Friday Bread Basket 2/12/21
special delivery edition
Welcome to the Wordloaf Friday Bread Basket!
Before I share this week’s (pizza) stories, I wanted to mention that I’m going to test the waters with online classes starting in late March. At least to begin with, the classes will be single(ish) recipe deep-dives of about 90 minutes in length. The first one is going to be a primer on sourdough baking, both for sourdough novices and those who are already baking with it, but want to improve their results. And I’ll likely do one on thin-crust pizza in April. Let me know in the comments below if you think you might be interested in joining. (Wordloaf subscribers get a minimum 25% discount on class fees, in case you’ve been on the fence about upgrading.)
Personal Pizza
Upstate New York photographer Noah Kalina—famous for having taken a photo of himself every day for 20 years straight—recently had a hankering for pizza, so he did what any of us would do in that situation, he picked up the phone and ordered a pie:
Thinking about the cold and snow got me hungry.
I think I want a pizza.I called up my friend Benji from Benji and Jake's in Kauneonga Lake, NY, and asked if he could drive their mobile wood stove over and cook me up some pizzas.
His friends set up their wood fired oven in the middle of his snowy field, fired it up, and got to cooking. They even printed up a menu, just for the occasion:
After enjoying his margarita pie, Kalina gave them a 25% tip and promised to leave them a positive Yelp review. You can see the entire story over on his (excellent) newsletter:
-> Noah Kalina Newsletter: Pizza Delivery
Papa Mama
My New Englander readers will already be intimately familiar with Papa Gino’s pizza. For the rest of you, Papa Gino’s is a Boston-based pizza chain that has been around since 1961. The pizza is not amazing, but it’s pretty damn good for a chain with a million locations, and if you grew up around here, you can’t help but feeling at least some nostalgia for the brand.
Even if you don’t love their pizza, you have to appreciate Beth “Buffi” Jackson , who just celebrated her 50th year of working at a Worcester, MA Gino’s branch. She apparently lied about her age to land a job there at 17, and then never left. She’s done every job possible there, from working the register, bussing tables, serving, and making pies (her favorite role). And at 67, she has no plans to stop slinging pies anytime soon.
-> Worcester woman celebrates 50 years of spinning dough at Papa Gino's
That’s it for this week’s Bread Basket. Have a peaceful (and hopefully long) weekend, see you all next week.
—Andrew
Yes, I'd be interested in learning more about classes.
I'll come! Do you need an assistant? ;)