The Road to Pizza Nirvana goes through Phoenix
PHOENIX''Was we can do is put up smoke signals and hope somebody reads them,''Chris Bianco said. ''That's all I can do all of us. When the pizza guy teaches you imagine anything that can do what the smart people.''
Mr. Bianco, the chef and proprietor of Pizzeria Bianco here and the only pizzaiolo the best regional chef designation of winning the James Beard Foundation was to search for words to describe what he does. He set the pizza baking industry in terms of a Zen master will know to appreciate.
''It's no secret that my pizza,''said Mr. Bianco, the Beard Award won last year. ''Sicilian oregano, organic flour, San Marzano tomatoes, purified water, mozzarella I learned from Mike's Deli in the Bronx, sea salt, yeast cake and a bit of dough from yesterday. In the end, great pizza, like anything else, is all about balance. It's that simple.''
But like a nice Italian boy came from the Bronx, a soulful high school dropout with a penchant for self-reflection and a ferocious intellectual curiosity, end up making what just might be the best pizza in America in a city which, in my estimation more golf courses than pizzerias?
I asked this question, and a few others, as Mr. Bianco was in his usual place, making pizza in his restaurant in an old house in Heritage Square.
His menu is disarmingly simple: one starter (skewers, cheese wrapped in ham), an antipasto plate and two salads. One is a simple green salad, while the other consists of whatever goodies one of his local suppliers drops off at his back door. That night, it was of juicy tangerines with a perfect sweet and acid balance written, paper-thin slices of fresh fennel, a splash of fruity olive oil and some Malden sea salt.
Then there are his pizzas. His bark is both thick and thin, puffy and crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, with hole structure like great bread. His mozzarella, which he and his staff every morning, is creamy and slightly tart. The sauce tastes like the ripest tomatoes in concentrated form. His sausage tastes fennel and pork, with just the right meat-fat ratio.
The Rosa, one of six pizzas, is made with red onions, Parmigiano-Reggiano, rosemary and Arizona pistachios, and how complex and intense as Mr. Bianco himself. The Wiseguy pie has smoked mozzarella (he smokes it every morning in his wood stove over pecan wood), roasted onions and fennel sausage.
My first bite of the Wiseguy melted in my mouth, as all great pizza does. The elements blended like a great jazz rhythm section.
''What I do is like a producer picking up the individual tracks of some unbelievable music,''said Mr. Bianco, who often expresses himself in musical terms. ''It could be Miles or Mozart. All you do is what I take it back to the studio and remix it.''
Mr. Bianco lived in the Bronx until he was 6 when his family to Ossining, NY His mother at Saks Fifth Avenue worked in bridal design, moves, and his father was a portrait painter, the family supported by the design of wine and spirits labels . His father paintings adorn the walls of the pizzeria and Bar Bianco, which are a patch of grass and Mr. Bianco herb garden separately. Pane Bianco, the four kinds of sandwiches one day serve on hot rolls baked in a wood oven, is located a few miles.
Mr. Bianco had asthma as a child, forcing him to stay home and let him spend hours watching his Aunt Margaret Koch. At 13 he was at a local pizzeria and after the 11th Working class, left school and went to work in restaurants. Cooking, he said, saved him.
''Most of my friends went one way, be to be the wrong way,''he said. ''I went another.''
In 1985 he won two plane tickets to anywhere in the United States, and he chose Phoenix. Why Phoenix? To this day he does not know. But, he said,''When I arrived, I felt somehow connected to this place.''
He said he began mozzarella in his apartment, selling to Italian restaurants at their back doors. Finally offered a specialty grocer in Phoenix, Guy Coscos, store it in a corner of his to put in a wood oven and make and sell pizza. Pizza, Mr. Bianco obsession:''I thought that maybe I could make a life out of him.''
Moving to Santa Fe, NM, in 1989 put him into the world of Deborah Madison, the vegetarian cookbook writer and her sous-chef, David Tanis. ''The whole thing was about food and what made it special,''he said.''
At the same time he found himself in the head of the American Food Revolution, which placed a premium on tradition, local pride and craftsmanship. Finally he was able to draw on his childhood experiences.
''At last I had something to offer from my past, a reverence for what was my family,''he said. ''I realized that what I had, what was in me, something of value.''
Armed with newfound confidence and a renewed sense of purpose, he opened Pizza Bianco in 1994.
