Peter Reinhart

I know Dan--he's a serious, dedicated baker and teacher in England. Thanks for sharing all your great tips, Jackal. Are you baking or teaching professionally or just a passionate home baker? Whichever, you seem to have a true "grok" on bread. Thanks!

You can use this method for any bread dough but the results are more dramatic with wet dough breads like ciabatta and focaccia, and also with baguette-style doughs--wherever large irregular holes are called for. It is less an issue in enriched doughs like sandwich bread and such, but anytime you feel that your dough is not quite developed enough a turn can dramatically strengthen it.

I agree, pizza belongs to the world, often under many different names. I haven't traveled as much as some of you to far off exotic places but I recently had a great pizza in Anguilla, it was made in a modified Naples style. I'd be very interested in hearing from some of you about exotic pizza-type foods you've had, bearing in mind that I define pizza simply as dough with something on it. I guess the wildest pizza I had was at Roxanne's in Larkspur Calif., where everything, including the crust. was raw. The crust was made from almond flour and then dried in a dehydrator for crispness. I know raw food is taking a hit these days, but I thought it was great. As was the sushi pizza at Morimoto in Philly. Also, the Navaho flatbreads in Arizona reminded me of pizza, so I think it falls right in there. Okay, now it's your turn folks...

That was a great thread and the recipe looks fine to me. The amount of whole wheat flour vs. white really is a judgment call--you could go all the way to 100% whole wheat if you want to. I've made similar bread on the back of the wok but didn't know it was called Saj. The key to thinness is to let the dough relax between stretch outs, treating it almost like making pita bread or focaccia col formaggio dough, or even strudel (though there is no yeast in those). Thanks for sharing the thread--I can see why so many people got jazzed about it.

Hi, I do mine on a pizza stone, cranking the oven as high as possible and stretching the dough as for pizza (it's very similar), and then baking it as if were in a tandoor. By the way, remember to preheat your stone for at least one hour, regardless of what the oven preheat light says, since it takes that long for the stone to absorb the full heat of the oven. This is true when making pizzas too, and is true whether using a Hearth Kit or a flat stone. The thin round stones that some people use don't take as long but they also don't offer the same insulation and heat reflectivity and radience (in other words, their not as good as thicker stones because they don't offer as much thermal mass). As soon as the naan come out of the oven, slather them with garlic butter or whatever you're using, fold, and serve.

Hi, There's certainly no rule regarding nuts--leave them out if you like and bump the fruit. I love raisin bread and am particularly fond of raisin focaccia--with lots and lots of raisins. It's a great breakfast bread. There's a version I developed for Fine Cooking in one of their back issues. See if they have it archived. I also love good multi-grain breads (like Struan, my all-time favorite), toasted, and with butter and strawberry jam. It's a meal!

Your very kind. Thank you!

I agree, you have to reduce the yeast by anywhere from 25-50%, depending on how high you are. Same with baking powder. Salt should stay the same. Baking temperature--well I lower the temperature by about 1 degree per hundred feet above sea level, but not everyone does this. It partly depends on your oven. Also, you may need a little more water in your dough the higher you go, but let the dough dictate that as you mix.

Hi, I think I tackled that one in an earlier post, but to recap, I think there's room for both. It's a yin/yang thing, like when micro breweries were bought out by the big guys, only to re-emerge 80 years later (our current boom). Some of those will sell-out--why not, the money's will be good and the work is hard. I can't blame LaBrea and Ecce Panis for going par-baked when they've elevated the quality of that category. Yes, it's harder now for the stand-alones and artisans but they are very resourceful and many will find a way to stay alive and thrive, and some will consolidate and give up the fight. But I think artisanship and craftsmanship will always find a market if the artisan has the endurance (that's the hard part!)

In American Pie I describe two types of pizza perfection: paradigmatically perfect and contextually perfect pizza. You are describing the second category, which is a very large and important category, since this is what most of us grew up with. Almost everyone has a pizzeria that fits into the category of a place that was perfect, not because the pizzas were the absolute best, but because they were the joint where we hung out, where important things took place in our lives, and hey, the pizza wasn't too shabby either. In the context of our lives, these places were perfect and so the pizza has an almost iconic place in our memory bank. No, they're not a mockery at all, their integral to our socialized selves--they're like cafes in Europe, or the deli on Seinfeld, where we recap the day, bring our dates, get dumped, cook up schemes, deepen friendships. We need more of them, and soon we'll have them, and some of them may also be paradigmatically perfect at the same time.

