Loving Pizza is Like Loving You

GQ Top 25 Pizza Places in the US

2009-07-01T17:03:00.002-05:00

CHI REPRESENT!!

Great Lakes Pizza in Andersonville was rated the #1 pizza place in the country. I was back in Chicago for a few days last week, and my boy Matt hooked me up with a spontaneous trip to Great Lake. He'd been raving about it for months. We ordered a crazy awesome wild mushroom pizza. Apparently they have 3-4 pizzas on the menu and they constantly change. The oven only cooks 2 pizzas at a time, which would seem ridiculous, but they only have 4 tables inside and 3-4 outside.

The list is a little surprising to the giants of the pizza blog world. Lots of newcomers, and some places that the pizza experts at Slice hadn't heard of. "I don't know if I should admit this, but of the 25, I had not heard of the following: Bob & Timmy's (Providence, R.I.), Luigi's "the Original (Harrison Tawnship, Mich., and "Niki's (Detroit)". Guess what folks, I dined and blogged about Bob & Timmy's almost exactly one year ago. I'm also kicking myself for not having tried out Luigi's, Tomatoes Apizza, and Niki's while I was living outside of Detroit, or Pizzeria Bianco when I was in Phoenix for a conference. But, overall, for a novice, I think I'm doing pretty good as a pizza expert. I've been to 5 of the top 25, and I'm planning on picking up another 2 in the next couple weeks.

01. Great Lake (Chicago)
02. Lucali (Brooklyn, NYC)
03. Pizzeria Delfina (San Francisco)
04. Pizzeria Bianco (Phoenix)
05. Bob & Timmy's (Providence, R.I.)
06. Sally's Apizza (New Haven, Conn.)
07. Tomato Pie (Los Angeles)
08. Co. Company (Manhattan, NYC)
09. Tacconelli's (Philadelphia)
10. Totonno's (Brooklyn, NYC)
11. Tarry Lodge (Port Chester, N.Y.)
12. Frank Pepe (New Haven, Conn.)
13. Luigi's "the Original" (Harrison Township, Mich.)
14. Gialina (San Francisco)
15. Buddy's (Detroit)
16. Antica Pizzeria (Marina Del Ray, Calif.)
17. A16 (San Francisco)
18. Al Forno (Providence, R.I.)
19. Galleria Umberto (Boston)
20. Famous Joe's (Manhattan, NYC)
21. Tomatoes Apizza (Farmington Hills, Mich.)
22. Osteria (Philadelphia)
23. Santarpio's (Boston)
24. Niki's (Detroit)
25. Una Pizza Napoletana (Manhattan, NYC)

I plan to check out the two representing North Phila as soon as possible. Here's the wood-burning oven from Osteria. Isn't that beautiful?! Makes me want to cry a little.

Re-evaluating vision statements

2009-06-09T01:37:00.004-05:00

I've changed cities for the 5th time in 4 years (Urbana->Chicago->Vass, NC->Ann Arbor->Philadelphia). That makes for 11 different addresses in the past 10 years.
This nomadic lifestyle is not for me anymore. I'm ready to settle into a neighborhood and call it home.

Here I am in Northeast Phila, with this latest geographical change, a revised vision statement for the blog is necessary.
The old one looked a little something like this.
It basically said, hardworking, innovative, creative citizens like yourselves need to focus your energy and talents for something greater than just your job. We need to get back to the basics of being good neighbors, family members, partners, etc. I think one of the easiest ways to do this is to arm ourselves with the basic skills to cook healthy meals at home, hold interesting and meaningful conversations, listen to music that makes you and everyone around you dance. And the bottom line is, the bottom line at work, or at home should not dictate our happiness on a daily basis.

Actually, that sounds like an ok mission statement for now. If I tweak it, I'll repost.

