Pizza Blog from pizzatherapy.com

Bonnie writes: I found your website in my search for pizza connections and I am contacting you to ask you if you would like to partner with us to market our new sculpture “Pizzaiolo.”  OK, Bonnie, you got my attention. Can you tell me a bit more about this sculpture. Sure, Albert:. Pizza! As a pizza professional you know how much the world loves pizza. And the Pizzaiolo, the master who creates pizza deserves to be celebrated. Now sculptor Jeff Tritel has done just that. He has created “Pizzaiolo,” a limited edition bronze sculpture celebrating Pizzaiolos everywhere! “Pizzaiolo” captures the art of the dough. Our Pizzaiolo is spinning pizza dough and that spin is shown in the spin of his body. Here are Jeff’s words about his inspiration for “Pizzaiolo”: There’s an element of magic in spinning pizza dough and for me, images of joy, wonder, skillful execution and old world charm appear in my mind’s eye. To capture the feeling of spinning dough in a sculpture, I’ve given ...

Here's a well put together Halloween Pizza story ... A true original. It's scary...it is seasonal...and it's all about pizza.   This may take a few seconds to load...but it is worth it... http://tinyurl.com/yhgp2lz Happy Halloween! pizza on earth, albert grande The Pizza Promoter Order your own pizza right from Chicago, from Gino's East:

Sky Dylan Robbins is a filmmaker with an unbridled passion for food. you can hear it in her voice. You can feel it in her film. You can listen to my interview with Sky  at the end of this post. Her latest project, Un Americana in Italia chronicles her food adventures in Italy. The film is comprised of 12 different episodes. Each episode takes you on a different quest to discover the truth about food. She gives us an understanding of why we are so obsessed with food. After watching a clip of her discuss pizza, I knew I had to interview her. She introduces us to the master pizzaioli of Naples. This is the birthpalce of Pizza. Thanks for the introduction, Sky. Her film tells us about ourselves and why our love affair with food will continue. Sky takes you inside the underground secrets of how various food is produced. She also reveals the passions of those who create these amazing foods. Food for Sky is magical. She celebrates the creation of food. She celebrates the ...

Mitch writes: Hello Albert. I'd like to say thank you for hosting a great website and providing TONS of useful information. (Here's the link: Pizza Therapy ) I am at sea at the moment, but as soon as I return home, I'll be giving your dough a try. The dough recipe that I have been using is this: 2 cups flour (either high gluten or Caputo "00") 3/4 cup warm water 1 package active yeast 2 tsp sugar 1/8 tsp salt 2 tbsp olive oil I would also add some KAF Pizza dough flavor or grated Parmesan cheese. The most frequent problem I would have is the dough would just not rise. I tried everything. 105-110 deg. water by thermometer. Using more sugar, adding all the dry ingredients to the flour first. It was maddening. Finally, I stumbled on the solution to my problem in a book called "The Bread Builders." It was the salt. The salt retards/controls the action of the yeast. Well too much salt stops the yeast completely. Adding the pizza dough...

True story: When I was a kid, I would watch my Italian grandmother's cook. They were wizards in the kitchen. The never measured anything. They never used a recipe. But everything they made came out perfect. I asked them a number of times to tell me their secrets... sadly I only learned one recipe, spaghetti sauce. (gravy). They both laughed when I asked them food related questions. They could easily tell me what went into each dish. But, they explained, they could not tell me the exact amounts They were not sure. They did not know themselves. They had never written anything down. It was all permanently etched in their soul. And that's how they cooked, from their soul. My grandmothers created soul food. Italian soul food. They both gave me the following cooking advice: "Put in a little bit of this and a little bit of that". I told them I had no idea what they meant. "Put in enough spice until it tastes right," they explained. I...

During one of my conversations with Ed Ladou   (creator of Wolfgang Puck's Pizza as well as California Pizza Kitchen pizza ), he remarked: "Pizza is sexy". Ed went on to explain  how the popularity of pizza has really exploded. And how the image of pizza has changed dramatically over the years.  When Ed first started making pizza, everything was different. Ed knew pizza. He was a true pizza philosopher and master pizzaiolo. I wonder what Ed would have thought about the following video. I'm sure he would have said: "See I told you so..." And Ed, I miss you. You were a true original. I have to give this video an "R" rating. It's not for everyone. So be forewarned... But if you like pizza, then you will like this video. Yeah, I guess Ed was right all along..."Pizza is sexy..." You can watch a huge collection of pizza videos at Pizza Therapy. pizza on earth, Albert Grande The Pizza Promoter -->

Mike asks: Albert - Thanks for all the help. I am on the quest for the perfect white dough ! I am actually trying it out tonight. If you have time I do have a couple of questions. Have you ever cooked one in a cast iron skillet? How comparable would this be to a pizza stone since you can technically let it heat up with the oven as well? What temperature would you recommend? Pizza is my life and I just started getting excited about it again after eating at a Mellow Mushroom just down the road from us.  I used to work in the pizza business for about 7 years, at McSalty's Pizza Cafe   in Springfield MO . A local owned very good pizza. Probably one of the top two or three I have ever had. It is a wheat crust rolled real thin and baked at 550 degrees. It tastes like a pepper cracker.  If you are ever near that area I would highly suggest you check it out. Dough and Sauce are made from scratch daily, and we chopped our own onions and green peppers as well. Thank...