Okay, it's a big subject, as you've already seen. The thin square style is also quite popular in St. Louis where they have the famous (or infamous) Imo's Provel cheese concept. So in the thin crust realm I use the term Roman-style, not because this is the only kind of pizza in Rome but I think it's there that the super-thin crusted pizza has its modern roots. The generic chain pizzeria's I call Pizza Americana, meaning that I think it's here, in this country, that this style was established and then exported back to Europe. NY street pizza (or just New York Style) is like those big slices described by Chile-Peppa, but the better NY pizza is the coal-fired thin crust of Lombardi's, Totonno's, Patsy's, Johns, etc. Who does it best? Well, I value my life too much to say, but so far the most consistent versions of this style seem to be in New Haven at Frank Pepe's, Sally's, and Modern. The key point here, and I made it in my book, is "Who is making the pizza?" Is it a dedicated pizaiolo or an employee working the pizza line. Usually, it's the places that still have family members and family pride involved, ad long term pizza makers who really care about it as a craft, that keep up. All these places have good and bad days but the great places are consistently great while some have too many off days to earn my full confidence. An important category that has great potential is grilled pizza. NYC has it via Vincent Scotto and his restaurants and Providence has it best at Al Forno. I hope some other places are following the Al Forno model because, when done well, grilled pizza is as good as it gets (it can also be lousy when done without attention to the details, and too many places think calling it "grilled pizza" somehow qualifies it as Al Forno quality, but they don't even flip the dough properly on the grill. Its like saying, "Brick Oven Pizza," and expecting people to fall in line when you don't even know how to make good dough. Finally, don't forget the frozen pizzas, none of which are as good as pizzeria quality but certainly the quality has vastly improved. Amy's Kitchen (the brand I developed for) has a great product, because they don't take shortcuts and use great fermentation technique, and so does American Flat Breads. I'm not a big fan of the self-rising crusts but they sure do sell. Deep dish is its own world and I defer to those who already chimed in. There's a funny story in "American Pie" about a man I met in Rome who flies to Chicago from LA twice a year with his wife (who's a flight attendent and gets free airfare), and then flies home that night. They love Pizzeria Due' so much that they consider this a cheap date. David Rosengarten has a nice breakdown of categories in his wonderful newsletter (The Rosengarten Report), so you might want to get his write-up on this category issue.

Hi Chromedome (hey, that could also be me!), Thanks for your great story! In answer to your second question (and actually the first as well), the book that delves most into the spiritual/metaphorical side is called, "Bread Upon the Waters" (Perseus Press). It also tells about my early bread baking experiences. I think my first breads were banana and carrot breads at the Root One Cafe in Boston. (Anyone ever eat there? It was my first restaurant, a collective in Boston between 1971-74--great vegetarian food like Soy Joy Casserole and Kundalini Cauliflower) I also made bread for a street theater group I was in for a short while, The Stomach Ache Street Theater (an offshoot of the Bread and Puppet Theater of Vermont). I ground the wheat, added salt, yeast and water and baked it if off to share with the audience after each performance. Quite a nice ritual. For more of those stories, though, do check out the book--it uses the 12 stages of bread as a metaphor for the journey of life and the search for meaningfulness. I think it's my most important book (and thus, the one with the fewest sales).

Hi, Usually the autolyse is just a short rest, about 15-20 minutes, and then you add the salt (and yeast if you haven't already) and then the first fermentation begins. As for shaping, this is a big subject and it helps to have visual instrcution. As a rule, though, remember to be firm with the dough but don't de-gas it totally when you shape, as the air you retain helps with bigger irregular holes later. Don't force it--take it halfway there, let it rest a few minutes, then shape it further. if it needs another rest, do so. Raymond Calvel saiys "You need an iron hand but a velvet glove." I hate to be shameless, but if you can get ahold of "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" there are some good instructionals for baguette shaping (or use one of many other fine books, like the new "Bread" by Jeffry Hammelmann, or Maggie Glezer's "Artisan Baking Across America," or any number of others). Good luck and let me know your progress.

Great question and I can't say for sure. I like the notion of the door to door artisan baker, kind of like the ice cream truck (should they have some kind of bells or chimes?). I think it will take out-of-the-box thinking like that to survive in the future, but I also think there will always be a place for a beautiful, cafe-like venue where people can congregate around great baked items and warm beverages. The Pearl Bakery in Portland, Oregon is a good example of such a place, simple yet elegant. In NYC there are more upscale places like Payard, and they can work in teeming metropolises, but in mainstream America we need gathering places appropriate to the various communities. The marketplace is one of the most creative environments ever conceived so whatever does break from the pack to set new benchmarks is probably still just a speck in someone's imagination (if that person is even born yet). In the immediate future, look at the new artisan pizzerias as the harbinger of how it can happen in nearly any food genre.

Let me tackle this on Tuesday. It's a good question, which I addressed in "American Pie," but I'll recap tomorow. Till then...

