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Brooklyn Pizza Sold Out Of A One Bedroom Apartment - YouTube
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[1]
-What I've learned from going
from a six-figure career
[4]
to minimum wage is that you have
to do what makes you happy.
[6]
So as long as I can
earn enough money
[8]
to continue to bake pizza
[9]
and to give it away
to people who need it,
[11]
I'll be happier than
I could have ever dreamed of.
[15]
If you were to measure
happiness and money,
[16]
I think I'm probably
the wealthiest pizza baker
[19]
in the entire world.
[20]
鈾櫔
[26]
My name is Miriam Weiskind.
I live in Brooklyn, New York,
[29]
and I am
a professional pizzaiola,
[31]
which is terminology
for pizza baker,
[34]
baking pies for donation
out of my apartment.
[37]
The difference between
good and bad pizza
[38]
are the quality, the ingredients
and the person baking it.
[41]
There's so much that goes
into it that people do not know,
[45]
especially if you're making
small batch pies like I am.
[49]
That pizza that somebody's
gonna order starts
[51]
being made three days
before they pick it up.
[54]
So the kind of styles of pizza
that I specialize in --
[56]
New York style, wood fired,
and lately, Sicilian.
[60]
The round pizzas sell out about
a week to two weeks in advance.
[63]
The Sicilian sells out
about a month in advance.
[67]
Beautiful, through and
throughout.
[70]
Cheese, sauce, and crust,
[71]
everything you need
in a simple pizza.
[75]
So when COVID hit,
I had a choice to make
[77]
it was either sulk in fear,
dying alone in my apartment,
[81]
or take advantage
of this opportunity
[83]
and do something I love.
And the one thing I could do,
[86]
aside from running before
daybreak was to bake pizza.
[90]
So I started baking pizza
for people in my building
[92]
who lost their jobs,
[94]
the elderly, families that
needed it to feed everyone.
[97]
By baking pizza for them,
that helped give me hope.
[100]
And it just blossomed
into this beautiful thing.
[103]
Keys.
I'm gonna head down.
[109]
Here is your pizza.
-Thank you.
[111]
-The way that people pay for
pizza, it's by donation only.
[114]
There's a suggested amount
that they can donate for.
[116]
If they don't have a job,
it's free.
[117]
If they're a first responder,
it's free.
[120]
If they're just sad
and having a really tough time
[122]
in life, it's free.
[124]
These are for you.
-Lovely.
[126]
-COVID and quarantine
separated everyone.
[129]
And made us kind of, you know,
while we were in our apartment,
[132]
we still had
a sense of community.
[134]
And to see her every day,
like spreading the pizza joy
[136]
has really been pretty cool
to see and special.
[139]
-And then I'd have people say to
me, "Why don't you charge more?
[141]
Why are you charging $10 or $12
for a pizza?"
[144]
And I go, "We all could
use a break right now."
[146]
I see all around us
in New York, people are leaving.
[149]
All these businesses
are folding.
[151]
And I think there's opportunity
there to bring something new
[155]
and something
that's of comfort to people.
[157]
I mean, what happened
after the Great Depression?
[159]
What was the food that was born
after that? What was accessible?
[162]
What was affordable to these
families that had no money.
[165]
And it's pizza.
[166]
Just about
making life easier for people.
[169]
This is a time when we all have
to come together as a community.
[172]
I'll see you tomorrow.
-Thank you. Bye.
[176]
-Well, this is
Monday morning prep.
[178]
I have to do all this
before I go to Paulie Gee's
[180]
to do his prep for the day.
[182]
Generally, this whole process
takes me an hour and a half.
[185]
I use a blend of two flours,
[186]
kind of secretive.
One of them's Caputo.
[188]
The other one
we won't talk about.
[189]
So you can see here
as I'm mixing this.
[191]
See the little bubbles
that are forming.
[192]
That's the yeast
starting to activate.
[195]
That's good. It's alive.
See, they're poppin'.
[197]
Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning.
[200]
But this is my life every
morning.
[203]
I was an art director,
a freelance art director,
[205]
constantly hustling
to gain new clients.
[208]
I had a nice
Rolodex of current clients.
[210]
About eight years ago,
[212]
I met Scott Wiener
through Scott's Pizza Tours.
