Peter's Blog

Hi Folks, This is mainly for our followers in the Charlotte area where, aside from the national scandal of our mayor resigning over corruption charges (how embarrassing for us all here in this most aspirational of cities, the worst news since the days of Jim and Tammy Fay Baker at the nearby PTL Club and “theme park” — but don’t get me start), tonight we offer a more positive opportunity:…Read More…

I’m finally back from two exciting adventures and hope to start a new series of postings, reporting from the new frontier of sprouted grain. This is just a brief one, which I will follow over the next few weeks with photos and more details. As mentioned in my last Peter’s Blog, I spent a week shooting the photos for my new book, The Bread Revolution. We did this at Central…Read More…

Hi Everyone, It’s been a busy time for all of us here at Pizza Quest so I wanted to fill you in on what I’ve been up to and what will be coming in the next few months. I’ve been working on the final stages of my new book for Ten Speed Press, all about coming developments in the world of bread and flour, and will be soon shooting the…Read More…

Yes, another year has flown by, full of adventures, trials and tribulations, and, of course, great pizza! Brad and I will back with new postings throughout the coming year and plan to keep this journey alive (the quest never ends…). I have no photos to share with you today, as we approach the dropping of the big ball in a few hours, just a few year end thoughts and thanks….Read More…

Hi Everyone, PizzaQuest follower John Daniels has been working on a really interesting baking platform, he actually calls it a Pizza Grate, that was designed to wick away any moisture from the underskirt of your crust via a series of strategically drilled holes in the plate.  He sent both Brad and me an early prototype and Brad is currently testing it out and will report on it in an upcoming…Read More…

A few weeks ago author Michael Pollan came to Charlotte to speak at a local university. Earlier that day I was fortunate to be able to appear with him for an hour on our local NPR radio program, Charlotte Talks, where we discussed many of his favorite themes. Most of you already know who Michael Pollan is, but in case you don’t, he is the author of a number of…Read More…

As many of you already know, I did not win the New Yorker Caption Contest this week, though I did get many e-mails from folks saying they thought I should have.  But the winning caption was very funny and I figured it might very well win when I first saw it in the finals, and it did. Was it because the author had more Twitter followers or Facebook fans than…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m taking shameless advantage of this platform to let you know that a caption I submitted was chosen as a finalist in the weekly New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest.  It is only the second time I’ve ever tried entering and, frankly, I usually find it hard to come up with anything funny or clever, so I often pass. But this time it came to me in a flash,…Read More…

Here it is, as promised, a pictorial guide to the best steaks I’ve ever had, for a fraction of the cost of Morton’s, Peter Luger, Ruth’s Chris, and all the others.  Of course, you need the super high heat of a wood-fired oven, such as this sweet little Primavera 60 in my back driveway next to the garden. I made these for a dinner party for my wife Susan’s birthday;…Read More…

Welcome back and I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July! I’ve been getting requests to describe again how I do the 4 minute steaks in my Forno Bravo Primavera 60 wood-fired oven (of course, these can be made in any size W-F oven but I happen to have the 60). We are just a couple of days from putting on a steak dinner for my wife’s birthday…Read More…