Aydin has been chasing the perfect slice since he left Long Island. Here's everything he learned.
If you grew up near New York, you know the fold. That satisfying crease down the middle of a wide, saucy, cheesy slice that lets you eat it like you mean it. It's not just technique it's a signal. The crust is strong enough to hold, but not so thick it's bready. The bottom is crispy. The cheese is pulled. Everything is right.
Aydin, the guy behind the Instagram account @pizzofart, has been chasing that slice since he left Long Island. And after years of experimenting across three cities, a wood-fired oven build, and one very burned pizza, he finally cracked it.
We sat down with him to find out exactly how he does it.
From Long Island to San Francisco, chasing a slice
Aydin didn't start as a pizza maker. He started as a pizza eater, growing up on Long Island surrounded by great pies, then delivering them right out of high school, watching the guys work the dough with no intention of ever doing it himself.
Then he moved to San Francisco for film school, and everything changed.
"I had a very hard time finding any pizzas that held up. I was going out on weekends with friends, searching from one end of the city to the other. Craving pizza to the point of exhaustion."
So he did what any obsessive would do. He learned to make it himself.
He started in his San Francisco apartment in 2015 with store-bought dough. By 2016 he was making his own. By 2017 he'd moved to New York and built a wood-fired oven of his own design at his in-laws' place upstate. In 2022 he landed in Los Angeles with just the oven that came with his apartment, and started @pizzofart.
The name, by the way? A play on "piece of art." The other option was @pizzinmymouth. He made the right call.
The dough: bread flour, 60% hydration, 3–5 days cold
Aydin's dough process has evolved over the years, he spent time with poolish starters, then came back to direct method with active dry yeast in a spiral mixer.
His current formula:
- Bread flour
- 60% hydration, Los Angeles tap water
- 6-hour bulk ferment at room temp
- Shape into dough balls, proof individually in the fridge 1–7 days (3–5 days is his sweet spot)
Simple, deliberate, consistent. That cold ferment window is where flavor builds.
The biggest unlock: heat underneath
Ask Aydin what the single biggest factor is for getting a crispy bottom on a New York style pizza in a home oven, and he doesn't hesitate.
"More heat. The Baking Steel is the best way to harness as much heat as possible from a weak home oven to consistently crisp up the bottom."
For years his biggest frustration was exactly that, not enough heat underneath. He was baking 8 minutes on a pizza screen, ending up with a lightly toasted bottom. Fine, but not right.
The first time he used a Baking Steel, he burned the bottom completely black in 3 minutes. The steel surface measured 615°F.
That's the point. Steel transfers heat 18x faster than a pizza stone. In a home oven at 550°F, the Baking Steel mimics a wood-fired oven floor at 900°F. The moment your dough hits it, you get that rapid, even heat that builds a real crust from the bottom up. Stones just can't keep up.
His current setup: preheat to 550°F on regular bake, steel on the bottom rack, until the steel surface hits 550°F. Once the bottom is done, he moves it to a screen for a few minutes to finish browning the edge crust. No broiler, it burns the cheese.
Sauce and cheese: less is more, but more tomatoes
Aydin's sauce is as simple as it gets. Whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand, salt, chili flakes. Uncooked. He saw pizzerias in Italy doing it this way and never went back.
"Uncooked tomatoes taste better than cooked sauce."
One big ladle for a 16" pizza. Heavy on the sauce, that's the Long Island in him.
For cheese: about ⅓ pound low moisture whole milk mozzarella, shredded himself. Pre-shredded has anti-caking agents that mess with the texture. Small detail, real difference.
The most common mistake home pizza makers make
Dehydration. Home ovens bake longer than a wood-fired oven, and the moisture bakes out before the crust is done. His fix: more tomatoes, more sauce. You can also use fresh mozzarella.
More sauce isn't a compromise. For Aydin, it's the whole point.
Long Island Style, wherever he is
After all of it, the apartment in San Francisco, the wood-fired build upstate, the move to LA, the years of trial and error, Aydin's favorite pizza is still the one he makes at home.
"I make what I call 'Long Island Style Pizza.' It's bready and heavy handed on the tomatoes and cheese. A real comfort food."
That's what this is really about. Not chasing perfection for its own sake, chasing the pizza you grew up with, wherever life takes you.
The Baking Steel is just the tool that finally made it possible.
Follow Aydin at @pizzofart. His Long Island Style pies are worth every scroll.
