Pizza Blog from pizzatherapy.com

Shane Kost is the mastermind behind Chicago Food Planet Chicago Food Tours. He walks around Chicago neighborhoods with you. He tells you the history, the architecture, but mostly it's about the food. He features two incredible food tours: The Near North Food Tasting and The Buck Town Wicker Park Food Tour. And yes both include a stop at a pizzeria. This is not the pizza you would expect. This is tasting pizza that you may not have ever experienced. This is Chcago Food Planet Pizza! Shane has the inside track. He gives you the real scoop on Chicago food. (including pizza...) Watch his amazing video: As a side note, I did an incredible interview with Shane. And then disaster struck. I would love to blame someone, but I must assume all responsibility...I accidently deleted the audio. Blast it! Hopefully Shane will give me another chance to do another interview. Until then. Make sure you check out: Chicago Food Planet Food Tours pizza all over Chicago, albert Pizza Therapy

From my friend Gary Bimonte of Pepe's : How long do you keep food before you toss it? Many times I have searched for the expiration date on a bottle of ketchup or mayonnaise. What has happened is that the date is impossible to find or it is smudged. In our kitchen we live by the moto: When in doubt toss it out... I want to share a valuable resource that answers the age old question how long is your food safe to eat... It's called StillTasty . All of the information is referenced. All the information seems current. For example, how long should you keep eggs? Answer: 3-5 weeks. (they will keep up to a year, frozen...) Should you put tomatoes in the fridge? Answer: Store them a room temperature until they are ripe. Who new? Check out StillTasty . It's a great resource... BTW: Keep that pizza you bought from the store for 3-4 days. Unless you freeze it, and then the pizza will be good for 1-2 months. food safety on earth, albert grande And in an emergency you may need to read t...

The following video was part of The Pizza Therapy East Coast Pizza Tour 2009. The news that Pepe's would be opening another location in South Eastern Connecticut created quite a buzz. Pizza fans were excited. This was the talk of the town as the local newspaper and radio stations added to the excitement. When would Pepe' s open? Would they have a coal fired oven? And the ultimate question was: would this Pepe's be as good as the pizza in New Haven ? We visited the day after they opened at Mohegan Sun Casino . We were hesitant to go on opening day for obvious reasons. This Pepe's location looks very similar to the location in New Haven . There was wonderful ambiance. The coal fired oven is there. The booths are there. They even serve Foxon soda. But how was the pizza? The pizza was great. We will definitely go back...as a matter of fact we ended going back two days later... The Pizza at Mohegan Sun was Incredible Here are some other Pepe...

I recently got a copy of a great video tutorial on how to make pizza created by Bev Collins . It's called "Secret's Inside the Pizzeria". It was a simple guide with easy to understand tips about making pizza. I decided to call up Bev and see if I could pull any more pizza secrets out of her. I recorded the entire call. It was a great pizza conversation. We covered a lot of information. She is an interesting pizzaiolo. First she never had pizza until she was 16. Here first pizza was out of a pizza kit. (Think Apian Way and Chef Boy Ardee...) But somehow she persisted. She studied, she learned. She was tenacious. She didn't give up. Now she makes pizza like a master. Some of the things we discussed were: pizza tools you need the best type of flour to use her take on other pizza ingredients the fact that you can have great ingredients but still not make great pizza It's all about all in the technique. Excellent step by step directions to make dough Some inside...

The Daily Reviewer recently nominated this bolg as being one of the Top Pizza Blogs . Hey thanks. Here is a list of the best of the best who made the cut: Slice America's Favorite Pizza Weblog. Adam Kuban's pizza vision. Intelligent, interesting and fun, with an attitude. Pizza Blog About How To Eat Order Italian Pizza Online : After you order your pizza online and before the pizza delivery man delivers a fresh pie to your door...spend some time relaxing and reading our pizza blog. Great concept. Fantastic blog! Passion-4-Pizza Blog: Lillian and Cary share their unique passion for pizza. Excellent resource. Pure pizza passion and insight. worstpizza.com : Dedicated to finding the best pizza places, by sorting through the worst. Opinionated but fair pizza reviews. Great information. The Pizza Blog: Everything you wanted to know about pizza, but were afraid to ask. Very informative. I Dream of Pizza: A New York City Pizza Blog : A blog dedicated to everything and anything ab...

