Recipes

Here’s a great pizza from Kelly Whitaker of Boulder’s fabulous Pizzeria Basta. {youtube}bwjvziBf-5E{/youtube}   We asked him to create something on the spot, using Bel Gioioso Fontina cheese and he quickly pulled together a few other great ingredients: speck (smoked prosciutto), regular prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, local mushrooms, and a garnish of arugula. We all loved it! (I got to eat the slice you see me with in the video but…Read More…

I discovered this in northern Italy, in the Ligurian town of Recco, just south of Genoa. I’m in love with it!! It is made with the simplest of all doughs yet makes an extraordinary type of unusual focaccia. The dough is unleavened and, when rolled out paper thin, is not all that different from Greek phyllo (aka, fillo) dough. It is used not only in the Ligurian Focaccia col Formaggio…Read More…

I’ve been playing with Peter’s Herb Oil recipe for a while – ever since I first read his book American Pie “My Search for the Perfect Pizza”.  I have only focused on using it with Pizza, but he has some very interesting suggestions and ideas I’d like to try some time. I woke up early the other morning, about 5:00 AM, and realized that I while I wanted to sleep,…Read More…

We’ve been wanting to show you this video for quite a while. It was filmed in Boulder at the end of The Fire Within Conference, with mobile oven owner Joe D’Astice. Joe is the founder of Wood Fire Brick Oven Pizza, in Rockford, Illinois, where he makes seriously great pizza in his mobile oven. At his catering events, one of the most popular items is this S’Mores Pizza, replete with…Read More…

My guess is that you will use this more than any other specialty topping, and you can make as much as you like because it will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator. Its original use was for focaccia but then I discovered it is also excellent drizzled over many types of pizza, and can also be used to marinate or flavor various ingredients, especially fresh, sliced tomatoes and thinly sliced potatoes…Read More…

Fresh Mozzarella from Curd While we filmed recently in Boulder, Colorado, one of the pizzaiolos who attended the pizza making conference did a recipe demo using Mozzarella Curd provided by Bel Gioioso.  It is one of the pizzas he makes and people seem to really like it.  The pizza was amazing.  (Note: You’ll see more about that when we post the video in a few weeks.) I couldn’t get this…Read More…

Last week we gave you a recipe for caramelized onion marmalade that makes a killer focaccia topping when couple with walnuts and blue cheese. But any focaccia or pizza, no matter the quality of the toppings, is only as good as the crust, and this one is the best I’ve ever had, even better than in Genoa and San Francisco. See what you think and let us know. Focaccia Dough,…Read More…

You can never have too much of this in reserve as there are many dishes with which it can be used. However, my favorite application is on top of focaccia. It takes about an hour to make so don’t wait till the last minute if you plan to use it that day. It will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator (and for months in the freezer) so…Read More…

Perfect timing! My wife, Shanna, and I went wine tasting with a few friends this weekend.  It was a long planned trip up to Malibu Wines where they have an outdoor tasting room with picnic tables, live music and a beautiful setting in the Santa Monica Mountains off Mulholland Hwy.  We were lucky that we had a little local global warming this weekend, as it’s been quite cold here in…Read More…

  Note to readers: This is an excerpt from my book, American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza (Ten Speed Press). This recipe is one of my most requested and I think it rivals any pesto recipe I’ve seen or tried anywhere. Let me know what you think when you try it. When I first discovered pesto about 35 years ago I thought the heavens had opened and revealed…Read More…