Pizza News, July, 2009
(Volume X No. 7)
(ISSN: 1533-3795)   

1. What's New: What A Long Strange Trip....

2) Legends of Pizza Volume 3:
 Evelyn Sloman, the Lost Interviews Part 3

3) On Spiritual Pizza Making...

1. What's New: What A Long Strange Trip....

The Pizza Therapy East Coast Pizza Tour 2009

We ate a lot of pizza, we had a lot of fun.

We met some amazing people! We spoke the universal language of pizza.

You can keep up with some of our adventures, on the Pizza Blog.

Here is just one part of the journey....

apizzo: The Next Rising Star of Pizza  

We went to apizzo, expecting a fairly good pizza. Pawcatuck, is after all, the home of noted pizzaiolo, Jon F.. If Jon F. says a pizza is good, its good.

(That's right: apizzo not apizza...)

What struck me immediately, was the ambiance of the place. Stefan Ambrosch the co-owner, and operator, explained to us, that the restaurant was completely designed with his own personal vision of what a great pizzeria should be.

Next, I was amazed at the ornate wood fired pizza oven. Imported from Italy, it is, very attractive, yet functional. The entire restaurant was re-designed around the oven, once it had been installed.

Discover a taste of appizo, with the following video I created:
 

You can visit the apizzo Pizzeria Napoletana website, to find directions and more information. Jon F. and I will be releasing more of the interview with Stefan in the near future, so stay tuned.

If you are planning to go on your own pizza quest, I want to encourage you to visit: apizzo Pizzeria Napoletana. You will not be disappointed. And if you go now, you may not have to wait in line.

This is the kind of pizzeria, where, people will gladly wait in line for this amazing pizza.

Apizzo
59 West Broad Street
Pawcatuck, CT 06379

860-599-2222

2) Legends of Pizza Volume 3:
 Evelyn Sloman, the Lost Interviews Part 3
 

The Legends of Pizza Volume 3 is a series of interviews done with master pizzaiolo, Evelyn Sloman. These interviews contain a wealth of knowledge, pizza history and pizza passion.

 Evelyn learned to make pizza while growing up in New York. The Tontonno's and Lombardi's operated legendary Pizzerias in New York and Evelyn was able to learn from these masters.

You will discover Evelyn's insights and secrets about pizza including:

• A review of the Lombardi Method

• How the masters used measurement for their pizza

• The Artisan Bread movement and pizza

• The importance of fermentation in pizza

• How Evelyn learned to rule the dough

• The one key ingredient for pizza

• High gluten or not high gluten flour...

• The use of flour in pizza

• The best tomatoes to use for pizza

• Why Evelyn's recipe gets better and better

Thank you so much Evelyn for this incredible knowledge.

For  the rest of the Evelyn Sloman Interviews and other Pizza Updates, you can read The Legends of Pizza Blog

This episode of Legends of Pizza, Volume 3, is brought to you by the
The Pizza Therapy Pizza Book

3) On Spiritual Pizza Making...

(From the Pizza Therapy Archives)

Robert writes:

In your article on spiritual pizza making you say:" Spiritual pizza is made when you connect with your
pizza on a higher level. You put a part of yourself into each pizza.
Make all of your pizza, Spiritual Pizza. Your pizza will taste better. Your pizza will be better."

That really hit home with me, you wouldn't believe what I put into my pizza making and it really shows in
the pizza. If I'm making a pizza for company and really want it to be its best I will turn on the oven
light and keep looking in at it to make sure it is just right, my wife laughs at me but the pizza is
always great.

 I've spent years now trying to perfect the crust, after all it's the crust that makes the pizza, everything else
is just toppings, right?. A couple of very important things I have learned along the way.

1. If you are going to experiment away from a recipe,
   WRITE DOWN THE CHANGES YOU MAKE! Otherwise who can
   remember what they did the next time.

2.  I've found that "Hotel and Restaurant" flour seems to provide the most "Pizzeria" taste and consistency I
   believe it is the extra Gluten.

3.  More yeast and sugar (or honey) in the mix than is
   usually called for seems to work well for me as far as a nice light dough that tastes great.

4.  Let the pizza rise! at least once but even better twice and at least an hour each time, then roll it out
   at least half an hour before you put a topping on it of any sort and cover it with plastic wrap so it can
   rise a bit before you squash it with toppings.
   5. And finally, make sure you preheat the oven and get it as hot as you can for the amount of toppings you
   have on it. More toppings, less temperature so it can have a chance to cook all the way through, raw dough
   is nasty. the reason for the hot oven is that the dough does an initial rise just after it
   is exposed to the heat and that makes for a much better crust I think than you get with lower temps.
   
   Yipes, and I don't even do this for a living! but if you look in my pantry and fridge and freezer you wouldswear I did.

5. 
   Anyway yep, pizza is a spiritual experience for me and everyone that tastes it begs me to open a pizza
   parlor.
   
   Pizza on Earth and Good Will to All!
   Robert Cotterill

My Response:

Thanks so very much for sharing your great advice, Robert.

I received many wonderful comments about Spiritual Pizza. I feel to do anything worthwhile, we must put our heart and soul
into it. We will then connect with a higher spiritual power.
We must realize there is a greater power that we can connect with. Thanks everyone for your wonderful positive energy.