At the World Pizza Championships in Salsomaggiore, Italy, I’m hard at work in an intense and serious quest for the best pizza as evidenced in the above photo. Well, just maybe, I’m having fun also.
I am presenting Pizza Pecora la Sardo (Sardinian Pecorino Pizza) with pancetta fresca, peperoni sardo, corbezzolo honey, pistachio and three types of mild sheep’s cheese from Sardinia.
I love making baguettes. In my warped mind, I find solice in the creation of each long baton that takes an annoying amount of time. I can’t help but think of the metalsmiths of long-ago Japan who made the Samurai swords by folding and folding without complaint. Their final product was so strong that it cut through metal.
After an hour of folding baguettes, time becomes taffy-like and the task itself becomes very relaxing. At 3:30 a.m., it gets a little lonely and I miraculously turn into a Buddist Monk on top of a mountain in Nepal. It is then that I actually start naming my “leetle, long friends,” with names like “Mack,” “Pierre” and “Tin Tin.”
I still have alot to learn about breads, but most of the time I let the bread tell me what it needs. There are just too many people out there with strong convictions and beliefs of “what you should do” or “never do.” I like to do what is fun, different and tastes great; you gotta problem wit dat?
Here is a video of some breads we sell at Avalanche and how I fold, score and cook some eight-ounce baguettes with local spelt flour. Oh, I hope no one gets offended by my strong French accent while I work these baguettes. It’s a tick I have, (you should hear me when I make Yugoslavian cabbage bread.) Yes, that is an Ancho chile, dark chocolate and bacon batard on the end.