Ten years on, pizza is still full of meaning, cosmic and otherwise, for Mr. Bianco. ''I have not invented,''he said. ''I'm just trying something to make a little something right. I'm on a mission, I have a responsibility to do something with integrity and dignity.
''My menu is small, but for me it's the greatest thing in the world. Pizza inspires me, fascinates me and gives me hope.''
Different types and styles of pizza
"The pizza industry is worth more than $ 30 billion in the United States alone and Americans consume around three billion units of pizza every year.
"New York pizza is traditionally level. Apparently it is New York pizza because of the acidity and hardness of the water in New York. New Yorkers therefore claim that only in New York you can make real New York pizza unique.
admit (New Yorkers must, however, that if water is the unique feature of New York pizza, one of the water for hardness and acidity is adjusted to New York water reflect used, adds all the usual New York pizza ingredients and toppings, follows all procedures strictly but makes the pizza in New Jersey can make possible an authentic New York style pizza. But such a claim, as some would say, is simply the cheek.)
Pizza and pizza-type designs
The first step to a great homemade pizza is determining what kind of pizza do you make. After all, different types of pizza different attributes and thus call for different kinds of pizza dough, covering and cooking techniques. Would you like to make an authentic Italian pizza, a New York-style pizza, a California-style pizza, or Chicago style pizza?
Italian pizza is generally lean, although when you add cheese, its fat content increases in the proportional rule. There are different kinds of Italian pizza, too. There are Neapolitan pizzas, of which there are two general types: the marinara and the Margherita. There are various combinations of these also. Authentic Italian pizza, is also allegedly burned wood or coal stove, stone ovens.
New York pizza, as mentioned above, is usually clear. The mainstay of New York Pizza Mozzarella - fresh mozzarella cheese to be exact. One can add garlic, cheeses, anchovies, shrimp, etc., but these are usually voluntary. The pizza dough recipe for traditional New York pizza, calls on the other hand, for high-gluten flour. The result is firm, usually thin, chewy pizza.
The California style pizza is generally known for gourmet flavors. It can be said of the California Pizza has countless variations. The pizza crust, in this case is light, fresh and generally well risen. The deposit may not of this world - generally California pizza makers experiment a lot with all kinds of meat, seafood, breakfast dishes and vegetables for the topping.
The Chicago Style Pizza, on the other hand, is generally crusty and very filling. They stand characterized by raised edges; pre-baked apple pie crust, imagine where you can place the fillings. Chicago pizza is usually meaty (some variants come stuffed with cheese and meat layers) and is eaten with knife and fork.
You can also by deciding on the flavor you want to start. Do you want to make a cheese pizza, a vegetarian pizza or a fruit pizza? You might want to make a low-fat pizza, a low-carb pizza, a healthy pizza? Sourdough pizza is also another variant.
Take your pick among your many options. Once you have decided, choosing the recipe would be much easier. If you have decided on an Italian pizza, for instance, then you will find Italian pizza crust recipe, your Italian pizza sauce recipe and the overall Italian pizza recipe that will give you a list of toppings and pizza preparation procedures for making an authentic Italian pizza. For a simpler time, you may decide to Italian-style frozen pizza dough then just follow the Italian pizza recipe that you have found.
Some Pizza Tips and techniques
throwing hand will help reduce the lumps in your pizza dough. However, this should be undertaken only after sufficient pizza dough kneading. This process lets your pizza dough in the proper way to develop consistency - that which cast suitable for stretching and hand. Hand throws, but is not advisable for thick pizza crust varieties.
If you have a crisp and firm pizza retains its structure even when the moist topping want to be added, you can bake pizza crust before you add the ingredients and the pizza sauce. However, for thin pizza crusts, baking the crust after the lining has been added and sauce is sufficient. For uniform and crisp bake the crust, use a pizza stone or a pizza screen.
Finally, remember that will affect the protein content of the flour, the final product. High-gluten flour to form a crisp crust but lead tough. Gluten-free flours, but can lead to very soft dough, additives can be used to make the pizza dough to give strength.
Quick pizza crust recipes and easy homemade pizza recipes of all kinds and style are easily available online. It gives tips for baking and preparing frozen pizza dough, so make your own pizza dough, preparing the ingredients for the best pizza recipe crust, etc. All you need to begin your very own pizza recipe is an internet connection a good source for basic pizza recipe, great pizza equipment, your imagination and a lot of time and resources for experimentation.
An information and training site for the home pizza cook. The website provides information on specific aspects of pizza and pizza production.