In the meanwhile, isn't this song hottttttttt? BBU

2009-05-28T10:42:00.001-05:00

2009-04-01T23:40:00.001-05:00

Dream Kitchen

2009-04-01T23:30:00.001-05:00

VPN Americas - Verace Pizza Napoletana

2009-04-01T23:21:00.001-05:00

Happy Belated National Pizza Day

2009-02-12T10:19:00.010-06:00

To celebrate, I posted some sexy pics of the best pizza I have ever made.

Dough recipe

2009-01-15T18:17:00.017-06:00

I'm following a recipe published on Slice (the gold-standard for pizza blogs) written by Jeff Varasano.

Keep in mind when planning your pizza party, the dough takes 2-3 days to rise in the fridge.
These measurements should makes enough dough for 3 pizzas.

You'll need the following ingredients:
90 grams sourdough culture
(see post below for activation instructions)
345 grams bread flour
I haven't tried lower protein flour, but I'll give it a try and compare
6 grams salt
220 grams water

You'll also need the following tools:
Mixer (I use a kitchen aid, Jeff Varasano swears by the Electrolux DLX)
Digital Scale

Using the digital scale measure out approximately 75% of the flour, all of the salt, the culture and water.

Combine the ingredients in the mixer.
Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes. Cover the mixing bowl with a moist towel for 20 minutes.

Resume mixing on low for 8 minutes.
After 5 minutes, begin adding the remaining flour slowly.
Increase the speed slightly for the final 2 minutes.
The dough should form a ball on the dough hook, but it should be wet enough to fall off the hook when the mixer stops.
When this happens, cover again for another 20 minutes.
Separate the dough equally into 3 Tupperware containers.
Put the dough in the fridge for 3 days. The sourdough flavors will really start to develop with this slow of a rise.

Sourdough Culture Activation

2009-01-15T00:45:00.000-06:00

Ingredients:
3/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Water
Sourdough culture mix (bought online at sourdo.com )

Combine ingredients into a 1qt canning jar
Mix till it's a smooth batter

Keep it warmed to 90 degrees for 12 hours.

Use a styrofoam cooler (I found this one on the street)
Put the jar of culture under the cooler with a 25 watt light bulb. (bought a 25 watt party bulb at Meijer)

Monitor the temperature over the next 12 hours to ensure it's maintained at 90 degrees
After 12 hours check to see that the culture has risen to near the top of the jar.
Now your sourdough culture is active and ready to make some amazingly delicious doughs.

Fire at the Taco Bell

2009-01-10T19:59:00.007-06:00

Since your birth in 2005, you've brought joy to lonely trips in the car
Occasionally causing great distress.

Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito, always two at a time
Two at a time, I thanked you for nourishment at a discount price

But now we must part ways
20 grams of fat is way too much
$1.29 is just too much

Don't try calling

RED GREEN WHITE

2009-01-08T23:15:00.005-06:00

A new pizza party menu to honor Italian pizza

RED PIZZA - tomato pie, no cheese

WHITE PIZZA - goat cheese, mozzarella, olive oil, wild mushrooms, shallots

GREEN PIZZA - pesto, mozzarella, tomato slices

2008-11-14T14:03:00.001-06:00

Wild Mushroom - Shallot - Goat CheesePizza

2008-11-10T23:12:00.002-06:00

Bread Experiment #2

2008-11-01T22:10:00.004-05:00

3.5 cups bread flour
1 cup water
1 cup active sourdough culture
2 tsp fine sea salt

Combine Ingredients and knead.
Proof for 5 hours
Punch down and form a ball
Proof for 3 more hours

Preheat oven with stone to 450 degrees bake for 15 minutes
spray the oven with cold water every 5 minutes (humidity in the oven helps form a crust)
reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 45 minutes

Let cool for a half hour.

This one definitely had the best form. The dough was firm, easy to shape and rose much higher than the previous one. I had used all-purpose flour on my first attempt, and my culture was more active this time.
Flavor-wise, this one was fairly bland compared to the first one, which had a deliciously strong sourdough flavor.

