I don’t know when the affliction began. I think it was the nettle-preserved lemon pizza at Regazza in San Francisco over the winter. The papery crust really hooked me and a seed was planted. My early experiments, while satisfying, were nowhere near my idea of a good pizza. In my mind, the crust would make the pizza – everything else was just a formality. My doughs were overworked and lacked good crumb structure. More research ensued. I started a yeast culture – figuring if I was gonna dive into this world of yeasted breads, I better have a culture on hand. Little did I know, the sourdough culture I was about to develop would add an added layer of complexity to the whole process. I dove into books, internet forums and the occasional pizza slice out was analyzed and critiqued. I soon realized that if I wanted a real crust to develop in my humble home gas oven, I would need a better stone. I landed on a cordierite slab after getting scared off by the sheer weight of a soapstone slab – plus, the soapstone would probably take too long to heat through for my low volume of baking. Next in line was a digital scale. Most recipes and discussions stressed the need for exact weights of ingredients for dough making. Dough was talked about in terms of percent hydration, multi-day fermentations and crumb structure. If I was going to go for it, I had better roll up my sleeves and get kneading. And knead I did until my arms were tired, the floor a mess and dirty bowls piled everywhere. What I really needed was a solid stand mixer. Again, if I was gonna go for it, I needed the right tools, and the best tools. I found a used Hobart N50 on ebay. These things are widely regarded as one of the best stand mixers on the planet – with the design essentially unchanged since they were first introduced way back in the 40s or thereabouts. They can mix concrete, winch a truck out of the mud, and knead a dough to a gluten-y goodness.
- Pumpkin sauce – pear pizza. An early attempt with a lackluster dough and a sauce that got lost between sweet and savory. Ready for improvements this fall.
- Starting to get better with my crusts. This one has decent over spring, a good, bubbly outer crust with toasting of some of the bubbles for added flavor. This is a three day ferment in the fridge.
- Dough worked a little thinner, probably missed out on some good oven spring with a premature oven, but the local sausage was excellent.
- Dough ready to get topped. Some bubbles are popping up along the edge and this one really popped in the oven.
- Really happy with this crust. Good color variation, oven spring and crumb.
- Another satisfactory result.
- Summer utility pizza with roasted tomato sauce.
- Roasted tomato-garlic sauce ready to land on its new home, and eventually find its way into my belly.
- Good crumb on a thicker crust pizza.
- Roasted tomato-garlic sauce – the essence of summer
- Simple pizzas – no sauce, just a little cheese, garlix, mozz, parm, bell pep and onion.
- Roasted tomatoes (and a head of garlic) for sauce
- Crumb structure on a thinner crust summer utility pizza.
- Summer utility pizzas
- Preparing a couple of summer utility pizzas. Roasted tomato-garlic sauce, red onion, garlic and bell pepper marinated in olive oil and pepper, kale marinated in lemon juice and sea salt, fresh zuchini, basil, moaazarella, provolone and topped with fresh oregano and parmesan after coming out of the oven. You will not find a better pizza in town.
- Sopressata.















































