Week Two, Yes, We’re Back!

Hi Everyone,

We’re back with all new material, as we will every week. Sometimes it will be a new webisode, sometimes a new instructional, and always a new blog entry from me and a Guest Column from our invited Contributors. This week we have both a webisode (the first in a four part series on Pizzeria Mozza, which we will post on Thursday) and a new instructional video filmed at Pizzeria Basta, a new recipe for Neo-Neapolitan dough, as well as a thought-provoking Guest Column from world champion pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani. Since there will be a written intro or narrative from me in the other sections, I won’t say much here–just go check them out and enjoy!

But I do want to say a few words about the Pizza Quest Forum, which is being hosted for us on the Forno Bravo website, where it lives with all sorts of other great Forum threads related to

wood-fired ovens, pizza, cooking, and tools. I encourage you to post your thoughts there as well as photos and tips and tricks (of course, you will first have to register on the Forum, but the instructions are there–just follow the link). You can either join a thread or start a new one of your own.

A number of you have been writing to me personally, describing your oven or pizzas or appreciation for the site. I’m really grateful for these e-mails but I’d like to request that you, instead, share them with everyone, either as a comment in the appropriate section of Pizza Quest, or on the Forum. It will be so much easier for me to chime in, when I can, if I see your note as a comment or Forum post. If you do need to write to me about something you don’t want everyone to see, you can reach me at peter@pizzaquest.com. For general or technical questions, use info@pizzaquest.com.

One final note: in the coming weeks we’ll be posting a series of webisode segments filmed at Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, including footage from La Brea Bakery, where the amazing Mozza dough is made. After that series of segments, we’ll be moving up the west coast toward San Francisco with webisodes filmed at some of the other places you saw in the Pizza and Obsession opening webisode. We’ll also be posting more Instructionals, as we edit them, filmed at The Fire Within Conference with some of the wood-fired oven owners as well as with rising star chef, Kelly Whitaker, at his hot new restaurant, Pizzeria Basta in Boulder, CO. This week, check out his creative burrata cheese appetizer. Our crew devoured it when the cameras stopped rolling.

I’ve received requests for Instructionals on fundamental skills such as mixing and shaping dough, which is a great idea, and we’ll do some of those during the next filming session. But you will find a lot of technique questions are already addressed and demonstrated in the upcoming instructionals. I’m also posting a new dough recipe for classic Neo-Neapolitan white dough, such as the one we use in some of our Instructionals. It’s very similar to the Country Pizza Dough already posted so, between these two dough recipes you can make some killer pizza. Next week I’ll post one for 100% whole grain flour, which should give you the full range from 100% white to 100% whole grain.. There are certainly dozens, maybe hundreds of variations and you may already have a dough recipe you prefer, but I can guarantee that these will always satisfy.

Okay, that’s it for this week so, check out the other sections and enjoy another week of Pizza Quest. Thank you all for your fantastic support!!

Till next week, may your pizzas all be perfect!

Peter