Homemade Bread experiment 1

2008-10-29T20:48:00.004-05:00

How Peter Thiel foresaw the economic crisis

2008-10-26T18:30:00.002-05:00

41 year old Peter Thiel:
hedge fund manager
venture capitalist
PayPal co-founder and CEO
global macro hedge fund president
early investor in the popular social-networking site Facebook

Apparently he foresaw the economic crisis.

Paul Krugman... super smart

2008-10-14T18:47:00.002-05:00

Prionailurus viverrinus

2008-10-08T22:59:00.000-05:00

The Fishing Cat

"A species can't be declared nearly extinct
until it has been declared totally cute"

Prionailurus viverrinus (Fishing Cat) has been declared endangered by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature.
And it has just been declared totally cute.

Neopolitan Pizza on the Grill

2008-09-29T22:02:00.004-05:00

Is a bad idea:

1. You'll burn the house down.
2. You'll break your pizza stone.
3. You'll burn the pizza.

It's a good idea:

1. You just might make a great pizza that you can't make in the oven.

Pizza on the Grill

2008-09-28T21:13:00.001-05:00

In late June I thought I had a major pizza-making breakthrough. I began cooking Pizza on the grill. My initial results were quite good. I fumbled around following several different recipes that called for grilling the dough first and then adding toppings. this ended up being far too dry, and definitely not the type of pizza I'm trying to make.

I then began identifying the keys to a successful pizza on the grill.

1. Get the coals as hot as possible. I mean really friggin' hot.
-Use a crap-ton of coals and keep the lid closed for 15-20 minutes before sliding the pizza on. If cooking multiple pizzas, have coals started on a chimney on the side and toss them on top in between pizzas.

-Open the lid just enough to slide the pizza in, and then close immediately .

I don't have the kind of thermometer that can measure the actual heat in my cheap-o grill. i'm holding out till I allow myself to buy the Electronic Specialties ESIEST 65 - Laser Guided Infrared Thermometer. I'm sure the temperature isn't nearly as hot as my goal of 800 degrees, but it has to be hotter than the 500 degree oven I had been using.

A poem about yeast

2008-09-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

- At a pizza party
- We danced in the kitchen
- Saccharomyces-the most sensual fungus

- Sporulating feelings divide and grow
- Fermenting our love into eternity
- First in the bowl, then in the dough
- The aerated dough softens and rises
- Yeast eats sugar, producing CO2 bubbles (France 1966)

Thoughts on Presidential Dynasties from a Slice of Pizza

2008-09-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

I wish I made this.

2008-07-06T19:14:00.022-05:00

Mt. Pizza, the glorious place where kings dine.
Mt. Pizza, the mysteries will leave you lost
till eternity finds you with cheese in your beard.
Only the true and able can venture on your greasy slopes;
only the pure taste and know of real pizza hope.

EU declares Pizza Napoletana a "Regional Specialty"

2008-06-13T16:51:00.007-05:00

The EU, in an effort to ensure the survival of regional producers in the global marketplace, protects certain local products by recognizing them as a "Regional Specialty". Recently, Pizza Napoletana has been labeled a regional specialty, protecting the local producers and it's originators of Naples.

Pizza Napoletana, often called Pizza Margherita is said to be named after Queen Margherita, who in 1889 requested a pizza with the colors of the national flag; a red tomato base, white mozzarella, and green basil.

The European Union’s Committee of the Regions enforces the designation of "Regional Specialty" by inspecting anyone within the EU who sells pizza called Pizza Napoletana to ensure it meets the standards defined by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana.

The diameter must be no more than 35 cm (14 inches) in diameter and no thicker than 1/3 of a centimeter at its center
The tomato base must be made from the San Marzano variety of tomatoes

San Marzano = from the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius

The olive oil used must be extra virgin
The cheese topping is buffalo mozzarella
All ingredients must be from the Campania region
The oven must be wood-fired, and the pizza must cook in less than two minutes

Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana offers certification training ($1,300 for 3 days, $2,200 for 1 week).

