Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

Note from Peter: Jonathan Goldsmith, is the founder/owner (aka Padrone), along with his wife, artist Ginny Sykes, of Chicago’s most well-known and honored Neapolitan pizzeria, Spacca Napoli. Many of you have been fortunate enough to have eaten there, or have met Jonathan at various pizza events such as the Northeast Pizza & Pasta Show, Pizza Expo, and other gatherings. Many of you have also sought him out for advice and…Read More…

Hi Everyone, For those of you who love cook books, especially older, hard to find classics, here’s a link to a podcast about a new site about to launch called CKBK. The founder, Matthew Cockerill, talks about it on more detail here . There’s also a Kickstarter link for those who want to get in on the ground floor of CKBK here.    Even if you don’t want to kick…Read More…

This is the first of a series of webisodes featuring cooking teacher Brigit Binns, of Refugio in Paso Robles, California who, with her husband Casey, has created a fabulous retreat and conference center in the Central Coast Wine Country. Brigit is also a featured chef for Forno Bravo, who hosted this Wood-Fired Oven Expo in Salinas, CA, where I got to cook with Brigit and Casey and learn some of…Read More…

Chances are that, if you are opening a pizzeria, you will be out of business sooner rather than later. Typically, 60% will fail in the first three years; at least this is what statistics tell us. Why? Is it because there is too much competition? Maybe the economy isn’t doing very well? Perhaps it’s the government and high taxes? Or better yet, it’s probably because of those darn millennials who…Read More…

Hi Everyone, This video just got posted by our local Creative Mornings chapter. If you don’t know what Creative Mornings is, go do a Google search and see if there’s a chapter near you. It’s an amazing community building gathering, a phenomenon, and Charlotte NC just happens to have one of the most dynamic of all the Creative Mornings chapters and, guess what, I got to be the featured speaker…Read More…

Danica Alvarado is a bright light. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Forno Bravo Expo in Salinas, California, where hundreds of fellow fire-freaks gathered for a few days of food, wine, music, and wood-fire fun in the sun. Danica told me that, as a teenager, she was inspired by watching Nancy Silverton shape beautiful pizzas right here during our first season of Pizza Quest, so she spent…Read More…

Hi Everyone, Great news — the highlight reel from our recent International Symposium on Bread, is now available (it’s only 2 1/2 minutes long). See it here:  Highlight Reel You can also see the opening keynote presentation by Nathan Myhrvold, the creator of the James Beard Award winning Modernist Bread, as well as other presentations. We will continue to add all ten presentations to the channel as we complete the…Read More…

This is a beautiful pizza!  I can’t take credit for the recipe…only my efforts to create one here at home in my Primavera wood fired oven.  And, as you can see, I think I did well! There is a local Italian restaurant here in LA called Eatalian Cafe.  The cafe is in an industrial district in Gardena and, when you go inside, it’s like a food processing warehouse that is…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I still have a number of posts to bring you, including interviews, Part Two of my NYC pan pizza tour, the International Symposium on Bread wrap-up, and more videos and recipes but things have been a little bit busy. This is the final week of school at Johnson & Wales University, so my Introduction to Baking class is about to take their final exams, and we’re still wrapping…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m a little behind on posting, as I’ve been immersed in the second annual International Symposium on Bread (nicknamed, “On the Rise 2”). I just received the photo files from our photographer today and haven’t had time to write up a recap, but that all will be coming soon, so please check back in a few days. Also, this weekend is the 14th Annual Asheville Bread Festival, this…Read More…