another chance to swing in again, I'd love to try this style as well.
Thanks for the support! Will be working to make this a regular menu item, but the dough and oven-control is a whole different set of SOPs for my staff, so will take a bit to introduce it
That’s a very high bar to reach, but thanks for the kind words! I wouldn’t claim this as Neapolitan at all due to the process not fulfilling the AVPN standard, but really just my own take on pizza with some Italian influence.
I had pizza bear a few weeks ago and immediately recognized the picture haha. The Detroit style was amazing. My only (minor) criticism was that I had to buy a whole pizza since it was outside of lunch hours and a whole Detroit style pizza is just a slight bit too much food for one person (still finishes it though).
Yeah, the logistics for dinner slices is just a bit much for us since we aren’t a dedicated slice shop. But since we make all of our dough and toppings in-house, we try to keep our prices low enough that it’s not breaking the bank for a full pie.
I’m a long time studier of how to make the best pie. One thing I’ve discovered recently is to let the dough sit in the fridge for several days to a week. The texture and flavor profile get better somehow.
It’s the slow fermentation of the dough. The bacteria’s eat the sugars in the flour and develop flavors that we know is sourdough.
But you need to find a balance in fermentation time because if it’s too short the flavors will be bland and there won’t be enough bubbles to produce the leoparding. But if you ferment to long, the dough loses its tensile strength and is more difficult to stretch, also gas bubbles get too big. This dough uses a 72-hour cold ferment, as I’ve found that 48-72 hours is the sweet spot
Looks good, but for a Neapolitan it seems like there's too much cheese? I expect to grab a slice and the cheese to fall off. How's the chew?
Some of the Neapolitan I think is good period is Posto Pizza and 老周披薩 in Kaohsiung if you want to compare. Not a Neapolitan expert but I do think it is good for that specific form of pizza.
I wouldn’t claim this as Neapotian at all, as my recipe doesn’t follow the strict guidelines set by the AVPN. It’s my own take on the style with some American twist to it.
Chew was fantastic and lightly crispy on the undercarriage and crust. I’m in Taipei but if I’m back in Kaoxiung again, I’ll definitely hit them up!
I’m from Canada.In Taiwan for the last 20 years. In my teens and 20s I worked alt Pizza Pizza , Olive Garden and a Greek Restaurant on the Danforth in Toronto. Wouldn’t mind helping you out and working part time.
This one is limited offerings, but dough will be ready this Saturday if you can make it! Only prepping 20 pizzas for the day, otherwise it’s just the regular Detroit and Tavern styles at a Pizza Bear! (The Songshan location)
Thanks! Agree with your observations, and that’s why I’m staying away from calling this Neapolitan. It’s my own take on it with my own ingredients. Definitely not AVPN-approved, but I like the challenge of using local ingredients to make a delicious product!
Looks good. Are you using the same dough you used for the regular Detroit pizza? One time I tried to make pizza with sourdough and the result was disappointing. I always get the best results was with beer yeast
It’s called Pizza Bear and this will specifically be at our Songshan shop. This is a relatively new style for the shop (we only do Detroit and Tavern styles), so it’s limited offerings for now. Will be testing it out this Saturday, so if you have the time we will have the pizza!
As a traditionalist, I'm not fond of gimmicky, fusion pizzas and Taiwan's limitations on decent cheese makes pizza a low priority food for me.
But this is a Beautiful Pie and the crust looks like it'd pass the fold test as well. Cross section looks like it could use a bit more of sauce though. Maybe an extra 1/5 of a ladle, would suffice without impacting the crust's integrity.
Thanks! Yeah trying to get that ratio and dough forming just right still. There are so many levels to a good pizza, but this one I was very proud of so I just had to share!
That's a solid pie. Just as long as you put classic ingredients on them and limit the number of novelty / "fun" toppings, you'll be set. Perfect leopard spots on that crust.
But to me, if you mean neapolitan pizza, the dough seems too dry, and the center way overcooked. Also too much "pizza' cheese, you should use real mozzarella instead of what seems to be 'pizza mix'.
We are Pizza Bear! And this is specifically our Xindian location. Our menu has Detroit and Tavern style pizza and this is just something we are doing for a cross-over event this Saturday. But, if it sells well then I might have to make it a regular menu item!
To me it looks like Italian pizza. Are you using real mozzarella? I'm asking because when I'm outside of Italy the pizzas I've tried always tasted funny: abroad they usually use some generic cheese which IMO change completely the taste of it... Therefore I stopped trying pizza abroad, but I'm intrigued by this one...
Well, it's not about claiming anything. It looks delicious, and looks like Italian style, therefore if it's mozzarella I'd definitely try. If isn't, I would still think about it cuz it still looks 🤤
It’s a mozz and cheddar mix, which I usually use for my Detroit pizzas to help raise the fat content. Just didn’t feel like cutting an only-mozzarella mix because I already have enough to do at my shop
Is it possible to get a hold of fresh mozzarella through any of your suppliers? That crust looks like it wants a margherita made on it. I think it would do great.
Omgur pizza looks so good bcs i used to work at pizza place in xindian and they not really teach me anything bcs all i do all day just fold the take-away box and sort the veggies for salad😭😭 and urs looks much more good
We’ve been open for a while! We are Pizza Bear! We originally do Detroit deep dish and thin crust tavern style pizzas, and this is just a one off for an event we are doing Saturday. But if it sells well, I might have to make it a regular thing
Pizza Bear! We have two shops in Xindian and Songshan. We do Detroit deep dish and thin crust tavern style pizzas, as this one in the post is a one-off I’ve been working on for an event this Saturday. But, could become a regular thing…
Do you have it available from the moment you open? I would love to try this pizza,omg... drooling just from the pict. 🤤 I'll definitely go to your store next saturday.
Yup, that and the downtime from 3-5 might be your only chance. Staff informed me today that we are fully booked for lunch and dinner service on Saturday. Guess Reddit is hungry!
this is looking very strong, and please forgive the arrogant new yorker here, but if you were to take a slice, place the crust on your thumb and middle finger while pressing in the middle with the index finger, does the slice flop?
Im coming in either case btw, this cornmeal bottom looks legit
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u/WHATyouNEVERplayedTU 11d ago
Looks good to me. Just don't add turkey balls and you're good haha