If this guy can make pizza like this on a tugboat, doing it in your home kitchen should be a piece of cake.

There’s a guy they call Tugboat Dave. Every few weeks, I see a post of his on social media. It says something like, “Knuckle Dragger Pizzeria is open for business!” And there’s a photo of several pizzas on the galley table aboard a tugboat—and they look really good.
 
I assumed Dave had his cook making these pizzas. It took me months to realize that Tugboat Dave was making these pizzas himself. This oceangoing tugboat captain is making pizza for his crew. I also know he doesn’t have a pizza oven. But I guarantee that he has a simple ingredient that all successful home pizza cooks have: belief. 

ABOVE: A Facebook photo posted by Tugboat Dave, declaring that the Knuckle Dragger Pizzeria is open. (PHOTO CREDIT: Tugboat Dave)

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​I sent one of the Tugboat Dave’s pictures to James Beard-winning bread and pizza guru Peter Reinhart. 

Peter said, “Great looking pizzas! Pass the sea salt, please!”
 
So, an oceangoing captain can make great pizza at sea in a tugboat galley. Doesn’t it stand to reason that you doing it at home should be a piece of cake? Among other things, your kitchen doesn’t move in any direction, much less with any motion related to the roll, tilt or yaw of a seaway.
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​Dave is making his pizza dough aboard the tugboat. I know this because I’ve seen his dough photos.

ABOVE: Photos of Dave's dough. Clearly, he's giving it time to ferment. If I remember correctly, he told me it was a 24-hour dough. (PHOTO CREDIT: Tugboat Dave)


​​Dave is baking the pizzas in an oven that looks a lot like yours and mine, if more primitive. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure the ovens made for going to sea are not required to match the drapes or anything. They just have to get hot, not rust, and remain usable in unpleasant conditions.

ABOVE: An oven Dave has used to bake pizza. It seems a safe bet that more than one meal has had an encounter with the oven door in heavy seas. (PHOTO CREDIT: Tugboat Dave)
 
 
Other than a few casual questions, I have not interviewed Tugboat Dave in depth about his pizza making. I'm probably going to. There is just too much I want to know.

What I do know about Tugboat Dave is we've known each other in passing for about 20 years. I also know he lives in greater New Orleans with his lovely wife, Lil. I know he’s not a professional chef. I also believe he comes from coastal Alabama.  
 
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In other words, Dave does not come from pizza country.
 
But he does come from a place where it is assumed everyone can cook. A lot of that cooking is what we might call rustic.

ABOVE: The "Dirty Coast" is not known for its pizza culture as much as it's known for fare such as this: a crawfish boil, shown here with corn and potatoes. (I also add Cajun smoked sausage and asparagus.) Suck the head and pinch the tail! (PHOTO CREDIT: Blaine Parker, Free The Pizza)


I’ll bet Dave has spent his life around culinary transformation. I also bet he’s never used that phrase in his life. But cooking is central to the culture along the Gulf Coast.
 
The food here on the coast is part of a strong regional identity. There’s an incredible sense of hospitality here, and a unique culinary heritage. 
 
The food here is often a celebration of bounty. There’s a tradition of connecting with others through shared meals that is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced elsewhere.
 
 
But again, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are not generally known for their pizza culture.
 
Yet this guy known as Tugboat Dave is regularly feeding his crew with some great looking pies in a floating festival of pizza.
 
How does he do it? I can guarantee you one thing. It’s because he believes he can.
 
Believe you can make pizza, and you’re halfway there.

ABOVE: Another round with the Knuckle Dragger Pizzeria. (PHOTO CREDIT: Tugboat Dave)


Why am I even talking about Tugboat Dave?
 
It’s because I know people who want to make pizza, but they sit on it for years. 
 
I know of one person who reads Saturday Afternoon Pizza Post and has also read Free The Pizza: A Simple System For Making Great Pizza Whenever You Want With The Oven You Already Have.
 
After reading the book cover to cover, it took over a year for this person to muster the courage to make a pizza.
 
Reportedly, that pizza was an amazing moment for this person. Making this pizza was a stunning event. 
 
 
Why postpone amazement? Enjoy the stunning. 

Anyone can do this.
 
You don’t need a special oven or special training. Just read the book. Any pizza book. There are so many good books I didn’t write.
 
I learned from a book, made a lot of pizza over a lot of years, then wrote the book I wish I’d had when I was much younger.
 
 
Or don’t read a book at all and see what happens if you wing it. Though winging it might inspire you to read the book. I knew a few pizzamakers who went through that process.
 
If you want to wing it without a book, here’s a free, no-knead pizza dough recipe and a free pizza sauce recipe and very little instruction. Figure it out!
 
Or buy my book. Or one of the books near the bottom of this page.
 

Anyone can do this.

Granted, it takes a little while to become as good at it as Tugboat Dave. 

But immediately, it brings a whole new kind of joy to your kitchen table.

You too can be a Knuckle Dragger. Or a Pizza Independent (as we call them here at Free The Pizza). Or whatever you want to call yourself and your home pizzeria.
 
Special thanks to Tugboat Dave for sharing his story and allowing me to steal his photos to illustrate his command of pizza while commanding an oceangoing tug.
 
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A lot of big-time professional artisan pizza makers once made their first pizza in a home oven just like yours. You can do it, too. My weird little award-winning book is one way to make it so. The book is about how to get from zero to pizza using the oven you already have. 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 the 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. ​