The Pizza Babka: A Twist on Stromboli
As I sat down to interview Bill Clark, the mastermind behind the pizza babka, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and curiosity. Bill, a Brooklyn resident and former restaurant owner, had recently gained popularity for his innovative take on traditional Italian dishes, specifically stromboli. His passion for creating new recipes and sharing them with his audience through his Substack newsletter, "A Piece of Cake by Bill Clark," has made him a beloved figure in the culinary world.
Growing up, Bill's love for cooking was inspired by his mom's pizza bread recipes. She would often make a classic stromboli, which Bill describes as having a spiral shape and a traditional filling. However, Bill wanted to take this dish to the next level by experimenting with new ingredients and techniques. He started by incorporating vodka into his pizza dough, creating a unique flavor profile that set him apart from other stromboli recipes.
When asked about the key differences between his pizza babka and traditional stromboli, Bill emphasized the importance of thinness and layering. Unlike classic stromboli, which has a thicker, more spiral shape, Bill's pizza babka is sliced down the center and braided, giving it a more intricate appearance. This difference in texture and presentation makes all the difference in the flavor and overall experience of eating the dish.
To create this unique dish, Bill begins by rolling out his dough to an incredibly thin sheet. He then shingles pepperoni slices across the surface, followed by a layer of mozzarella cheese. The dough is then rolled into a log shape, sealed, and twisted into its signature braided pattern. This process requires patience and finesse, as Bill explains that it can take about an hour to make the dough from scratch.
Once the pizza babka has been shaped and placed in a bread pan, it's time to prepare the garlic herb butter. Finely chopped parsley, grated garlic, and melted butter are combined in a bowl, cooked over medium heat until fragrant, and then basted onto the dough. The result is a rich, savory flavor that complements the crispy pepperoni and gooey cheese perfectly.
The final step involves baking the pizza babka in a preheated oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown with caramelized cheese bits and crispy pepperoni fat. When it comes out of the oven, Bill recommends letting it rest before slicing, allowing the cheese to set and holding the dish together.
As I took my first bite of the pizza babka, I couldn't help but think of Domino's cheesy bread. The flavor profile was unmistakable, with a similar blend of melted cheese, crispy pepperoni, and savory garlic oil. However, Bill's version had a level of complexity and sophistication that set it apart from its commercial counterpart.
Bill's passion for creating new recipes and sharing them with his audience is evident in every aspect of the pizza babka. His commitment to using high-quality ingredients and techniques ensures that each dish is not only delicious but also visually stunning. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or just looking to try something new, Bill's pizza babka is definitely worth checking out.
To learn more about Bill's recipes and cooking techniques, be sure to check out his Substack newsletter, "A Piece of Cake by Bill Clark." With links to his weekday sauce recipe and other delicious dishes, you'll be inspired to get cooking in no time. And remember, as Bill would say, "Don't be afraid to experiment and try new things – that's where the magic happens!"
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow i keep seeing articles all about pizza bapka and it being all the rage these days and as a fan of stromboli to me i was instantly drawn to this idea seems like it's been around for a while but it became popularized as of late by a guy named bill clark a brooklyn resident he was a restaurant owner in brooklyn and now he shares his recipes on a sub stack newsletter so i brought bill on to ask him some questions about the dish and if he's got any tips on how to make it so this is the conversation and let's just jump right into it so if i understand it right you're from brooklyn yep and you had a restaurant correct yeah tell me about the story i had a restaurant in prospect heights um with my business partner libby willis um it's called mimi's diner we were there for years we closed in november um and i was the pastry chef there was it uh obviously a covid related closure yeah unfortunately that's tough man i'm sorry to hear that fortunately you transitioned into a sub stack which is essentially a newsletter and so you're sharing your recipes there and that's where this pizza babka came from so tell me about how you kind of got into the making of it why you made it i used to make a lot of vodka at the restaurant um and we did savory vodka used to do an everything bagel bobcat bb's um and so something that's something that i do um and the recipe the pizza vodka actually came from my mom used to make pizza bread all the time which is just like a i mean like stromboli essentially yeah essentially um so i just decided to kind of like take it up a little bit and and turn it into a vodka so is it essentially just a stromboli you split it in half like you would a babka and you sort of braid it from there yeah i think to me the big difference between what would make this more of a vodka versus a stromboli is the thinness and the