 Somebody recently asked, “Where do you get yeast, and which one is best for pizza dough?” And the first thing I thought was, Well duh. You get yeast from the air. That, of course, is not the first answer everyone else has. They will likely say, “Well duh. You get yeast from the supermarket.” Which is not untrue. And that was not a double negative. Or was it? I think, yeah. No. Whatever. And just by the way, if you’re reading this and you happen to be a mycologist or a fermentation specialist, know that I’m speaking as a layman who’s fully aware that you can tell me I’m speaking out of my pizza hole. So be it. I will publish any required corrections to my non-scientific blather, and I thank you in advance for your participation.
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Here it is: another secret ingredient for fantastic homemade pizza--and you can’t buy it anywhere.1/25/2025  As you may know from hanging out here longer than is healthy for any sane human being, I have been known to peddle in secret ingredients for homemade pizza. Today is no exception. I’m going to share a secret ingredient that is free, in limitless supply, and impossible to buy. If you’re a seasoned home pizzamaker, this may not interest you. I don’t blame you if you bail out as soon as you discover what I’m about to say. This secret ingredient is something that I try to persuade every home pizzamaker to use. They often want a different secret ingredient, and they ask me, “Well, what do you think of X” or “How about if I do Y instead? Homemade pizza: just add water, flour, salt, yeast--and fairy dust? How you can make magic happen...9/21/2024  I’ve always tried to let people know that making pizza is not magic. It’s just water, flour, salt and yeast. Have I been wrong all these years? Does pizza actually require magic? Last week, I was in France talking to a career chef who started making wood-fired pizza a little over a year ago. Our pizza conversation meandered to that place where I begin using the F-word. And as silly as the conversation gets, it belies an important quality of pizza that is beyond your control--yet important to grasp. (Don't worry, we will not begin speaking in Zen koans, Grasshopper.) I said to Chef, “There’s something about pizza that is fascinating.  There are people who will never be able to make a pizza. They won't even try. Some folks will try it once, and decide it’s not for them. And then there are people who seem to be able to produce a fresh, hot, savory, tangy, cheesy, mind-bending home-baked pizza whenever they want—to the point where the conversation goes something like this: “What do you want to eat? I can grill a chicken, make linguine in white clam sauce, or bake a sausage and mushroom pizza.” How do they do this? Last week, I made some of the best pizza ever by screwing up my dough, and you can do it, too.2/23/2024  I was fresh off a cross-country flight. I’d arrived at our host's house and started making dough so it would have time to ferment properly. And in the process, I made a mistake. A small one. And I decided to live with it just to see what would happen. It ended up being some of my best pizza ever. A lot of pizza newbies get caught in a trap of believing that great pizza is about great dough recipes. But really, great pizza is more about what you do with those recipes and how.  One of Free The Pizza’s apparent fans is a guy named Dean. (That's not his full name, and I don’t want to assume that he’s interested in being identified for all the pizza world to see.) I need to thank Dean for sending me a quote from a book he’s reading: The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor. The quote about skinny, food-loving Italians was interesting, so I bought the book. The Dorito Effect is about the evolution and societal impact of the flavor industry. Let’s call them Big Flavor. (My words, not the book's.) The book’s undeniable entertainment value belies a serious note about Big Flavor, modern food science, and how it all impacts you, me, and everyone else. |
AuthorBlaine Parker is the award-winning author of the bestselling, unusual and amusing how-to pizza book, Free The Pizza. Also known as The Pizza Geek and "Hey, Pizza Man!", Blaine is fanatical about the idea that true, pro-quality pizza can be made at home. His home. Your home. Anyone's home. After 20 years of honing his craft and making pizza in standard consumer ovens across the nation, he's sharing what he's learned with home cooks like you. Are you ready to pizza? Archives
February 2025
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