Recipes

This is a small batch recipe for making the Challenge Dough that is used in the pizza that we will be making for the public for the first time on September 30th in Denver at 7 PM at the Summit Beer Garden, just a few blocks from The Great American Beer Festival.  The ingredients that distinguish this from typical pizza crusts are the flour and crystal malt.  The flour that…Read More…

As many of you know, Chris Bianco has joined forces with Rob DiNapoli of DiNapoli Specialty Foods.  They have come up with a new product that Chris had been nudging Rob to create for some time.  There has been a limited supply of their new Bianco DiNapoli Organic Tomatoes available at some select pizzerias and restaurants and we have been lucky enough to be “in the loop!”  I happen to…Read More…

Lately I have been thinking a lot about  some ways to enjoy dessert pizzas that you could get excited about and have your family and friends talking about too. I thought maybe a cheesecake base with fresh fruit on top would be a satisfying, delicious ending to a pizza party, picnic or camp out. This pizza is great tasting while it’s still hot, cooled down or even cold from the…Read More…

As many of you saw in a recent Guest Column, my sister finally made the trip to Pizzeria Bianco last month (a trip, I have yet to make)!  If you read her story, you can see how she tortured me for years – teasing me about her trips to visit family in Phoenix and the possibility of going, and then after, baiting me with texts and emails; or her plans…Read More…

As many of you know, Chris Bianco has joined forces with Rob DiNapoli of DiNapoli Specialty Foods.  They have come up with a new product that Chris had been nudging Rob to create for some time.  There has been a limited supply of their new Bianco DiNapoli Organic Tomatoes available at some select pizzerias and restaurants and we have been lucky enough to be “in the loop”!  I happen to…Read More…

I am not the first to venture into how to bring fire and wood together to cook a pizza.  So, while making great pizza is all about balancing time, temperature and ingredients, it is also about the type of heat to a great extent. You can bake a pizza with a brick floor (brick oven), cook it in a live fired wood burning oven, which brings smoke and a more…Read More…

It’s still summertime and, in Redondo Beach, CA, we are having one of the best summers I can remember.  We very typically have a marine layer of fog that covers our beaches for most of the day until it finally burns off after the relentless sun does it’s job better than the Pacific is doing it’s job of sending the fog our way.  But not this summer.  It has been…Read More…

So, I had some Bel Gioioso Creamy Gorgonzola cheese in the fridge.  I wanted to make some pizzas. What came to mind was my friend’s grandfather.  I don’t know why, but often, when I cook it seems distant memories come flooding back to me. My friend Brian had introduced me to his Nono (Grandfather) while we were back in college. As I sat there contemplating this Creamy-Gorg pizza, I got…Read More…

One of my favorite pizzas to make, each time I make pizza, is always different. What I mean is that it is never the same pizza.  It isn’t necessarily the best pizza of any particular batch of pizzas, but it is definitely one of my favorites to make. Okay, let me explain all this crypticness: When I make pizza, what I do is plan on making a couple of specific…Read More…

This is one of my favorite salads to make in one variation or another.  If I don’t have fresh mozzarella on hand, I’ll just make this as a tomato and basil salad with a little oil, balsamic and salt and pepper.  I am always happy with a tomato salad.   If you can’t get an heirloom tomato any quality tomato will work.  It’s a very flexible platform for pure goodness!…Read More…