Dude, it's just pizza. But can a pizzaiolo from New Jersey be an object lesson in finding the joy?

I saw an extraordinary thing at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Dan Richer of Razza, considered by some as the best pizzeria in the nation, was at the Ooni ovens booth demonstrating their new Halo Pro spiral mixer. It was arguably a glimpse at unbridled joy in the making of pizza dough.
 
I know that a lot of people, newbies especially, approach pizza dough with trepidation. Some even regard dough as the enemy. Perhaps the requirement to knead dough gets the relationship off on the wrong foot. The idea of having to force water and flour to cooperate could be perceived as a kind of conflicted relationship fraught with animosity. I’ve said it before. Saying it again: pizza dough is your friend. And watching Dan Richer in action was an object lesson in feeling the joy that anyone making pizza could take to heart.

We’ll be talking about the Ooni Halo in a later post. It’s one of those products that upends many ideas you may have about industrial design. (It’s a sexy beast.) Watching Dan Richer use it, however, upends many other ideas you may have about the idea that making pizza dough is drudgery.
 
In Dan Richer’s book, The Joy Of Pizza: Everything You Need To Know, he presents a very exacting methodology that might make you wonder why he’s not working in a laboratory somewhere. And maybe, in a way, he is. The kitchen is his lab and he’s serious about it. That has served him well in building the Razza empire. If you’ll indulge me, I’m going to plagiarize myself here. Back during the 2024 year-end holidays, I recommended half a dozen different books one could give as gifts for the cooks in their life. One of those books was Mr. Richer’s. I wrote, in part:
 
“If you think the idea of using a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients is crazy, you’re going to find Dan Richer to be totally mad. This joyful book is about the serious work of pizza. Mr. Richer appears to be a driven man. He approaches pizza in ways that might seem extreme. He follows rigid rubrics, practices intent naming, develops relationships with everyone who supplies his ingredients, and measures each pizza emerging from his oven with a pair of calipers.”
 
After finally seeing the man in the flesh, performing the dough-making side of things, I wouldn’t change a word of that analysis. I would add only this exhortation: read his book. He's quite a guy, and his work is both aspirational and inspiring.
 
I admit that I first listened to the book on Audible and it seemed very serious. (And yes, it’s ironic and perhaps weird to listen to a pizza cookbook during sessions on a treadmill at the gym.) What didn’t come across in the audio was the experience of handling that book, seeing the photos of him making pizza with his children, and witnessing the artistry not only of his pizza in action, but seeing it in a cookbook clearly intended as a valentine to the art, science and love of the craft.

ABOVE: Ooni co-founder and CEO, Kristian Tapaninaho speaking with Dan Richer before the demonstration. Notice the strategic product placement of Mr. Richer's book just behind Mr. Tapaninaho's shoulder. 


​​In fact, I just went to the bookcase to grab my copy of The Joy Of Pizza. I pulled it off the shelf and handed it to my wife, the novelist and former Madison Avenue advertising creative director, the Fabulous Honey Parker. I said, “Do me a favor: leaf through this, and tell me your first impression.”
 
She flipped through the pages of illustrations, photos and diagrams, including extreme, lust-inducing closeups of gorgeous pizzas. She said, “It’s beautiful, and this looks like a tall mountain to climb.” She’s right. But even if it’s not the summit of Everest you’re after, you can still make it to Base Camp and feel pretty good about the work you’re doing. The state of the art represented by The Joy Of Pizza inspires you to raise your sights towards the pinnicale, even if you don’t plan on summiting without oxygen.
 
And watching Dan Richer in Vegas having a fantastic time just sitting at a counter and making a same-day sourdough pizza dough is a lot of fun. He’s wide-eyed, laughing and magnetic. It makes you wonder how more much fun it is to actually be in the room with him, slinging pies on a busy Saturday night in Jersey City. (There must be a Springsteen song for that.)
 
Sitting at the counter in the Ooni booth, Mr. Richer told the tale of the starter he was using that day. He described the methodology his staff uses for determining how a change in recipe or procedure influences results. He expressed not only his great displeasure for a leading brand of kitchen appliances, but of his joy at this new Ooni mixer. Meanwhile, the mixer was nearly silent on the counter in front of him, mixing up the dough into a state like I’ve never seen before. And he sat there, inviting questions and more questions, laughing and enjoying being surrounded by pizza people.
 
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ABOVE: Dan Richer handling his freshly made, high-hydration same-day sourdough pizza dough. It is glorious. 


And it's all in the service of pizza dough. In my own writing, I’ve described pizza dough as a friend. I think it helps some people to consciously get past an unconscious notion of dough being an opponent in some kind of wrestling match.

But in Dan Richer's world, it doesn't seem like there's any room for opponents. It seems that everything and everyone's a friend—his dough, his new mixer, his sourdough starter, his staff, his diners, and each of us pizza geeks standing around him at the Ooni booth during Pizza Expo.
 
In some worlds, pizza is just a business decision. But in Dan Richer’s world, it’s a joy. Joy to the world of pizza. Let's put a halo around it. 

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Did you know that you can experience pizza joy using your home oven? My weird little book is one way to do it. My book is less about recipes and dedicated ovens and more about how to get from zero to pizza. Besides learning to make great pizza, there’s not much else you can do with it. In fact, you can’t even use it to level a table leg if you buy the Kindle edition (which is less expensive than print editions and has links to instructional videos and printable kitchen worksheets). To learn more about Free The Pizza: A Simple System For Making Great Pizza Whenever You Want With The Oven You Already Have, click here. ​​