Photo courtesy of Harry's Pizza Market
Puttanesca pizza at Harry's Pizza Market
Few would dispute that pizza is one of America’s favorite foods, and most people have a preferred style of crust—thin crust, deep dish, New York style—and preferences change as American pizza markers continue to uncover regional specialties from Italy’s rich culinary heritage. An Aug. 1, 2018 article in Pizza Today predicted that Roman pizza, a style known for a light, airy crust with a delicately crisp bottom, would be the next wave.
Brothers Harry and Avni “Al” Latifi, and Harry’s son, Adrian, had learned the art of Roman pizza from the masters at Roman Pizza Academy, in Miami, operated by Massimiliano Saieva. The Latifis began serving Roman pizza al taglio, which translates to “by the cut,” at Harry’s Prohibition Bistro, their Neapolitan style pizzeria in Sheboygan. In April, Al and his wife, Laurie, forged ahead with plans for an additional location specializing in Roman al taglio pizza. On July 6, they opened Harry's Pizza Market (4024 Highway 42, Sheboygan) in a space that formerly housed Harry’s Diner at Interstate, also owned by the Latifi family. The new restaurant serves lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Harry’s Pizza Market is a modern-day Italian restaurant with casual sophistication showcasing Roman al taglio pizza. According to Al and Adrian, they were among the first 100 chefs (numbers 91 and 92, respectively) in the United States to earn accreditation for this style of pizza from Roman Pizza Academy. They proudly displayed their certificates as they described the process. “We make the dough with a special flour from Italy,” Al describes. “The process involves a crucial temperature control for dough.” Because dough hooks on commercial mixers generates heat, ice is added to the mixture to cool the dough and control the temperature.
“Once we get the dough mixed and the temperature is just right, we take the dough out of the mixer, put it in containers and put it directly into the cooler and let it stay in there for two days,” Adrian adds. “On the second day, we take it out, and ball it into portions and put it back in the cooler.” This slow fermentation process takes three days. On pizza baking day, the dough is removed from the cooler and stretched.
It’s an Art
Before toppings are added, the dough is baked for eight minutes. “This is definitely an art,” Al reiterates. “The dough is like a canvas.” Toppings, which they refer to as their “paints” are added, and then the Roman pizza goes back into the oven to melt the toppings. The pizza is cut into rectangular slices with special scissors to preserve the airy, honeycomb crust. Those slices are transferred to a hot pizza stone for about a minute for a third and final baking, which gives Roman pizza its crispy, pastry-like layer on the bottom and a beautiful color on top.
Among their many choices of Roman al taglio pizza are Puttanesca (an Italian tomato sauce) with hot sopressata salami, calabrese peppers, garlic, olives, mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh basil. There’s also Walnut, with walnuts, mushrooms, fontina cheese, cream cheese and walnut puree. Other selections include beef sausage, pesto and shrimp or meat-free options like mushroom or vegetable.
Harry’s Pizza Market’s menu includes an assortment of appetizers, salads and desserts. On Fridays, a Perch Fry will be available. The restaurant has a full-service bar with an extensive selection of craft cocktails, wine, beer and non-alcoholic options. In addition to to-go, delivery and carry-out, customers can also find “You Heat, You Eat” Roman al taglio prepared pizzas for $10 each. The restaurant also sells local and Italian groceries such as pasta, sauces and signature desserts like house-made tiramisu and peanut butter panna cotta.
For more information, visit the Harry's Pizza Market Facebook page.
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