Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

Note from Peter: Over the next few weeks I will continue to share my thoughts and memories about the Forno Bravo Expo held in September in Salinas, CA. We left off on  Friday,the day before the Expo was opened to the public, as we gathered with the Forno Bravo folks, our Pizza Quest team, our hosts at Talbott Vineyards, and a growing cast of heroes. We pick up the story…Read More…

Note from Peter: Here is the first of what we hope will be many new guest columns from John Arena. If you haven’t already seen the interview piece we did with him a few weeks ago, scroll down and catch up. In this column he addresses, in his inimical way, the matter of authenticity. I have a feeling this isn’t the last time he’ll have something to say on the…Read More…

We continue our exploration of Vera Pizza Napoletana with our Naples guru Peppe Miele. In this installment we turn to the wood-fired oven that is absolutely essential if you want to get certified as a real deal, verace pizza guy. It’s hard to believe, but important to recall, that only a few years ago in the United States a wood-fired oven siting was a rare and exciting discovery. Little by…Read More…

Note from Peter:  I’m happy to announce that John Arena, founder of Metro Pizza in Las Vegas, and one of America’s most beloved pizzaiolos, is returning as a regular columnist here on PizzaQuest. His first official Guest Column will run in December. Many of you have read John’s informative and engaging posts during the past few years, in which he explores his interest in the history and artistry of pizza,…Read More…

On Friday September 18th, 2015, still buzzing from an extraordinary day of filming with Anthony Magieri at Una Pizza Napoletana, our Pizza Quest crew reassembled at Talbott Vineyards in the hill country just outside of Salinas (“Tortilla Flats” country for you Steinbeck fans), the host site for the Forno Bravo Expo. In the past, Forno Bravo has held similar gatherings but this was my first time and also the most…Read More…

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Well, of course, we all know you make lemonade! Recently, life delivered a volunteer jalapeño plant in a section of my yard that shouldn’t have been growing anything because my sprinklers are on the fritz and we’re in the middle of a drought here on the West Coast. A few weeks later, while the fire in my Primavera wood-fired oven was…Read More…

Peppe Miele, our Virgil of the Vera Pizza Napoletana universe, continues his guided tour in this segment, turning his attention to one of my favorite subjects, dough fermentation. We receive a lot of e-mails asking about how long dough should be fermented before making the pizzas, and the answers are nearly infinite and weighted with lots of theories and opinions. But Peppe cuts right to the chase as to the…Read More…

Okay, this is going to take a few posts to do it right, so let me start here and carry on over the next few weeks: On the morning of September 17th, 2015 the Pizza Quest film team, who all converged from a number of different locations, met up at 9 AM in San Francisco for the first of four days of filming. We met at the front door of…Read More…

In this short segment we discuss with Peppe the use of Italian -00- (Double Zero) flour, which he defines as a balance between the fineness of the grind (ground very fine and, in my words, extracted from the pure endosperm with all the fiber sifted out) and the protein content (he doesn’t specify the amount but it’s probably between 10%-11.5%).  An important take-away form this conversation is the ideal fermentation…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I just got back from an amazing weekend at the Forno Bravo Expo, in Salinas, California (near Monterey) where we did demo’s, filmed hours of new material for Pizza Quest, and met a lot of great people, many who already own WFO’s (Wood-Fired Ovens), and even Fire Within ovens on wheels.  I’m still unpacking, so will write a longer post, with photos, in a few days after I…Read More…