I think I missed this earlier so let me get to it now before bedtime. The type of baguette I prefer depends on my mood and the function. I like both methods but they are different. The Gosselin method is difficult to do at home for baguettes and makes better small ficelle-style sticks than full baguettes--but the flavor is extraordinary. If you want nice looking, French-style baguette loaves, go with the other formula. It's a tough call, and even personal preference can vary from day to day. As for sourdough, I'd go with your favorite San Francisco style (white flour) sourdough recipe and use that to make the baguettes, treating them like regular baguettes when you bake them off. Just be sure you get a really good first rise before going to the shaping stage. This is the most common error, following the timing in the recipe rather than "listening" to what the dough needs. The holes are really determined in the first rise, followed by gentle shaping and a proper final rise. Sourdough almost always takes a lot longer to rise than yeasted French bread so just be patient and wait for the visual signs. Let me know if this helps.

Great questions today--keep 'em coming! I think I got back to all of them but if I missed you send me a note. I'm calling it a night but will get to them all on Tuesday. Peter

Yes, I too have a red U, but's its seared into my eyebrows from the time I made the very mistake you are warning us about. Only had to do it once to learn my lesson (it was 1986).

Hi, What's the name of your pizzeria? I'll send my brother there to check it out and come by when I get back to Philly. Yes, it's all about the crust, not the toppings. This is how I frame it: all the great toppings in the world on a mediocre crust will not make a pizza memorable, but a great crust with quality (not necessarily fancy) toppings will always be embedded in your taste memory hall of fame. It's all in the crust. I love your idea of old dough fermenting new. Thiis also proves that you don't need a lot yeast to raise good pizza dough--time does a lot of the work for you.

Yes, go for it. Long, slow rise adds more acidity, which translates to better flavor (unless you overferment, which means you tipped over the alcohol/sugar balance). That's why less yeast is better than more--but it may take some trial and error before you get the time/temp./ingredient balance just right. But you're so organized and systematic that I think you'll nail it rather quickly. Let me know when you do.

Great letter! Wish I could take that oven off your hands but we just settled in down here and aren't ready yet. But your main point is very important--bakers tend to be soulful lot, whether or not they are religious in the conventional sense. Why--well I guess that's really what all my books are about, trying to zero in on that. There's no short answer, only to say, look at the symbolism. It gets into you one way or the other and yes, probably everyone on this site would agree how satisfying it is putting food into another person and having them like it. What a rush, eh?

Philly's my home town too and while there are many excellent pizzerias, only Tacconelli's in Fish Town would rank in the top tier. Of course, who cares when you can get great cheesesteaks instead, especially at Mama's in Bala Cynwyd (see "American Pie" for more on Mama's). As for the water, no I don't buy it. Most of the municipal water throughout the States is fairly comparable. While most of the chlorine taste bakes out, I still prefer to use filtered water, but the minerals in most city water is hardly a difference maker. To prove this, I've made bagels all over the country and they always come out as good as NY bagels because of the fermentation method I use. This is the real difference maker, understanding fermentation. This is what separates the good from the great bakers. (PS: the flavor comes more from the wheat, not from the water.)

They exist but are hard to find outside of technical institutions. I'd suggest contacting the American Institute of Baking (AIB) in Manhattan, Kansas--they have some great technical bulletins and a few heavy hitting books. Also, the Bread Bakers Guild of America has some great technical pieces (but not overly so) that you can purchase by contacting them at www.bbga.org. Finally, try www.sfbi.org, the SF Baking Institute. They've been putting out a series of newsletters with terrific technical info. JUST IN: Jeffrey Hammelman's wonderful new book, "Bread," has some good science in it too.

Hi, Thanks for your support of my early books. They're hard to find and I'm working on trying to bring out a revised, updated version of my first two. As for your questions, yes, you can boost the fiber and protein and thus lower the carb ratio, but I can't give you the tradeoffs without a nutritional software program. The main thing is work exclusively with whole grains, use stevia or sucralose instead of sugar or honey, seeds and seed flours are always good additions, and play around with combinations to get great flavor. If your flour base is 60% wholewheat it should support other grains and seed flours for decent structure. You can also add a small amount of vital wheat gluten to raise the protein and allow the loaf to rise higher, but only about 2% of the total flour weight (otherwise it gets rubbery and a little peppery tasting). Rapid rise is just a brand name for a type of instant yeast. This doesn't really mean faster unless you use the same amount as you would active dry yeast. Use 25% less. Any yeast is pretty much substitutable for another if you adjust the amount. One ounce of fresh yeast = 40-50% active dry yeast = 33-35% instant yeast. BTW, the real reason it's called instant yeast is because it dissolves instantly in the flour when you add water to flour, so it can be added in as a dry ingredient instead of dissolving it in warm water as you would active dry. I use it all the time and really like it for home baking. I hope this helps.