About 2 years ago, I made pizza in my kitchen. I decided to film the process. It was simple, basic and not a lot of bravado. Just me making pizza dough. Something I've done hundreds of times. I then posted it on YouTube and kind of forgot about it. Honestly, if you told me I would have more than a thousand views for my pizza dough video, I would have said you were wacky. Sure people love pizza. People love to eat pizza. They eat it by the truckload. But never in my wildest dreams would I have thought, there would be very many pizza fans interested in making pizza. Well the stats speak for themselves. First a thousand. Then ten tousand. Then tens of thousands. At the end of one year, I had 50,000 views. I was shocked and amazed. That's a lot of pizza fans. During the next year, I got an additional 150,000 views. That's a total of 200,000 views. (Alright almost 200,000...) I'm speechless. I'm flabbergasted. I'm shocked. I'm in total disbelief. Can that many p...

John Arena and Sam Facchini co-owners of Metro Pizza There is only one pizzeria, that can claim the the title as The Best Pizza in Las Vegas and that is Metro Pizza . Metro has been on the radar of Pizza Therapy for a number of years. And with good reason. They make their pizza with heart and excellence. You can read the review at this page . (Scroll down to Nevada Pizza.) The Metro team loves pizza. They live pizza. They are passionate about pizza. John Arena and his cousin Sam Facchini founded Metro in 1980. They have not looked back since. The true love for the art form of pizza shines through with John and Sam's mission statement about Metro. "We believe that a true Pizzeria should be a gathering place for family and friends to relax, share great food and enjoy each other's company. We have visited hundreds of Pizzerias across the country, learning and gathering recipes to bring our guests a taste of home, wherever home might be." John in a...

Albert at Pepe's on Wooster Street Hey we knew it all the time. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven , Connecticut, makes some of the best pizza on the planet. It's always nice to get global recognition, however. An article written by, Killian Fox from the Observer lists the 50 Best Things to Eat in the World . Right there at Number 31, is Pepe's! Here is what he said: "You could generate enough heat to fuel a brick oven with the argument over which country bakes the world's best pizza: Italy, where the concept originated, or America, where it was globalised. Neapolitan purists will make pilgrimages to hotspots such as La Sorrentina, outside Naples, whose chef has won the prestigious Naples Pizza Championship, but we contend that the upstart Yanks do it better. The best American pizza can be found, not in New York as is commonly assumed, but in New Haven, Connecticut , where the Pepe family has been spinning dough since 1925. Their white clam pie h...

I came accross an out of print gem to share with you. The following is from Science in the Kitchen by Mrs. E. E. Kellogg. While not about pizza, it certainly is a treasure of food information. There are some interesting discussions about all kinds of food. In the following, various fruits are discussed. There is also some great information about the olive. Apples were introduced into the United States by the early settlers, and the first trees were planted on an island in Boston Harbor, which still retains the name of Apple Island. The wild crab tree is the parent of most of the cultivated varieties. THE PEAR .--The origin of the pear, like that of the apple, is shrouded in obscurity, though Egypt, Greece, and Palestine dispute for the honor of having given birth to the tree which bears this prince of fruits. Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher of the fourth century, speaks of the pear in terms of highest praise; and Galen, the father of medical science, mentions the pear in his writin...