The European Union’s Committee of the Regions is dedicated to promoting local products regional markets. Regional marketing helps rural areas by "enabling a link to be forged between the product and a region's landscape and culture" and "protecting (regional products) sometimes means that a culinary heritage, contributing to regional identity, can preserved".

How to make Pizza Napoletana

Behind the scenes

2008-05-17T11:44:00.000-05:00

Pepe's Pizza in New Haven, CT

44 days till I eat their pizza

Pesto Pizza

2008-04-28T16:52:00.012-05:00

Last night I made a pretty kick-ass pesto pizza - California-style thin crust pesto with mozzarella and tomato. It was pretty easy, and there are some obvious ways I can make it better next time. I'm very excited about my future with pesto pizza.

** Before I begin, I must warn you that this post is intended for the serious Pete-za followers who are interested in playing along at home**
** Also, send in your Pete-za party photos and stories. I can make you a pizza blog superstar**

1. Pesto Pizza

Oftentimes, I inspire myself to do great things. I had made some brilliant pesto the other day using frozen basil leaves. It turned out so incredible, I had to use it on a pizza and blog about it.
Based on my years of pizza eating, I thought a thin crust would be most appropriate. I hadn't intentionally made thin crust before, so I picked up some tips from a recipe I found on the internet for a California-style thin crust, and combined these tips with the standard dough recipe I had written about previously.

1.1 Dough

There are 4 important deviations from my previous dough recipe to make the crust thin. (use a rolling pin, dust dough with flour while rolling it thin, "dock" the dough with a fork, and pre-cook the dough without toppings)

1.1.1 Combine 1/2 cup of warm water with 2 tsp yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir to prevent yeast from clumping. Let stand for 10 minutes. It should be foamy and cloudy.

1.1.2 Add olive oil, 1 cup of warm water, some salt, and beat in 2 cups of flour with a wisk. Ideally, you should use a high gluten flour (bread flour). I used all-purpose flour, since it was what I had on hand, but will try to keep bread flour on hand.

1.1.3 Switch to a wooden spoon , and add flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix. Keep adding flour until dough forms a ball, but is still moist and shaggy.

1.1.4 Cover bowl with Saran Wrap; let stand for 15 minutes.

1.1.5 Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, adding flour to keep from sticking to your fingers. The dough should still be moist.

1.1.6 Put the dough in a bowl that has been coated with olive oil. Turn the dough over to make sure all sides are coated with olive oil.

1.1.7 Cover again and put the bowl in a warm place and let it rise for an hour. It should double in size. Ideally, the dough should rise slowly over a 24 hr period in the refrigerator. However, I'm not so good at planning ahead.

*Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees*

1.1.8 Return the dough to the floured surface and knead until smooth. Dust the dough and rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough out flat, making sure to continuously dust the dough and counter with flour. Flip the dough over several times. Thin-crust pizza dough should be somewhat dry and dense. You will need to dust the dough with flour several times as you roll it out in order to incorporate more flour into the recipe. This also helps ensure that the dough will not stick to the countertop and your rolling pin.

1.1.9 Carefully place the dough onto a pizza pan, making sure to cut off excess dough. I screwed this part up my first time. The dough fell apart, and I had to ball it up and start again. My second attempt was a success.

1.1.10 Using a fork, prick the dough thoroughly. This prevents the dough from bubbling up. This is called 'docking' and there is actually a 'docker' tool you can use, but a fork works just fine.

1.1.11 Place the dough in the pre-heated oven for 4 minutes. This prevents the ingredients from weighing down the dough before it can crisp.

1.1.12 Add toppings and return to oven for 12 minutes, or however long it take to get good and crisp, but not too crisp.

1.2 Pesto

Using a large food processor, I processed the following ingredients. I have no idea about the quantities. I continuously tasted the outcome and adjusted the ingredients accordingly.

