Peter's Blog

Hi Everyone, By the time you read this I will be off to Texas, teaching a series of classes at the Central Market Cooking Schools in San Antonio (January 11th), Austin (12th), Houston (13th), Fort Worth (14th), and Dallas (15th). Whew!! Not a lot of time to do any pizza (or barbecue) hunting, but a great chance to meet lots of fellow bread-heads. If you are already coming to my…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I think it’s safe to say that this was the craziest year many of us have ever known, from sublime to surreal. But at least here, on PizzaQuest, it has been a wonderful year, in many ways our best ever, and for this I want to say thanks to everyone who helped make it possible, including you, our followers, readers, and fellow pizza freaks. One of the things…Read More…

Note from Peter:  I’m not going to say much here other than to implore you to read this interview with two of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met, Nadezhda Savova-Grigorov and her husband, Stefan Grigorov, who live in Sofia, Bulgaria. I guarantee that after you read about the work they are doing you will feel a newly energized hope for the world, which is  just what we need at this time…Read More…

Note from Peter: I met Lou Bank at the Fermentation Festival in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, where he put on an amazing dinner using all sorts of fermented foods (plenty of kimchee!!) and local pork and grains, but mainly it was a celebration, and “Master Class,” in mezcal. We tasted five different rare, artisan examples as Lou explained all the nuances. I’m no expert in mezcal spirit beverages, or tequila, it’s most…Read More…

Note from Peter: A few months ago I posted about this wonderful book by journalist Simran Sethi. It just recently came out in a soft cover version, which means it’s more affordable and, as you will see below in my review, well worth reading. If you like Michael Pollan and Dan Barber you will love this book.  Here’s my review, enjoy! Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We…Read More…

 Note from Peter: I met Albert Grande a number of years ago when he wrote to me about his website, pizzatherapy.com, which I immediately loved, and we’ve been corresponding ever since. I think of “Pizza Therapy” as an ongoing love letter to all of us, from an east coast guy transplanted to Hawaii, about the pizza memories of his youth. But, of course, it has become much more than that over the…Read More…

Note from Peter:  I met Meathead Goldwyn a few weeks ago at the Decatur Book Festival, where he held the culinary stage immediately before I went on, so I had a chance to watch his presentation, which was on “Busting Myths About Barbecue and Cooking.”  It was a fun filled hour, full of great tips on temperature control, best brands for food thermometers, how to cook a steak to the…Read More…

Hi Everyone, Here’s a link to a great pizza crawl this coming Wednesday, that our friend and regular guest columnist, Scott Weiner, is involved with. The proceeds go to support hunger relief, so please check it out and participate if you can.  http://sliceouthunger.org/nycdollarslicenight/ Let us know if any of you take part by posting comments below. We’d love to hear about your experience.  And thanks, Scott, for all your hard…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’ve been on the road a lot lately, teaching classes and doing book signings for my new book, “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice 15th Anniversary Edition,” and I wanted to share a few observations and also give you the details for my upcoming appearance at the 9th Annual Fermentation Fest, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin on October 8th and 9th. First, these have been very challenging weeks, across the country and…Read More…

 Note from Peter:  Scott Wiener is a regular guest columnist here on Pizza Quest but, if you haven’t been on one of his legendary New York City pizza tours, you might not know much about him or about his impressive collection of pizza boxes from around the world. So, here’s a closer look from my recent conversation with Scott.  There are some links at the end if you want to…Read More…