A basic Italian dish with countless variations. This dish was always served at our house during the Big Four Holidays: Thanksgiving , Christmas , New Years and Easter ! This recipe comes from Auntie Esther Yacavone , ( Auntie Jenny's sister). Ingredients 1 lb. lasagna noodles cooked as directed on package. 1 lb. loose hamburger cooked or cooked meatballs , crumpled 2 lbs. ricotta cheese 1 lb. mozzarella cheese grated cheese, either Parmesan or Romano (or both) tomato sauce salt, pepper and spices to taste (basil, oregano) Directions In bottom of lasagna pan put some sauce Start layering. First noodles, then the meat and then the cheeses. Keep layering until everything is used. Leave top layer with just sauce and grated cheese. Bake 350º or until center is hot and 'cheeses have melted. Tips: You crumble 2 hard boiled eggs in the layers. (That is what my mom does). Replace the hamburger with seafood: shrimp, crab, clams, or lobster for a wonderful taste! Thanks, Auntie Esther an...

If you want to learn to make great pizza, you need to eat great pizza. Then the next step is watch great pizza being make. In this episode of the Pizza Blog we journey to the birth place of Modern Pizza, Naples, Italy. You can watch the pizziolo step by step as puts together a simple pizza. First he puts on the sauce, and spreads it out. Next goes the mozzarella cheese. Then he puts on some pepperoni. Watch as he drizzles a little olive oil on the pizza. Simply amazing... pizza on earth, albert Discover More Pizza Videos , Here Internet Marketing, Pizza and Rock and Roll My friend Peter Reinhart went on a quest to find the best pizza in the world. You can discover his story, in American Pie .

Chris writes: I was interested to share some views on Pizza; I was born here in Australia but my family is quite a mixed race group, with parents coming here as refugees back in 1950 from Italy . I have also Yugoslavian and French influences from different relatives and of course the local Australian influence . Any way my Italian parents were not rich and as a minority they did many things 'the old way' which we kids thought were a bit peasantry and too much effort. The most important was that they baked their own bread and Pizza each week in a 'real' wood oven. I say real because its design is that you build a hot fire in the oven get the bricks hot then clean out the coals and sweep it out and put in the food. All this is quite time consuming and messy but the flavor! Of course as we grew up, we now appreciate the wonders of this method of cooking and just put up with the work needed. This is where I read with delight your story about your dad and the local kids and...

When it comes to pizza, some people insist bigger is always better. That may not always be the case. But sometimes even with pizza you can to much of a good thing. The follwoing video chronicles the largest commercial pizza. This pizza measures a massive 50 inches by 45 inches. The well worn pizza screen attests to the fact this was not the first time this pizza was attempted. You will be able to witness the pizzaiolo roll out the dough and then try to spread it out. You can watch the step by step process of this gigantic pizza monster. You can also see the special oven used to produce this amazing pizza. Bigger amy not be better, but it is sure fun to watch... If you are inspired to get in the traditional pizza business, you may want to check out this resource: Also, find out about how to get in the pizza business at this link. pizza on earth, albert grande Learn to Make Pizza And for some amazing tea go here:

The Jay Vogler Interview, Part 1 From the Pizza News Archives Jay Vogler , is a master pizzaiolo from Vermont. His restaurant is called Pizza On Earth . Jay has lots of incredible knowledge to share about pizza and cooking in general. Here is part one of our pizza conversations: Albert : Hey Jay thanks for agreeing to do this interview. As you may know, "Pizza on Earth" is the motto of pizzatherapy.com . The first question I want to ask you is: how did you come up with the name? Jay: Before we were a business, we made a Christmas card with a pizza on it and I shaped the cheese to look like the continents and we put pizza on earth on it...some of our friends said ..what a good name for your pizza biz and we sat on it for a year till we were up and running and the rest is pizza history. Albert: That's a great story. Please tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Jay: I grew up in New Jersey but always summered in Vermont as we have ...

