Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

Note from Brad: I was reading Part 4 of John Arena’s “Are You Ready to Turn Pro” series on our site and noticed an interesting comment from one of our readers, Kevin Szot.  Well, truth be told, it was interesting in that the commenter owned a micro-brewery in Chile and loves to make pizza!  I checked out his site and realized that he didn’t just love making pizza, but had…Read More…

The hardest part of making a great pizza at home is making and baking a great pizza dough.  I found Peter Reinhart because this otherwise simple task eluded me in my home pizza making endeavors for so long.  I now make what I consider to be a decent dough, or doughs as I keep trying to chase that perfect pizza experience here at home with my family. The next thing…Read More…

Welcome to 2013! As we start a new year and also begin our third year here on Pizza Quest, I wanted to give you all a quick glimpse of what’s coming up. But first, a hearty thank you to all our contributors, partners, and supporters. This is  especially so for Forno Bravo, who partnered with us from Day One in creating this site and continues supporting us in so many…Read More…

As our story progresses, we’ve already introduced you to Kelly Whitaker in the previous two segments and now we meet Alan Henkin, the co-owner (with Kelly) and also the Beverage Director of Basta, in Boulder CO.  In this webisode segment, Alan and Kelly take us through a virtual master class of beer and cheese pairing, as well as showing how it compares to more familiar wine and cheese pairings. In…Read More…

Note: For a recap, scroll down the homepage past the halfway point, to read about Dave’s and my visit to Di Faro’s, which is Part One of our NYC Mini-Quest: Dave and I had to force ourselves to stop eating pizza at Di Fara’s.  This was no easy task.  You’re sitting there in front of what is a “perfect” pizza in a “perfect” place and you have to stop eating…Read More…

I’ll be back in a day or so with the steps for making that amazing 4-minute rib eye in a wood fired oven (as promised), but wanted to get this up asap to let you know that Craftsy just opened their final sale of the year on all courses, including mine on Artisan Bread, but it ends Monday night, so it’s just a two day affair.  The pizza course that…Read More…

Note from Peter: We’ve had great response to this series by John Arena, which has been a true reality check for all of us. For those who haven’t seen the previous three installments, or who may want to review them, they are all still here on the homepage (scroll down a bit), and also in the Guest Columns section. Thank you so much, John, for sharing your lifetime worth of…Read More…

I  just got back from Denver where I had the great joy and privilege to film a mini pizza course for Craftsy called, “Perfect Pizza at Home.”  As I mentioned in a previous post, this is going to be offered in January, by Craftsy, to the world for free!! (My bread course, on the other hand, sells for $39.95 — or $19.95 if you sign up via the special link…Read More…

OK, so you have considered the physical challenges and demands of becoming a pizza professional. You are confident that you want to transition from being a great amateur to becoming a successful pizza operator. Allow me to introduce you to your new best friend…MATH! I know that many of you have a dream of escaping from the mundane business world and earning a living as a pizza artisan. Math may…Read More…

I was working in New York City this summer and went on some great little pizza quests.  When I got home, I found that a group of volunteer cherry tomato plants were about ready to burst in my back yard. I decided that things had gotten out of control, as the plants were crawling across my patio and it was time to clean things up. First, I had to pluck…Read More…