Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

Here we are, one final time, with master wine maker Dan Karlsen, of Talbott Vineyards, as we complete our impromptu crash course webisode series on wine appreciation. If you haven’t watched the previous segments with Dan, please go check them all out in the Webisode section. Whether you are already a serious wine expert or a novice, I guarantee that the info provided in this series by Dan will allow…Read More…

Remember when mom or grandma used to make you a toasted grilled cheese sandwich when you were still an innocent child?  There was something comforting about that simplest of meals.  First of all someone made it for you and often went the extra step of presenting it cut up in bite sized pieces, or with a warm bowl of soup if you were lucky and it was raining outside.  Right?!!…Read More…

 Note from Peter: I finally got to meet Paulie Gee, the legendary pizzeria operator, at the recent International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. It was an instant “bromance!”  So, I was thrilled when Paulie agreed to do an interview with me for Pizza Quest. His responses, as you will see below, are extremely humble and inspirational as he shares his journey from the world of intellectual technology (IT) to the…Read More…

Hi Everyone and Happy 4th of July (aka Independence Day)!! A few days after the Johnson & Wales International Symposium on Bread, about which I posted a few weeks ago, I wrote an Op-Ed piece, comparing the Symposium’s catch phrase, “On the Rise” to the aspirational ambitions of our city of Charlotte. I thought it was pretty good, and even got some editorial help from the Johnson & Wales Communications…Read More…

We’re back with another installment of our master wine class with wine maker extraordinaire, Dan Karlsen of Talbott Vineyards. If you haven’t been following along scroll down the home page or head over to the Webisodes section and watch the previous segments in which we get to meet Dan and talk about food and wine pairing (and lots of tasting, of course).  I have to say, in these simple, fun…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m beginning to line up a number of classes for September and October. In a few weeks I’ll post more about these upcoming fall classes at King Arthur, Southern Season (Chapel Hill), Central Milling’s new Baking Center in Petaluma, CA, and also in Reno at the Nothing To It Culinary Center, as well as a book signing at Omnivore Books in San Francisco. But, I first wanted to…Read More…

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”- Henry V Over a year ago I was asked to join a group of elite pizza makers in an effort to break the Guinness World Record for the longest pizza in the world. The existing mark was set at 6,082 ft. My first thought was “How hard could it be?” After all, I’ve been making pizza for nearly 50 years and…Read More…

I felt like pesto.  Good pesto.  Fresh pesto! So, I looked around for some recipes that felt right and set about coming up with a few pizza ideas using some fresh pesto. It’s really quite simple and like anything, you can add and subtract and come up with your own version quite easily, which is really what cooking and enjoying food is all about — at least for me. I want…Read More…

Note from Peter: I finally met Leo Spizzirri for the first time at the recent International Pizza Expo, after years of hearing about this pizza genius who always, I was told, works “behind the scenes.” At the Expo, Leo presented a number of demo’s for Forno Bravo, showing how to create more than just pizza in a wood-fired oven. Each demo started with about 5 people in the audience (after…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m still riding the high of last week’s International Symposium on Bread, but it’s time to get back to pizza, which I will do in next week’s posting, featuring a wonderful interview with world pizza champion Leo Spizzirri.  Look for it to post on Tuesday, June 6th. But, for now, a few final words about the bread symposium, whose theme was “The future of bread.” In my last…Read More…