From The Pizza and Pasta Forum Bean shares the following: Thin Crust Pizza Dough and 2 Neapolitan Sauce Recipes If you like pizzeria pizza, then these are the recipes for you! I was very impressed with the turn out. I did the dough in my bread machine and it turned out perfect. I cut the dough in half & let it rest covered for 10 minutes. Then I rolled out the dough (which I never do) because I wanted to get it stretched and I didn’t even pre-bake it (no need to). I baked them on my pizza stone adding a few minutes to the time. I did make a few minor changes (less salt in all the recipes). YUMMY! Bill’s Thin Crust 1 c - Water 1 1/8 tsp - Sugar 2 tsp - Salt (not kosher salt) (1 t.) 1 1/2 T - Olive Oil 3 c - Hi-Gluten Flour(I used bread flour) 3/4 tsp - Instant Dry Yeast (Fleishman’s ADY) Variables changed: Went back to normal salt for this crust. Forgot to use vegetable oil (called for in my encyclopizza recipe) and used olive oil instead. Omitted dough relaxer. Dough was mixed in t...

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Master Bread Baker Peter Reinhart for the Legends of Pizza Series . The Legends of Pizza is comprised of interviews with master pizziolo from the pizza Industry. Albert: I first encountered Peter Reinhart when he interviewed me for his book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza . Peter began by asking me a few questions about pizza. After spending a few minutes with him on the phone, I realized I was speaking to someone whose knowledge and love of pizza were extraordinary. At one point, Peter said to me, “ I’m writing the book that you should have written about pizza, Albert.” Unfortunately, my interview never made it into the book, but Peter did mention me and my website pizzatherapy.com . You know, I still get emails from people who have discovered that pizzatherapy.com will teach you to make pizza and dough , through his book. Peter was very easy to talk to. He shared lots of his knowledge and thoughts about making pizza as...

The following story was shared by our friends at Slice . If you ever get to Seattle, one of the must see attractions is Pike Market Place . This open air extravaganza is a mixture of fresh foods, including all kinds of incredible seafood. Going to The Market is an experience. There are many sights, smells and tastes. This is probably the best free show in town. Now you can add incredible pizza to the list. The pizzioli from Veraci Pizza , have set up a portable wood fired oven. They have created a traveling pizzeria. Here is a wonderful video from VendrTV that will make you hungry for the experience. As I watched the video, I wanted pizza. This pizza tastes as good as it looks. I loved watching the pizza cook in the oven. True pizza on earth ... The pizza from Veraci are thin Neapolitan. The oven heats up to 800 to 1000 F. It takes about 90 seconds to two minutes to cook. Marshall Jett, pizzaiolo, and co-owner, explained the wood fire cooks the pizza in 3 different ways: Convection as...

Chris writes: Just wanted to say thanks for the notes and messages you send out and also wanted to get your opinion on which type of flour works best for the dough. I am relatively new to pizza making however I find that I really look forward to whenever my wife and I decide to eat pizza. Just this past weekend we had her parents over and I made a couple pies that I thought were my best I so far and I believe the switch to bread flour over all purpose was the key. The crust came out golden brown, slightly crisp but was also a little chewy which is the way I have always liked it. Instead of the slice standing straight up it had a little give to it, to the point where you could fold it in half to eat it. As far as I'm concerned bread flour is the way to go but I wanted to hear from a real expert as to the merits of flour. I also recently finished Peter Reinhart's book on pizza which I found vastly entertaining, imagine going on a mission around the world to find the best pizza, ...

Here's the story: I make pizza. I love to make pizza. I love teaching people how to make pizza. If you want a copy of my pizza dough recipe, you can get it here . I don't pretend it is the best pizza dough recipe. But I am quite sure it is not the worst pizza dough recipe. Or that's what I thought, until I got the following email from Toby . Toby writes: I just. tried your "dough" recipe and wish I hadn't wasted the time or effort. The crust came out with the consistency of one of those southern biscuits like you'd get from Hardee's or Bojangles. The kind that crumble all over you when you bite into it. Dry and crumbly. And I had even left a half cup of flour out and added an extra 1/4 cup water. I spent most of my life living in Massachusetts. We had pizza parlors on every corner. Italian and Greek. I know good pizza. I used to make my own but the dough (crust) never came out the same. Sometimes great. Sometimes not so good. But never as bad as what ...

