Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

I had my large #10 can of the new Organic Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes and I had some pizzas to make.  I started with one from Tony Gemignani, who uses the tomatoes, and thought I’d do a couple from Chris Bianco himself.  I haven’t had the chance to make it to Phoenix yet to try Pizzeria Bianco, but I’ve read much about it.  It is high on my list of things…Read More…

As I prepare to head out to Denver for what I referred to last week as “The Big Reveal,” I want to share this week’s Peter’s Blog with our correspondent, Nick Birkby, a baker and beer maker in South Africa. The timing is perfect, as Nick has been doing a lot of experimentation lately with beer malts in pizza dough, which is one of the keys to our Challenge Pizza…Read More…

This is going to be a wild week for us, as we head to Denver on Friday to film the final stage of the great Pizza/Beer Challenge. I’ll try to blog from there on Saturday, after the event (see the recent Peter’s Blog for details on where and when we’ll be filming, baking, and drinking the first Birra Basta). So, no promises, but our plan is a new Peter’s Blog…Read More…

This is a small batch recipe for making the Challenge Dough that is used in the pizza that we will be making for the public for the first time on September 30th in Denver at 7 PM at the Summit Beer Garden, just a few blocks from The Great American Beer Festival.  The ingredients that distinguish this from typical pizza crusts are the flour and crystal malt.  The flour that…Read More…

As many of you know, Chris Bianco has joined forces with Rob DiNapoli of DiNapoli Specialty Foods.  They have come up with a new product that Chris had been nudging Rob to create for some time.  There has been a limited supply of their new Bianco DiNapoli Organic Tomatoes available at some select pizzerias and restaurants and we have been lucky enough to be “in the loop!”  I happen to…Read More…

The following is an article I wrote, with Brad’s help, to be sent to various beer blogs to alert them to the big event next week in Denver. We’ve been writing about here for a number of weeks, and on Thursday I’ll post the Challenge Pizza dough recipe, but I thought I’d share the article with all you as a way of recapping the past few posts and to give…Read More…

This week we’re taking a break from the Tony G. webisode series but will be posting some other interesting and cool stuff for you before we return to him the following week: On Tuesday, as usual, Peter’s Blog will be back with more on the upcoming Pizza/Beer Challenge in Denver. On Wednesday, another recipe from Brad, our intrepid home cook, eternally in search of the perfect home pizza. On Thursday,…Read More…

New York. I grew up in New Jersey.  New York was the big beast that my dad went off to on a hot — or cold — bus for the day, depending on the time of year.  Unfortunately, the bus wasn’t cold in the summer and it wasn’t hot in the winter  the way you would like it to be (as he tells it).  Either way, it was a long…Read More…

I was mistaken last week when I said the Margherita that Tony made was his World Championship version. Actually, this week is the version that won it all. As it turns out, last week’s pizza was made with Caputo flour and this week’s is made with San Felice flour. When Tony won the World Championship in Naples, which he’ll talk about a little in this week’s segment, he used the…Read More…

Lately I have been thinking a lot about  some ways to enjoy dessert pizzas that you could get excited about and have your family and friends talking about too. I thought maybe a cheesecake base with fresh fruit on top would be a satisfying, delicious ending to a pizza party, picnic or camp out. This pizza is great tasting while it’s still hot, cooled down or even cold from the…Read More…