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Friday Pizza Box - 3/12/21

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Friday Pizza Box - 3/12/21

Pi(e) day edition

Andrew Janjigian
Mar 12, 2021
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Friday Pizza Box - 3/12/21

newsletter.wordloaf.org

Sunday is 3/14, aka Pi Day, so naturally this week’s bread basket is dedicated to everyone’s favorite circular flatbread, pi(zza).


Pele’s Pies

A few weeks ago, I got an Instagram DM from James Rubio, a photographer from Hilo, Hawaii (on the Big Island, one of my favorite places on earth), who apparently found a story I wrote for Edible Boston about 10 years ago on my wood-fired barrel oven and was inspired by it to build his own:

jamesrubio808
A post shared by James Rubio (@jamesrubio808)

A barrel oven is a relatively modern, low-tech style of wood-fired oven that is made from a repurposed 55-gallon oil drum, set on its side and buried inside a masonry or clay shell. The fire sits underneath the barrel, and the heat it generates wraps around the drum. The advantage of such a design is that the metal barrel heats up very quickly, especially in comparison to a standard masonry WFO, which needs time to saturate with heat before it can be used for baking. One disadvantage to a barrel oven compared to a classic WFO is that there is no “live-fire” cooking, something that is ideal for pizza and other flatbreads that benefit from the intense, bright heat of a fire. That said, barrel ovens can still heat up to 800+ degrees easily, so it’s hardly a deal-breaker.

If you are interested in learning more about barrel ovens, there’s an excellent book on how to build one, written by Max and Eva Edleson of Firespeaking, a masonry heater company that also makes and sells kits.

James is still working to finish his oven, but he’s made pizza a few times in it already. I’m looking forward to following along with his journey (and stopping by for some pies next time we get to the Big Island).

-> James Rubio


Tag Team

Pizzeria Angelo e Simonetta, photo by Michael Berman.

I mentioned the other day that I’m teaching a Zoom workshop on April 17 on one of my all-time favorite styles of pizza, pizza al taglio. (At the moment, there’s still plenty of room if you want in on it.) I fell in love with pizza al taglio at Pizzeria Angelo e Simonetta, an unassuming pizzeria on the outskirts of Rome. I first learned about Angelo e Simonetta from my friend Michael Berman, a NYC photographer and pizza fiend who wrote a blog post about this place. Here’s what he wrote that convinced me I had to get there on my first visit to Rome:

So this place ― it's called Angelo e Simonetta ― blew me away, and I've been going there ever since. They put a lot of effort also into their dough with a rise that involves near 0℃ hibernation for almost five days.  The result is a springy crust filled with air pockets that, according to owner Gabriele Jezzi, aids in digestion.

I’m very happy with my own al taglio recipe, which uses a 24-hour cold fermented dough. But I still dream of the slice—potato, sopresatta, and mozzarella—that blew me away when I was there, and I still hope to recreate it in full some day. It truly is the single best slice of pizza I’ve ever eaten:

Check out Michael’s post, and be sure to watch the video he shot with Gabriele Jezzi, one of the world’d true pizza greats.

-> Never Mind the Trophies, Here's the Pizza


NOPE

Twitter avatar for @DMRegister
Des Moines Register @DMRegister
We know how Iowans feel about their breakfast pizza, but have you considered Froot Loops on pizza? Well, now's the time to consider it, as the Forest Ave. location in Des Moines of Fong's Pizza has added it to their menu. desmoinesregister.com/story/entertai…
Image
11:20 PM ∙ Feb 26, 2021
906Likes307Retweets

No.


Happy Pi Day Weekend, everyone. I hope you have a peaceful/pizza-full one. See you all next week.

—Andrew

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Friday Pizza Box - 3/12/21

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