Foodie Friday: Crust and Craft
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – If there’s one thing that can truly unite people from all walks of life, it’s pizza. That’s exactly what the folks at Crust and Craft do, as they serve up delicious Neapolitan dough pizza and refreshing brews.
Time is the Secret Ingredient
For Executive Chef Charlie Moronski, figuring out how to concoct the perfect, pillowy-yet-crunchy pizza dough, was a learning process. Today, he says it’s a major part of what keeps customers coming back.
“It took a solid eight months of trial and error to get to the right dough, the right consistency that I would like,” said Chef Moronski. “But, now we’ve got this nice, light, easy dough that gets the most beautiful crunch – the most beautiful crust. I couldn’t be more happy about my product.”
Part of what makes the dough so delicious and satisfying, is the time that goes into making it.
“My dough is a four day process,” said Chef Moronski. “We start with poolish, and then we make the dough and let it proof overnight. And then, we roll it out. So, it’s a process… We have a good crew here. We’ve got a nice young crew that has that heart to want to learn and do well. Gotta love it.”
Sweet Dreams
Crust and Craft’s Sweet Dreams pizza is truly a work of art; a loving balance of garlicky goodness, cheese so fresh you should slap it, and wood-fired dough.
“Sweet Dreams is our white pizza. So, we got sweet garlic spread, our house cheese blend, fresh mozzarella, and top it with housemaid ricotta,” said Chef Moronski. “Get your crust going, stretch it, give it a little back-and-forth action. I always like to make sure you get a nice, round 12 inch pizza.”
Next, comes the signature sweet garlic sauce. “We’ve got roasted garlic, extra-virgin olive oil. We slowly cook it, and then at the end it gets that nice sweet flavor out of the garlic,” Chef Moronski said.
“With the garlic, and the sweetness, it takes that time to kind of coax it out of there,” Foodie Host Hannah added.
“Oh yeah, it’s amazing.”
After the white pie has been piled high with parmesan, fontina, and mozzarella, the next step, is even more cheese.
“Then we’re going to hit it with a fresh mozz. Everybody loves fresh mozz,” said Chef Moronski as he generously topped the pizza.
Chef Moronski says the team at Crust and Craft once whipped up about 580 pizzas in one day; but that’s not match for the restaurant’s behemoth of a wood-fired pizza oven. It only takes on rotation around the inside of the oven to result in a pizza topped with melty deliciousness, and a perfect dough to die for.
Oh, and, what’s a white pie without fresh ricotta?
“Now it’s time for that freshness,” said Chef Moronski as he put dollops of the cheese onto each slice.
A Cheese Pull for the Ages
Hannah, being a New Jersey native, is a pretty tough critic when it comes to pizza. But as they sat down to take their first bite, Hannah felt immediately at home.
“So, right off the bat, this is a beautiful pie. I mean, I’m a big fan of white pies so I might be a little biased here,” said Hannah. “But, the little dollops of ricotta are so wonderful, and I just love the meltiness of all of that other cheese underneath, and the garlic sauce.”
Pulling the first slice out of the pie, the cheese pull kept going, and going, and going. “All right, that’s a cheese pull if I ever saw one!” they said with a laugh.
Foodie Photog Mike was just as impressed with the perfect pie.
“Everyone disagrees on what pizza they like,” said Mike. “Everyone likes garlic bread and cheesy bread, and this pizza is like the best qualities of that – just elevated… The crust is very tender, and I think that’s because of how long they’ve taken to develop it.”
If you want fast, fresh, mouth-watering pizza, Crust and Craft is the place to be, says Mike.
“It blows my mind that on the day you can get something that good that quick,” Mike said. “But, it’s because they spent three-plus days prior making sure they could actually do it.”
Crust and Craft
Crust and Craft is located at 18701 Coastal Highway, Rehoboth Beach, Del. You can call them at 302-313-5029. If you got to check it out, tell the team that you saw them on Foodie Friday.