Basil
Olive Oil
a couple handfuls of Walnuts
misc. mixed greens
Parmesan
salt and pepper
garlic
lemon

frozen basil looks really gross, but it's packed with flavor

It should also be noted that I used top-shelf fresh mozzarella from Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor. I firmly believe that if you're going to splurge on one ingredient it should be fresh mozzarella.

THE PIZZA ROLLVOLUTION

2008-04-20T17:30:00.008-05:00

-From special guest pizza bloggers, Lena and Joanna-

On February 11, 2008, a revolutionary declared from a kitchen in Chicago: "It is my firm belief that the current economic crisis in America can be attributed to the low-quality, high-price, corporate lobbyist pizza crooks who prevent millions of Americans from eating high quality, affordable, healthy pizzas every day. Frozen pizzas in supermarkets, and chain pizza restaurants are ruining America."

This crisis has not been manifested more perfectly or grotesquely than in the pizza roll.

Americans, it is time to stop buying these machine-made, artificial grease-and-sauce turds with your credit cards. The ingredients are in your cabinets. They are in your local market. The labor is in your hands. The knowledge, on this blog:

HOMEMADE PIZZA ROLLS

Methods
We began with Pete-za's recipe for homemade pizza dough
[http://pete-za-pizza.blogspot.com/2008/02/grassroots-pizza-basics.html].

We kneaded the dough as instructed, but instead of flattening out one big dough ball, we separated it into mini dough balls and flattened them into thinner, mini crusts.

This step presented our first obstacle. Mini dough does not flatten well into rectangular shapes. Pizza rolls are rectangles, we thought. This isn't right. But then, we realized: THEIR pizza rolls are rectangles. We moved on.

Once our nascent rolls were flattened, we covered them with sauce. About an hour earlier, we had softened diced baby portabella mushrooms, diced red pepper, and chopped garlic in some red wine that had been sitting on the counter for a couple months. (We predicted--and we believe accurately so--that these ingredients would not soften as well within a roll as they would in the open air of an extremely hot oven.) We combined these with pieces of chopped fresh mozzarella, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

We folded each pizza package over once, sealing the edges with our thumbs, being careful not to allow sauce or toppings to hemorrhage onto the counter or ourselves.

At this step, it did not occur to us to seal the roll all the way around its perimeter, including the folded edge. We believe this would have yielded a more roll-like result, in contrast to the calzone-ish appearance of this first batch.

We transferred the rolls to a well-oiled pizza stone that had been covered in flour and cornmeal. With our oven preheated to 425 degrees, we set our timer for 14 minutes (an estimate). The bottom side of the rolls appeared to be well-baked in that amount of time, so we turned
each roll over for another 14 minutes in the oven.

Results
The rolls were crisp and crusty on the outside while doughier toward the center, which one taster characterized as a "good mouth feel." The flavor of the red-wine softened veggies and garlic came through the higher crust ratio nicely. The fresh mozzarella, though thoroughly
melted as hoped, was overpowered by the breadiness of the roll's crusty shell.

Implications for Research and Practice
Further experimentation with stronger-flavored ingredients (more spices, fresh basil, more garlic, or pepperoni, for example) and a more powerful cheese (Parmesan would be a good choice) is certainly warranted. Overall, however, the homemade pizza roll was a triumphant
departure from Totinos and would serve as a delicious snack or meal, or even as an appetizer for your next local meeting of democratic pizza chefs.

In solidarity,
Lena and Joanna

2008-04-19T21:02:00.008-05:00

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., takes a bite of pizza at American Dream Pizza in Corvallis, Ore., Friday, March 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Slice of ham and pineapple pizza tattooed on man's head. The Hawaiian Delight is one of my favorite pizzas as well.

2008-04-12T00:37:00.001-05:00

2008-04-10T08:41:00.004-05:00

I had a party...

...a deep dish pizza party.

The pizza was deemed insufficient.

I'll keep trying.

I promise.

