Pizza Blog from pizzatherapy.com

About a year ago, I got an email from Dino Ciccone.  Dino explained he had a concept for a television show. Since he was a pizza expert and loved motorcycles, he wanted to marry the two passions of his life. I wished him well and told him to let me know when his pizza television show was finished. His idea was simple, he would travel around on his motorcycle, visiting different pizzerias that needed help. Not just pizzerias that were a little off course. He wanted to offer his assistance to pizza places that had totally missed the boat.  He would offer his pizza experience to get these pizzerias back on the right track. Well Dino true to his word has his television series. It's kind of an Easy Rider as the Ultimate Pizza Guru type of show. Lots of motorcycles, lots of pizza. A sure fire hit... In the opening episode Dino attempts to help a pizzeria in sad shape: Their kitchen is filthy They have no consistent dough recipe They use pizza sauce from a can ...

A great New York City Pizza Challenge was recently orchestrated by the Travel Channel . This was an episode of their show called Food Wars . You know things will heat up when you put two great pizzerias head to head...er...pizza to pizza. In one corner of Manhattan we have John's of Bleeker Street. In the other corner we have Grimaldi's Pizza of Brooklyn. Our good friend Tony Miua of the Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour had this to say: For those of you who missed it last night, I appeared on the Travel Channel's "Food Wars" episode about NYC pizza.They compared two of NYC's legendary pizzerias to see who's the best:. Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge vs. John's of Bleeker Street.The Travel Channel is airing it again, so set your clocks and devices if you'd like to see it.Who won? I have two words for you: John's? FUHGETTABOUDIT!  You can visit  Tony at  A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour here. We'll let you decide for y...

Paul writes: Hi Albert, I was just browsing your website, in search of a brilliant tomato sauce recipe. I've been trying to reverse-engineer pizza for a number of decades now. Here's a tip I didn't see on your website: Don't buy just one Pizza Stone. Buy TWO. Use the first stone normally (i.e. put the pizza on it). Put a second oven rack in its highest position and put the second pizza stone on it - i.e. above the pizza. Now there is a stone above and below the pizza. It makes a huge difference - pizzeria oven quality. Keeps the oven temperature steady as a rock (:-) - something which electric ovens can't otherwise achieve. The toppings brown nicely and the crust puffs up delicately. Obviously, you have to put both of the stones in the oven before pre-heating (which takes longer with the two stones). Here is another tip, told to me by a food chemist who consulted with the bread industry - season your dough at least overnight. I use a bread machin...

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...