Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

Lately I’ve been thinking about how pizza gets a bad rap in the world of nutrition.  Specifically, I find it irritating that pizza, all pizza, is largely dismissed as “junk food.” Don’t get me wrong, as a nutrition professional I love the work that folks like Jamie Oliver are doing out there.  We need to think more about the things we put into our mouths that fall under the increasingly…Read More…

I’m becoming quite fond of those bright red pickled peppers you find in the pack your own condiment bar of supermarkets next to the olive bar–you know, the ones that look like tiny mini-me’s of red bell peppers but have a lot more zing and are sweet and vinegary and just explode in your mouth with flavor. They’re called peppadew peppers and are from South Africa originally. A few years…Read More…

I just returned from a project working on creating new gluten-free breads and I must say, gluten-free is the big buzz these days. A few years ago, when I tried to convince a large product company to produce gluten-free products they told me the market wasn’t big enough. Then, a few years later, they called me back and said “Guess what–the market is there and we’re ready to produce those…Read More…

This week we return to Pizzeria Basta in Boulder, CO, for another Kelly Whitaker pizza demo. This time, Kelly shows us his personal favorite, a simple and delicious Marinara pizza, with a few special Kelly touches. This video will post on Thursday. I’ll be back on Tuesday for a new Peter’s Blog, with some comments on the growing gluten free trend. Along the same lines, new Guest Columnist Tom Carrig…Read More…

Lately I’ve been thinking about my ninth grade history class. What I recall most vividly was that at the time I had almost no interest in world history. Like a lot of kids that age, I wasn’t looking much at the past, and I really couldn’t understand what all that old stuff had to do with my life. You see, by the age of 15 I had already spent several…Read More…

Hi Again,If you are a regular here then it’s probable that you all have your own list of favorite pizzerias. So here’s a little fuel for the forno, a link to a recent Huffington Post posting of Food and Wine.com’s Top 25 pizzerias. Bear in mind, this list represents what they call “New Guard” pizzerias, not the venerable oldie but goodies like Frank Pepe’s or DiFara’s. After you read about…Read More…

This week we feature the first of our two part conclusion to the Pizzeria Mozza webisodes. In this segment, I’m sitting in the beautiful dining room of Osteria Mozza with Nancy Silverton and food writer Kristine Kidd. Osteria Mozza is located next door to Pizzeria Mozza, literally through the door around the corner of the same building, and never serves pizza. But, since the Osteria is open only for dinner,…Read More…

I’m not going to get into the history of how this dressing came into existence–you can read all about it on a bottle of Cardini’s, since Caesar Cardini owns those bragging rights (though I’ve heard it disputed by others who claim the dressing may have other origins–if you know these stories please tell us about them in the comments section). What I do want to say is that a good…Read More…

This week we return to Pizzeria Mozza for the first of the final two Mozza webisode segments, this one featuring a round table discussion held at Osteria Mozza (next door to Pizzeria Mozza) with food writer’s Russ Parsons and Kristine Kidd, as well as Nancy Silverton and me. Of course, the real stars are the pizzas, but it sure was fun making pizza talk with some serious, well respected fellow…Read More…

Lately I’ve been thinking about pizza and the industrial revolution. Ok, I know we think of pizza making as a craft or even an art form, but let’s face it; before the recent artisan pizza renaissance the state of pizza was in pretty sorry shape. So how did something that was an expression of individuality in the hands of a great pizza maker like Antonio Pero (founder of Totonno’s) become…Read More…