2008-04-04T23:07:00.002-05:00

2008-04-02T23:31:00.003-05:00

Fundraiser

http://pizza.com/

up for sale

it's what i want for my birthday this year.

it'll cost us 2.6 million dollars

Chicago style

2008-03-30T14:58:00.017-05:00

Pete-za Pete-za's been taking it easy lately.
I've been enjoying the idle pleasures of life.
In these idle moments, I find clarity.
The clarity to overcome a deep pizza funk (see previous post 3.18.08)

My original goal with this blog was to perfect a traditional Pizza Napoletana at home.

This requires an 800F+ oven. Not possible in my apartment.

As such, I began focusing on a more realistic goal:

Deep Dish Pizza

I've always liked deep dish pizza. Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, Pizzeria Uno, all pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned.

The best part is the pizza bakes at 425 degrees. Anybody can do that.

Many pizza snobs love trashing Chicago style pizza. Saying that at best Chicago pizza is a good casserole. This only slightly offends me as a Chicagoan.
I don't think it's worth comparing Chicago deep dish to thin crust pizzas (New York, New Haven, Neopolitan). They're completely different.
However, both can be made deliciously, involving essentially the same ingredients. So this blog will now celebrate pizza in all of it's delicious forms.

This is a photo of my new cookbook made by Cook's Illustrated. They have 4 pages dedicated to deep dish pizza. My deep dish challenge started here the other night.

We pretended what it would be like to make a pizza after the apocalypse (Earth Hour). I screwed the recipe up at least five times, but it still turned out great. It was incredibly easy, I can't wait to actually follow the recipe next time.

I'm going to try putting the cheese on the bottom next time.

Crust was too dense. I want it to be buttery and flakey.

I tossed some fresh basil on top.

More deep dish experiments and recipes this week.

Happy Easter

2008-03-21T15:10:00.001-05:00

NOBUNNY loves you

2008-03-20T23:34:00.021-05:00

Spotted Eagle Ray

Brought to you by wikipedia, MarineBio, youtube, Associated Press, Florida Museum of Natural History, and of course Google.
The spotted eagle ray, Aetobatus narinari, Euphrasen (1790), or bonnet ray, is a cartilaginous fish found in shallow coastal waters by coral reefs and bays, in depths down to 80 meters (260 feet). Spotted eagle rays can weigh 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail only for defense.

For $110 you can own your very own spotted eagle ray jaw.

Some may confuse the spotted eagle ray with the bullnose ray. Which is a little ridiculous given the bullnose ray's dorsal fin origin, which is significantly closer to the level of the rear margins of the pelvic fins than the spotted eagle ray's dorsal fin origin. What's even more ridiculous is that the bullnose ray isn't even found in the Gulf of Mexico or the majority of the Caribbean Sea.

The spotted eagle ray is distributed worldwide in tropical and warm temperate waters, even off the coast of Belize. (Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, Atlantic Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific west coast of the Americas).

Also called papagaio (Portuguese), it is listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:

Also called the spotted whipray, they frequently form large schools during the non-breeding season.

Also called fai manu in Samoan, these wonders of the world are identified by the numerous white ringed spots on their blue dorsal surface.

Also called amak-e-khaldar in Farsi, they were originally described in the systematic sense in 1790 .

2008-03-18T11:46:00.010-05:00

My fellow homemade pizza lovers, and bloggers of America...

I stand before you today, a man on an epic conquest.
A conquest, with the intent to lead me and my followers to the perfect homemade pizza.

My friends... America hungers, both literally and figuratively, for a delicious pizza to satisfy their hearts and souls.
America hungers for a recipe to entertain their pizza party guests.

This journey has helped me to grow as a person, it has helped me to learn about the many inequities of America's pizza parties.
Most importantly, this journey has allowed me to see my many shortcomings and failings as a pizza party host, and as a casual pizza maker at home.

