Peter’s Blog: Happy Thanksgiving!

Here it is, Thanksgiving week, which means everything will feel like one long weekend till Chanukah and Christmas. Scary how fast that time goes.  But, to help you enjoy the time, we’ll post a few new pieces including the next installment in our Basta webisode series, which I hope to post on Thanksgiving Day.  Also, we’ll soon be posting the next installment in John Arena’s series on what it takes to go pizza professional. And Brad English has promised us more on his NYC pizza quest adventures as well as new variations of his latest fire roasted tomato pizza experiments. So keep checking back.

But, till then, let me address a few questions that came in after my last Peter’s Blog (you can refer back to the comments section in that post, further down this page, for the actual questions):

—What about the new steel pizza plate compared to a baking stone? Yes, this is the latest rage, fueled by the modernist cuisine movement whose adherents, like us, are ever questing for the holy grail of everything culinary (I’ll riff about this “Holy Grail” imagery in a future posting, but let me just say that I have a theory that every person has a deep, unconscious quest — trying to become conscious which, when it happens we call “enlightenment” —  for the Holy Grail that exists inside us, which is why the whole concept of quest is so powerful — but let’s save that for sometime closer to Christmas). Anyway, the short answer to the question is, yes, I have heard great things about this steel plate but I haven’t yet tried it. From a functional sense, anything that can serve as a thermal mass should work and, obviously, this new steel plate seems to gather and radiate heat even better, perhaps, than stone. Can we get some testimonials from those of you who have tried it? I’ll chime in too as soon a I can get my hands on one, but I do have a lot of confidence in Nathan Myhrvold and his modernist friends so I’m guessing that this is going to be a winner of a tool.

—Pivetti -00- Flour vs. King Arthur bread flour: To each his own — I’m partial to American bread flour rather than the super soft Italian Double Zero’s, but that’s only when I have a choice. I’m also happy when I can get a Vera Pizza Napoletana on any high quality -00- Italian flour dough when made with love and care and in a properly hot oven.  I take no sides and judge no one for their choices: there are many paths up the pizza mountain and the only goal is joy. Our work here is to help identify the tools and methods that increase the odds of a joyful, memorable outcome. We’re heard from die-hard proponents of every style and I honor them all, when done in a way that respects the craft. As long as the flour is unbleached and milled by a reputable miller known for consistency, I think joy can be found when proper fermentation and technique are applied.

—Antico Forno at Campo de Fiori: Yes, I love that simple pizza, made in only two styles, red (sauce only) and white (olive oil, salt, and a sprinkle of herbs).  They are baked in long planks, about 7 feet long, and then you just hold your hands open to the size of the piece you want and the girl at the counter whacks off a chunk, weighs it, and charges accordingly. I wrote about this in “American Pie” and the best lesson for me in all of it was how utterly satisfying pizza is even when it’s just crust, when it’s made right. Again, to return to the theme above, it delivers great joy and is memorable. The hunk I bought never made it back it to my hotel room because I couldn’t stop eating it as I walked (I did manage to save a small piece for my wife, but had to bring her back later for another to make up for having already eaten most of her portion). Anyone who goes to Rome should go there, and hold your hands very wide apart when you order.

–-Wood-fired pizza classes on Craftsy: It was suggested that I film some videos on wood-fired baking as part of my Craftsy video instructionals. Well, there’s good news and bad news regarding this.  First the bad news: The number of current owners of wood-fired ovens probably precludes doing this series in the near future for Craftsy, which requires a large audience to make the costs work. However, anything is possible so I wouldn’t rule it out, especially in light of the following good news: I am going to film a mini-instructional course for Craftsy on “pizza making at home,” and it should be available to the general public in just a few months.  And here’s the best news: it’s going to be free!  I will have more details when I return from our filming session in a few weeks but I’m very excited about this project and am extremely grateful to the folks at Craftsy for giving me the opportunity to put some of our techniques and recipes on video where everyone can access them. Who knows, if the response is strong, maybe they will consider doing another one on wood-fired baking.  But don’t forget, we also have a number of videos right here at Pizza Quest on baking in a wood-fired oven, so just click into the Instructionals section for those. And don’t forget to check out the Forno Bravo website for lots of useful wood-fired cooking information and videos.

Okay, enough for now. I have to go dry-brine my turkey. Have a joyful, memorable Thanksgiving and check back on Thursday for the next webisode installment. And keep those questions and comments coming in too! In gratitude,

Peter