[214]
I decided to take on
doing pizza tours with him.
[217]
And that's where I really
discovered that my whole life,
[220]
I've loved pizza.
[222]
And when he met me, he's like,
"You know what good pizza is,
[225]
but you don't know
that much about it."
[227]
So he took me under his wings.
And over those next eight years,
[230]
that's how I learned
everything there is about pizza.
[233]
I decided about a year ago
[235]
to say goodbye
to being an art director
[238]
and say hello to baking and
selling my favorite pizzerias,
[241]
just to learn the craft
[243]
and the skill
that would be required to do it.
[245]
So I went to a couple
different pizzerias
[247]
that I loved in New York.
[249]
And the first person
to say to me when I asked,
[252]
"Hey, can I come learn
how to bake in your pizzeria,"
[254]
was Paulie Gee.
[256]
After a couple shifts
of baking pizza
[258]
for a restaurant full of people,
I fell in love with it.
[261]
And then when COVID hit,
everything changed
[263]
in the best and the worst
kind of way.
[266]
So I am taking the dough out.
[268]
This has been fermenting
for -- it's on its third day.
[271]
I'm going to ball it up,
put it on a tray,
[273]
and it's gonna proof
until I bake it at 5:00.
[276]
When I hand mix it,
I can feel the life in it.
[280]
That's the beauty --
when you're hand mixing
[281]
and you can feel the dough, and
you're connecting with it,
[284]
I can feel that it's going to be
a good dough already.
[286]
This recipe took me about
three months to land on,
[289]
to get it just right
[291]
because I'm using
a Breville pizzaiolo,
[293]
which is the pizza oven.
It's like a household oven.
[295]
I can make wood
fired pizza with it.
[298]
I can make good old
tavern style pizza with it.
[300]
I'm originally
from Dayton, Ohio,
[302]
which is home
to tavern-style pizza.
[304]
The situation when I was born
is that my mom was in labor
[307]
for so long that my dad
and the doctor ordered pizza.
[311]
And so the running joke was,
[312]
is that when I popped
into the world
[314]
and took my very
first breath of air,
[316]
I was born into
the world of pizza.
[318]
Typical American Jewish family.
[320]
We only eat dinner
once a week together,
[322]
and that was Chinese
on Sunday nights.
[324]
We grew up in the woods
and pizza to us
[326]
was either a pizza bagel
[327]
or it was Little Caesars
or Papa John's.
[330]
I was a huge soccer player,
very into athletics,
[333]
not into cooking at all.
Worked three jobs
[335]
when I was in high school
in order to save up for college.
[338]
When I first moved to New York,
[340]
I didn't know
a single person here.
[341]
I'd never been here before.
I moved here on a coin toss
[344]
and 600 bucks
in my pocket.
[346]
I had great success
as a creative director
[349]
and art director,
so it was tough to walk away
[351]
and to pursue something
with uncertainty.
[354]
But life is short and you have
to go after your dreams
[357]
and do what makes you happy.
[359]
These are going to become
round pies tonight.
[361]
So this is all the New York
style
[364]
and the "wood-fired"
Italian-inspired rounds.
[368]
This afternoon
they'll be beautiful.
[371]
That's a wrap.
[375]
Most people take the subway,
ride a bike, drive,
[379]
I run to work as part
of my relaxation process.
[383]
I look forward to taking a break
from my own pop up,
[387]
working on the team
at Paulie Gee's.
[389]
I run traditionally between 50
and 80 miles a week
[391]
because I'm an ultra runner.
[393]
Running is what gives me solace
and keeps me at peace.
[397]
And I found that same kind
of feeling with pizza baking.
[403]
This smells so good.
If I could make a perfume
[406]
of just this smell, I mean,
first of all, that'd be weird,
[408]
but second of all,
who's to say what weird is now?
[412]
This is yoga for me.
[414]
You can't beat starting
a Monday morning off
[416]
rolling out
dough balls like this.
[418]
When I started working here,
you know, I asked Paulie,
[421]
I was like, "I want to learn
how to bake pizza."
[422]
And he's like,
"When can you start?"
[424]
And after the first night, I got
to bake a pizza in the oven
[427]
and the rest is kind of history.
