Milford Man Launches New Haven Pizza School

MILFORD, CT — The New Haven area is famous for its pizza, and now people can have fun learning to make the region’s distinctive style of pie in their own kitchen or backyard.

Milford resident Frank Zabski launched New Haven Pizza School four months ago, and parties have quickly become popular.

“It’s really humbling, I’m busier than I’ve ever been, “he said. “It’s not the Culinary Institute of America, but for this novel idea, it’s really actually taken off.”

Zabski’s love of New Haven style pizza started young, and it was a staple meal for his family. His first foray into pizza-making started at 12-years-old when he volunteered to make pizza fritte (fried pizza dough with sauce and cheese) at his church festival.

He also started the Fired Up Pizza Truck in 2012 and ran it for four years. He kept the truck and equipment after sunsetting the business.

“It was crazy popular, but I was working seven days a week between my other two businesses, and something had to give,” he said.

He created a Facebook group dedicated to New Haven-style pizza in May 2020 as a distraction from the pandemic. It has since grown to 15,000 members. He realized there was an appetite for learning about how to make the region’s distinctive pizza style.

“Four months ago I had this idea to take three things I love to do, one is talk, two is teach, and three is pizza, and I put them all together,” he said.

The New Haven Pizza School was born shortly after that.

The parties are popular at houses among friends and family, Zabski said. The class is for a small group of people. Team-building company exercises have also caught on recently. He also runs a weekly pizza-making class Monday evenings at Next Door Pizza in New Haven.

New Haven-style pizza is defined by its char and very thin crust with little to no rim, Zabski said. Fresh-milled Italian tomatoes, pecorino romano cheese and mozzarella on the brown side complete the package.

Generally, Zabski dissuades people from going out and buying expensive specialized equipment such as a wood-fired oven. He teaches people with either their own equipment or his.

“I want to teach you in your home, your mixer, your oven, whatever you have,” he said.

High-quality steel pizza plates can be bought for a couple of hundred dollars and used in a conventional kitchen oven or grill. He estimates the small investment can get people 85 percent of the way to a truly authentic New Haven pie.

“85 percent for a home oven pie is pretty damn good,” he said.

Zabski starts lessons off with a brief history of New Haven pizza, and then goes through all the steps of making and cooking a pie. He suggests people start off with minimal to no toppings.

“For someone who hasn’t launched a pizza before, it’s intimidating,” he said. “The more toppings, the heavier the pizza and the harder they are to launch.”

A failed launch turns a pizza into a calzone.

Learn more about the New Haven Pizza School here.