and how many layers i think of a stromboli as having that like classic spiral versus this is you know sliced down the center and braided more like a traditional vodka so maybe roll the bread uh the dough out a little thinner yeah absolutely and anything else on top i think you put like a little garlic butter on top yeah garlic parsley butter on top okay cool well thank you so much for coming on where can people find you would like uh if they want to sign up for your sub stack where can i direct them it's a piece of cake by bill clark i'll leave a link down below so anybody who's watching can go subscribe and can support you and best of luck to you in whatever you do thanks so much take care buddy gonna take about an hour to make the dough so you want to always do that first so we're just going with a cup of warm water good to have it around 100 110 degrees and a teaspoon of dry yeast i'm gonna let that sit for like 10 minutes while that blooms we'll get the dry ingredients together two cups of flour doesn't have to be perfect one tablespoon of sugar one teaspoon of salt after a few minutes you should see some action with the yeast it should smell yeasty and be bubbling and foaming after about 10 minutes it should be ready add it to the flour and then mix until it comes together into a ball it's gonna need about a half cup to one cup of additional flour that we're gonna work in by kneading work the dough flipping with one palm towards you and then stretching away from you with the other palm and if the dough becomes too sticky at all to work with that's the dough sending you a message saying add a little bit more flour use a bench scraper to help manage the dough you're going to want to add flour and knead the dough until it's just slightly tacky you could use a machine for this if you do add that extra half cup of flour to the machine at the start once the dough has been kneaded for about 10 to 15 minutes and a tight slightly tacky ball has been formed get it into a bowl with a little bit of oil and get it covered with some plastic wrap let that dough rise for about an hour it's been about an hour and the dough should be ready i just want to grate about a pound of some dry whole milk mozzarella a bit of parchment paper makes it a lot easier to work with this dough turn the dough out and let gravity do the work until it plops onto that parchment paper then with a greased rolling pin gently roll out a rectangle as thin as you can once the dough is shaped shingle the thin pepperoni slices across the surface of the dough followed by an even layer of the mozzarella cheese then roll the dough onto itself using the parchment paper to help you along exactly like you would a stromboli or cinnamon buns once you get to the end fold the end onto itself and seal it then take a bread pan and help gauge where to cut the dough i cut it the size of the pan but i recommend going a little bit longer because i didn't account for the twisting of the dough which results in losing a couple inches in length then carefully cut that log in half with a serrated knife once cut in half you're going to slice the log down the middle lengthwise very carefully once it's split you're gonna stand it up and then you're gonna two back ends and pinch them together as sort of a starting point and begin to twist the two cut halves onto each other and once it's completely twisted pinch the other end together to seal it's kind of tricky and you might begin to think it looks like a disaster but just go with it i promise it's going to work out transfer to the bread pan next we can prepare the garlic and herb butter just finely chop up some parsley get that into a bowl grate up some garlic melt a half a stick of butter in the pan over medium heat and then add the garlic and herbs and cook until fragrant for about two to three minutes then baste the dough with that garlic butter and then sprinkle a little bit of grated parmigiano cheese on top and then pop that into a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes while that cooks i'm just gonna reheat some weekday sauce on the stove i'll leave a link down in the description for my weekday sauce recipe after about 20 minutes i check on the bobcat and then baste it with a little bit more of that garlic butter rotate it for even cooking and then cook it for about 10 more minutes and then it's perfect you just want it to look golden brown with caramelized cheese bits and pepperoni fat crisping up the edges and it should just look really delicious one last base of the garlic butter when it gets out of the oven let it cool until you can remove it from the bread pan and then let it rest before cutting letting it rest allows the cheese to sort of set which is going to help hold this bobcat together slice it up serve it up with some of that weekday sauce and take a look at what a beautiful thing you just made ah that's good first thing i think of is domino's cheesy bread this tastes very much like domino's cheesy bread that garlic oil on top that's a nice touch obviously a lot of similarities to stromboli but with all that added exposure you get these like melty pieces of cheese that crisp up the pepperoni fat kind of gets around there and gets it nice and crispy on the edges ah it's a flavor bomb so go check out bill's website down below there's gonna be a link in the description you gotta give this a try that's all that i have today i'll see you next time until then take care of yourself go feed yourself\n"