And then when COVID hit,
[430]
we all unfortunately
lost our jobs.
[433]
When we were finally able to
reopen,
[436]
you know, he reached out
and he's like, "I need a baker."
[438]
And I was like, "I'd love to
bake," but, you know,
[439]
at that point, I was too scared
to work in a restaurant.
[441]
I was like,
"What else can I do for you?"
[443]
He's like, "Day prep."
And I was like, "Oh, brilliant,"
[445]
because that's something
I actually need to learn
[449]
if I'm gonna ever make it
into the world of becoming
[451]
a pizzeria owner someday,
which I hope to do.
[454]
My shift generally goes
10:00 until I'm done,
[456]
which is about -- sometimes it's
2:30, sometimes it's 3:00.
[460]
It depends how much
I have to do that day.
[462]
So after this, I'll run home
[464]
and then I have to get ready
for my own pop up.
[465]
So tonight,
I'm completely sold out.
[468]
The difference between baking in
an apartment
[470]
versus Paulie Gee's,
it's a much smaller space.
[473]
So I can do everything
a lot faster,
[475]
but I don't have anyone
to help me with clean up.
[477]
And that's the only thing
that's a big bummer.
[480]
Then at 3:00 in the afternoon
is when I begin
[482]
my prep and then
I begin baking at 4:00.
[484]
Pick ups generally go between
5:00 and 7:00, every 15 minutes.
[488]
The pickups range anywhere
from 6 to 10 people per night.
[492]
One of the Michael Jordan pies,
the Sicilian.
[494]
I only do two
Sicilian pies per night.
[497]
So I make my own sauce.
[498]
I use a blend
of two different tomatoes.
[500]
I use all to Alta Cucina
from Stanislaus
[502]
and I combine it with 7/11,
which is a crushed tomato,
[506]
because the crushed
and the whole tomato
[508]
have a very different
flavor profile.
[510]
Chicago Bulls are a red top
and then the pie itself
[514]
measured total dimensions
of 23 inches.
[516]
It would take 23 hours to make.
And I was like,
[519]
"You know what, let me do an ode
to Michael Jordan,"
[521]
so I decided to call it
the Baby Butter MJ.
[524]
The Baby Butter MJ
with this weird pan,
[526]
I wanted to create a
just phenomenal tasting pizza,
[529]
and I thought about
the things I love.
[531]
So what I did is I greased
this tiny baby pan with butter
[534]
after doing a second proof, par
bake it, and then I encase it in
[539]
New York State white sharp
cheddar cheese.
[542]
And then I use whole-milk
cheese, I use my own sauce.
[545]
And when I bake this pie
and pull it out,
[546]
it's basically a New York style
Sicilian with a Detroit edge.
[549]
There's a little bit of Ohio
sprinkled in there,
[553]
but it was a unique
Sicilian pizza.
[554]
It wasn't super heavy,
but it wasn't super light.
[558]
Every Michael Jordan pie
gets a vintage valentine
[562]
from 1990 of Michael Jordan.
[564]
They're all cheesy,
but I bought these on eBay.
[567]
So I put a personal message
in the back
[568]
just to say something special.
[570]
So today we're going to be
kind of cheesy.
[571]
"Fly high eating
this MJ Butter Baby."
[578]
Everyone who gets an MJ
gets one of these cards.
[580]
Like, there's the one woman
who gets it every Wednesday.
[583]
She has a drawerful of
Michael Jordan cards.
[587]
So for my Hawaiian pizza,
[588]
I put a little bit
of a Jewish twist on it.
[590]
I use salami with pickled
jalapeno pineapple.
[592]
New Yorkers to begin with, hate
pineapple.
[595]
Every single person
I have given this to
[598]
has absolutely loved
this pizza.
[601]
So there are two people
getting a mystery pie tonight.
[603]
And they order a mystery pie,
I give them whatever I want.
[607]
So two people
are getting the brisket.
[609]
So I took my mother's
brisket recipe
[613]
and I decided to put it
on a pizza.
[615]
-Very good. They're always good,
so no matter what you get,
[619]
you know,
it's going to be delicious.
[622]
-Getting these pies out
on time is critical.
