{"id":4611,"date":"2018-01-09T01:06:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T06:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/?p=4611"},"modified":"2018-01-08T20:05:13","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T01:05:13","slug":"guest-column-baking-steel-scott-wiener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/guest-column-baking-steel-scott-wiener\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Column: “Baking with Steel,” a Review by Scott Wiener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every amateur pizza baker understands the limitations of a home oven.<\/strong> That\u2019s why those in search of professional results have turned to aftermarket products to push their equipment\u2019s capabilities. Pizza stones are great because they introduce a conductive, radiant surface upon which the pizza can directly bake. A few years ago, Nathan Myhrvold\u2019s food science tome Modernist Cuisine<\/em><\/strong> made a big splash when it pointed out that the conductive properties of stone are far exceeded by those of steel. For a baker or pizza maker, that\u2019s the golden ticket for achieving oven spring! The revelation set off a spark for Andris Lagsdin<\/strong>, whose family runs a steel company in the South Shore of Boston. Not particularly attracted by the family business, Andris worked as a cook. He learned the art of pizza making at Figs<\/em>, the Todd English restaurant in Boston. When Andris read about the faster heat transfer of steel, he made use of his family\u2019s steel business and began testing. After multiple testing cycles and pitches to his family, the Baking Steel<\/em> finally went into production.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Baking Steel in a home oven<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now that the Baking Steel is on the market, Andris faces the task of teaching the public how to get the most out of it. Andris\u2019s new book,\u00a0Baking With Steel: The Revolutionary New Approach to Perfect Pizza, Bread, and More<\/em> (co-written with Jessie Oleson Moore of the blog CakeSpy) does a great job of guiding the new, timid novice while simultaneously pushing the advanced baker.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not usually a cookbook guy because I prefer explanations of concepts over instructions, but this book does a really good job of providing both. There are great explanations of big-picture concepts that illuminate without alienating. Like most pizza cookbooks, this one begins with a rundown of basic ingredients and tools. It has an added section specifically about how to care for the Baking Steel<\/em>, which means that I can finally trash the photocopied pamphlet that came with my first Steel! Nothing else in the book is actually dependent on use of the Baking Steel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The book spends its first half on pizza and bread. You get a basic \u201cMaster Dough\u201d recipe as well as variations for thin crust and deep-dish pizzas. There are even sections explaining sourdough starters for the advanced user and fast turnaround dough for the impatient. Nobody is left behind here, there\u2019s something for both the experienced home baker and the newbie. Recipes are given in both metric and cup measurements, so nobody can complain about snooty science talk preventing them from making a good pie. Some of the concepts discussed are fairly advanced, but they\u2019re explained in a simple way that doesn\u2019t speak over anybody\u2019s head. This is not a science book, but it\u2019s clear that the authors understand what\u2019s going on behind the ingredients.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Excellent info and instruction for both newbies and experienced cooks.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was initially concerned that this book would be useful only as a companion to the Baking Steel<\/em> itself, but that\u2019s not the case. While the Baking Steel<\/em> gets excellent results, there\u2019s nothing in Baking With Steel<\/em> that is predicated on its use. At the end of the day, a slab of steel is just a faster way to conduct heat, and that means faster cooking. The non-pizza recipes in the book\u2019s final section just require a smooth cooking surface, such as a pan or dedicated griddle. The benefit of the steel is that it has an optional smooth flipside designed for griddle work, so it\u2019s both a pizza stone and a griddle top in one.\"\"<\/p>\n

Just like the product upon which it\u2019s based, Baking With Steel<\/em> is useful and user-friendly enough to provide value to cooks of all levels. It\u2019s just as helpful for the seasoned pizza vet as it is for the first timer. I like the book so much that I immediately made a batch of Andris\u2019s “72-hour dough” just to give it a test drive. The results were fantastic. There\u2019s not much more I could ask for from a cookbook.<\/p>\n

Baking With Steel: The Revolutionary New Approach to Perfect Pizza, Bread, and More<\/em>, by Andris Lagsden and Jessie Oleson Moore, (Little, Brown, and Co. Publishers, 2017)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every amateur pizza baker understands the limitations of a home oven. That\u2019s why those in search of professional results have turned to aftermarket products to push their equipment\u2019s capabilities. Pizza stones are great because they introduce a conductive, radiant surface upon which the pizza can directly bake. A few years ago, Nathan Myhrvold\u2019s food science tome Modernist Cuisine made a big splash when it pointed out that the conductive properties…Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":348,"featured_media":4619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[344,525,523,526,349,348,102,345,524],"class_list":["post-4611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-s14-guest-columns","tag-andris-lagsdin","tag-baling-steel","tag-figs","tag-jessie-oleson-moore","tag-modernist-cuisine","tag-nathan-myhrvold","tag-scott-wiener","tag-the-baking-steel","tag-todd-english"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGuest Column: "Baking with Steel," a Review by Scott Wiener - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/guest-column-baking-steel-scott-wiener\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Column: "Baking with Steel," a Review by Scott Wiener - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every amateur pizza baker understands the limitations of a home oven. That\u2019s why those in search of professional results have turned to aftermarket products to push their equipment\u2019s capabilities. Pizza stones are great because they introduce a conductive, radiant surface upon which the pizza can directly bake. 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