Recently, my historic journey has had what many have considered a major setback.
What I am here to say is... what the cynics and skeptics consider a setback, I consider a breakthrough.
Those of us who have the hope and courage for a better pizza party are ready to learn and continue down the path towards this glorious celebration party.

The setback/breakthrough I am referring to came about last week.
As I was casually searching the internet for pizza inspiration, as I do every night, I came across an incredibly thorough recipe for pizza dough.
Instantly I knew this wasn't an ordinary pizza dough recipe. This recipe detailed the importance and unimportance of every ingredient. Years of research had been poured into it. It spoke of the failings of mainstream pizza dough recipes. It preached of the importance of yeast, bacteria, cultures, temperature, quality ingredients, and most of all superb technique.

When I first read through the pages and pages of this recipe, I screamed to the heavens, "I have found it!!! I have found it!!!". With tears streaming down my face, I proclaimed this recipe to be the holy grail of pizza dough recipes.

That was until I read more carefully. The message then appeared not as one of inspiration, but one of desperation. This recipe appeared to be informing me that I was a pizza chump, rather than a pizza champion. It told me that I had been misguided by mainstream pizza recipes, and that I was better off to stay misguided.
For what I would learn would send me to the lowest of all lows in my pizza making career.

I learned that I would never make a quality homemade pizza without an oven that can reached above 800 degrees.

The despair I felt at that moment left me in a terrible funk that was difficult to overcome. For my oven can barely sustain a temperature of 500 degrees, and my landlord is completely unwilling to install a brick oven.

But I am here today, to tell you all that I have overcome this great despair. I am ready to learn from my failings. I am ready to extend my journey years it will take to construct my own oven, one brick at a time.
And most importantly my friends, I am ready to continue blogging about this journey until I have served the perfect slice at the perfect pizza party.

My fellow homemade pizza lovers, I extend to you an invitation to the ultimate pizza party.

Thank you,
Pete-za Pete-za

Pete-za Pete-za to Deliver an Important Message on the State of Homemade Pizzas

2008-03-18T11:37:00.004-05:00

Inspired by Barack Obama's major address on race in America, Pete-za Pete-za plans to address his shortcomings, failures and hope for better homemade pizza.

Stay tuned

2008-03-12T00:04:00.003-05:00

George Bush at the Gridiron Dinner. March 8, 2008.

Attended by 600 of the most powerful politicians and journalists, as well as Bush and his 13 cabinet members. The event is traditionally off the record.
George Bush sang a song that made light of his many failures in office.

I spend my days clearin' brush.
I clear my head of all the fuss.
Like that big fuss over Harriet and Brownie.

Down the lane I look
and here comes Scooter,
finally free of the prosecutor.

For there's Condi and Dick,
my old compadres
talking about to me about some oil rich Saudi

Dick Cheney's strolling
with documents he's been withholdin'

Barack Obama on Ellen. October 30, 2007.
As a guest on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Barack shows off his dancing skills.

2008-02-21T00:44:00.002-06:00

A Pete-za Salute to Spring Training Baseball

2008-02-15T16:04:00.000-06:00

Spring Training Baseball started last week!!!!!
Totally stoked.

For the record, Pete-za is a Cubs fan and predicts they'll win the World's Series nearly every year.

Homemade Dough Basics

2008-02-11T13:41:00.000-06:00

"Pizza's the kind of food that draws everyone to the kitchen. Everyone can take part."
- Deborah Madison

"The beauty of pizza democracy is its simplicity" - Pete-za Pete-za

I'm on a journey. A journey to the perfect pizza. To me, the perfect pizza is cheap and easy to make at home. All of its ingredients are easily found in your neighborhood. And compared to all chain pizzas, its healthier and tastes better.

Tonight, I begin by establishing a standard pizza dough.

2 tsp active dry yeast
3-4 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 cups warm water
salt
A warm place
Patience
Pizza stone - To form the crispy and chewy crust
Pizza peel - To slide pizzas safely in and out of the oven
Pizza party

Combine 1/2 cup of warm water with yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir to prevent yeast from clumping. Let stand for 10 minutes. It should be foamy and cloudy.