[626]
Once I launch in the oven,
I just adjust it,
[628]
make it rounder.
[630]
You're not supposed to stick
your hand in there like that,
[632]
but I do.
So you have to let the pie cool
[634]
down for a second
before you put it in a box
[636]
because the heat creates so much
moisture that it'll get soggy.
[641]
These pizza boxes,
I'm very specific about,
[644]
because every person that
gets one, they get a message.
[649]
So on the inside of every box.
"Every pizza is for my mom."
[656]
Inside every box I put,
"For Mom" with a heart,
[659]
and the reason why is
that my mom passed away
[661]
from COVID not too long ago.
[663]
She'd always been like
a huge inspiration with pizza.
[666]
One thing we always shared.
God bless my mother.
[669]
She used to peal all the cheese
off of the pizza
[670]
and leave the crust.
[ Laughs ]
[672]
The only person in the world
[674]
that I wish had been able
to try my pizza is my mom.
[677]
So she's here in spirit.
[680]
I'm surrounded by pizzerias
in this neighborhood,
[682]
but I still felt that I needed
to give back in some way.
[686]
You know, my mother was a huge
inspiration what I'm doing.
[688]
She was the kind of woman
who would drive around
[691]
on Rosh Hashanah and give away
200 bottles of honey
[694]
to make sure
that everyone she knew
[696]
would start off
with a sweet new year.
[697]
And I kind of feel like I am my
mother
[699]
because I'm taking pizza,
[701]
and I'm helping to make life
easier and brighter.
[704]
I like to prep them all like
this, and I ordered this box
[706]
just because I love that
I convey to someone
[709]
that today's special
is you.
[710]
When people pick up the pizza,
those who know me
[712]
personally, and they know what
the "For Mom" is,
[715]
I think that's part
of the story.
[717]
I think that's part
of the reason people come back
[719]
for more pizza
is because it's not just about
[722]
having a pizza that,
you know,
[723]
from what I've been told,
tastes really good,
[726]
but it's the story
that goes into it.
[728]
Hey, guys, here's pizza
for you guys.
[732]
-It was like a time when there
was, like,
[733]
no rhythm to anything.
So we would like write
[736]
our pizza day on the calendar,
and it was like a thing
[739]
that was like a highlight
of the week that we can look
[741]
forward to all the time.
We've gotten it,
[743]
I think, almost every week.
-She's really friendly.
[745]
She always has a funny joke.
-About pizza.
[750]
And also we, like, nearly
every time
[753]
she gives us some type of
sticker like these.
[757]
-I would love to be able to
open up
[760]
what would be the second female
owned and operated pizzeria.
[763]
Being a woman in pizza
is smashing a glass ceiling
[767]
and doing the impossible.
Such a small percentage of women
[770]
represent the pizza industry,
like single digit percent.
[775]
And a big problem
in the industry
[776]
is people aren't paid fairly.
I want to be able to open
[779]
a pizzeria that offers
fair wages to people.
[781]
Would I still do the pay it
forward thing?
[783]
100%.
[785]
That's a huge part of why
I started doing this.
[789]
And that's the principle
I stand behind,
[791]
is no matter where I wind up,
[793]
to always continue to help
people out that are in need.
[796]
It took me 40 years to figure
out this is where I belonged,
[800]
and I just feel so at peace.
[803]
I feel I'm doing exactly
what I'm supposed to be doing.
[805]
There are moments where I
definitely get frustrated,
[808]
and I drop a pizza
or I oversell.
[813]
But what keeps me going is that
every night when people come by
[817]
to pick up their pizza
to see how happy it makes them.
[819]
And at the end of day,
it is my special place
[821]
when I start to bake pizza.
[823]
I encourage you to live beyond
the edge of your comfort zone.
[827]
And yeah, we're going to be
scared of what's coming up,
[830]
but we're all in it together.
It's not --
[832]
no -- nobody's alone out there.
For me, my grieving has been
[836]
through running and baking
pizza,
[838]
so it's almost like
every pie I bake
[841]
is another beat
of my mom's heart.
[845]
You know, it's what's keeping me
going and knowing
[848]
that she's looking down
and just so proud.
[851]
鈾櫔
[862]
鈾櫔
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