Peter’s Blog July 5th, 2013

Welcome back and I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!

I’ve been getting requests to describe again how I do the 4 minute steaks in my Forno Bravo Primavera 60 wood-fired oven (of course, these can be made in any size W-F oven but I happen to have the 60). We are just a couple of days from putting on a steak dinner for my wife’s birthday so I’m going to ask one of the guests to take some photos of me in the process, which I will post next week along with explanations of the steps. As you may recall, I have called these steaks the best I’ve ever had and attribute it mainly to the intensely blazing 1,000 degree F. oven heat (and, of course, reasonably high quality rib eyes). This promises to be a lot of fun! Stay tuned….

Also, we have new recipes and guest columns coming over the next few weeks, as well as the ongoing video saga of our pizza challenge with The Bruery. We’ve been posting these webisodes gradually, to stretch out the suspense, so check back from time to time for the next installment, which should be soon.

One other request: I’ve noticed that there a number of “fast casual” pizzerias opening up around the country, such as Blaze, 800 Degrees, Pizza Pizzeria, Uncle Maddio’s, and many others. Most of them are modeled on the Chipotle concept, working yourself down a line to build your own pizza and, then, they bake them in a wood-fired or other oven and deliver it to your table.  If you have been to any of these new concepts I would love to hear your thoughts on the quality and your overall experience.  The “fast casual” model is sweeping the restaurant world and the big question for many of us is what impact they will have on the artisan pizza world that they aspire to emulate. Will this be the beginning of a new surge in high quality pizzas or is it a lowering of the bar? Your thoughts are welcome, right here in the “comments” section. Thanks! (Note: If anyone wants to write a more extensive “Guest Column” on this subject please write to me directly at peter@pizzaquest.com)

Finally, for those who may be new here, you can still sign up for my free video course on making artisan pizza in a home oven.  The course also includes free downloadable recipes that you can print out. If you haven’t already subscribed, go to www.craftsy.com/pizza .  It even includes a gluten-free recipe. We’re up to nearly 43,000 subscribers already, and I think nearly every question that can be asked has been asked, in the Q&A section (though you may think of a new one), so it really is a wealth of useable knowledge and a great connection to a growing community of fellow pizza freaks.

I’ll be back in a few days with the steak report!