Add olive oil, 1 cup of warm water, some salt, and beat in 2 cups of flour with a wisk.

Add flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix with wooden spoon. Keep adding flour until dough forms a ball, but is still moist and shaggy.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, adding flour to keep from sticking to your fingers. The dough should still be moist.

Put the dough in a bowl that has been coated with olive oil. Turn the dough over to make sure all sides are coated with olive oil (this prevents the dough from drying while it rises).

Put the bowl in a warm place and let it rise for an hour. It should double in size.

Return the dough to the floured surface. This recipe makes enough dough for 2 or 3 pizzas. IF you're only making one pizza, cut your dough in half or thirds, place the left-over dough in a freezer bag for use later.

Knead the dough on the floured surface, adding flour as needed. You need to "feel out" the proper even consistency and texture. When the dough feels ready, begin forming a circle. I never use a rolling pin to flatten the dough. Rolling pins pop the tiny air bubbles that are important for texture.

Stretch the dough by holding the edges of the dough circle and rotate swiftly. Let gravity stretch the dough. I also use my fists to stretch out any thick dough spots in the middle.

Return the dough to the floured surface and smooth out any thick spots and form the circle. Put cornmeal and flour on the peel and place the dough on the peel. Brush olive oil over the dough.

Add your sauce, toppings, and cheese. and slide carefully onto the stone. I've screwed this step up many times, ruining hours worth of work. With enough corn meal on the peel, the pizza should slide off easily. A soggy pizza will stick to the peel and slide on to the stone in a mess.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The ulimate pizza party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Important Presidential Endorsement

2008-02-11T13:24:00.000-06:00

Over the past several weeks, I've been reviewing the presidential candidates' stance on corporate pizza reform. I was disappointed by how guarded the candidates were with this issue.

I believe all of the Democratic candidates understand the problems with corporate pizza lobbyists. These lobbyists work to keep Americans bloated with high calorie, low flavor pizza that is frozen from a factory or delivered to your door from some chain pizza restaurant that can't provide any nutritional value.

The situation continues to worsen each day the pizza lobby has a friendly face in the white house. "Supermarket sales have increased more than 60 percent during the past five years, with 2006 sales topping $3.3 billion, officials from the National Frozen Pizza Institute said." (Washington Times March '07). We truly need a candidate whose loyalties are with the Grassroots Pizza Movement.

Hillary claims to have a 3 point plan to get healthier pizza to Americans, I'm still yet to see such a plan. Before Edwards dropped out, he proclaimed the urgent need to keep pizza factories open and their workers employed, however we have a firm stance against factory pizza.

My search for a candidate ended last week when I learned that the Junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama hosted a pizza party at his campaign offices in May 2007.

Apparently Barack eats his slices two at a time, starting with the crust (see picture above). This clear dedication to pizza is why I am officially endorsing Barack Obama for president.

In standard Barack fashion, he eloquently explained the importance of the Grassroots Pizza Movement, “If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”. Yes we would Barack, yes we would.

Mission Statement

2008-02-11T13:03:00.000-06:00

My fellow Americans,

It is my firm belief that the current economic crisis in America can be attributed to the low-quality, high-price, corporate lobbyist pizza crooks who prevent millions of Americans from eating high quality, affordable, healthy pizzas every day. Frozen pizzas in supermarkets, and chain pizza restaurants are ruining America. Enough is enough.

Control your own pizza destiny.

It is our duty as loyal, honorable American citizens to take power away from the corporate pizza crooks and put it in the hands of everyday Americans who are more than capable of making their own delicious pizzas.

Stand with me to restore the pizza democracy in America our forefathers wrote about a long time ago.

This blog is intended to restore our faith in democracy through the teachings of homemade pizza and all things politically and culturally related to pizza.

Yours truly,
Pete-za Pete-za