The Mario Pizza Oven I just recieved the following email from Rick: "Hello Albert: If you want to see something really revolutionary in making pizza, check out this oven I am bringing into the US from Italy. It is all electric (220 volt, 16 amps); 2 feet square, weighs 100 pounds, and heats up to 830 degrees F. It cooks a pizza in under 2 minutes. I have demonstrated this to several professional chefs here in Houston, and all of them want it. Please check out the video on my website and watch the demo. It will take you to my partners site in Italy. I would like to have your thoughts. The end product is a perfectly crafted pizza that has the char, texture, flavor, aroma of a pizza made in an expensive and high maintenance wood burning oven. I am also bringing the dough and sauce in from Italy as well (fantastic product). I do know my pizza, having lived in NY, been to the great ones in New Haven, CT , ( Albert's side bar: Pepe's , Sally's , Modern ) and of course, Ita...

On Spiritual Pizza Making... (From the Pizza Therapy Archives) Robert writes: In your article on spiritual pizza making you say: "Spiritual pizza is made when you connect with yourpizza on a higher level. You put a part of yourself into each pizza. Make all of your pizza, Spiritual Pizza. Your pizza will taste better. Your pizza will be better." That really hit home with me, you wouldn't believe what I put into my pizza making and it really shows inthe pizza. If I'm making a pizza for company and really want it to be its best I will turn on the ovenlight and keep looking in at it to make sure it is just right, my wife laughs at me but the pizza isalways great. I've spent years now trying to perfect the crust, after all it's the crust that makes the pizza, everything elseis just toppings, right?. A couple of very important things I have learned along the way. If you are going to experiment away from a recipe,WRITE DOWN THE CHANGES YOU MAKE! Otherwise who canrem...

I have always stated: line up 10 different cooks, Italian or otherwise and asks them how to make pizza sauce / gravy and you will get 10 different answers. That said, we turn again to The Pizza Therapy Forum for some answers. VICIII asks: I cannot make a good sauce: what's the secret? I can buy better sauce than I can make. That is the only thing that is sold where I can not make it better at home. Whos got a good basic sauce. A sauce that would be used at a pizzeria.. Anyone? Paul explains: The secret: Fennel and anise. High-quality canned tomatoes. This recipe for marinara sauce almost nails Toronto-style pizza sauce: Marinara with the following changes - - drop the garlic - double the basil - add 1/2 tsp fennel seed (crushed between your palms) - add 1/2 tsp anise seed (crushed between your palms). I have also discovered that "local" canned tomatoes are miserable. When I switched to using only tomatoes imported from Italy ("Mastro" brand, Italian plum tomat...

Pizza Rustica This recipe is from the Pizza Therapy Pizza Forum from our good friend, Bean. The dough would work great for a “croissant” style pizza because the crust is so flaky! A keeper around here for sure! Pizza Rustica Crust 4 c. sifted flour 1 1/2 c. lard 1 t. salt 1 egg 1/2 c. water 1 T. vinegar 1 t. sugar Mix flour with lard and salt until flaky (large lumps) In another bowl, whip egg and water, vinegar and sugar. Add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and together well. Roll out crust and line baking pan (cookie/jelly roll) 10” x 15” with crust. Lining over the sides of pan also. Center Mixture 1 lb. Italian sausage 1 lb. ricotta 1 lb. mozzarella, shredded 8 eggs 2 oz. chopped prosciutto or pepperoni 1 T. chopped parsley Brown sausage, drain. Set aside to cool. Mix ricotta, mozzarella, sausage, eggs, prosciutto and parsley. Thoroughly blend. Pour mixture in crust, fold over excess crust from sides onto top of center mixture. Bake at 400º for about 35 minutes until top ...