Modernist Pizza

[weinoo]

I mean, like @Duvel makes some damn good looking pies, in my opinion (though, ahem - some of the toppings - oy!...).

 

Is his pizza gonna be that much better because he's now been taught the theory of pizza? Or will it get better, as he said, by investing in a better oven? 

[rotuts]

I agree Watching is very important.

 

tiny little nuance here , another there  .

 

Ive learned more technique from watching

 

which added to a solid base from reading.

 

watching the Video

 

@drago ref'd  above ,

 

MC Chef makes a pizza.

 

I doubt that pizza can be improved significantly.

 

but , as @Anna N correctly suggests

 

YMMV.

 

for those that are doing ( rather than chatting about ) pizza

 

I hope there are techniques in the book that can be done @home

 

that will improve your pizza based on your tastes.

 

I doubt very much anyone here going to be making

 

Tomato ' flour ' to add to their dough , any time soon.

 

OK two people will.

 

Id like to hear from them , and ask them to tell us what they think.

 

I doubt there is going to be a single Tome :

 

MC Pizza@Home

 

why ?  so far they have not come out with

 

MCBread@Home.

 

just yet.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

with some respect :

 

im sure those Master Bakers you mentioned 

 

and they are masters.  I know as Ive seen some of them

 

Work.

 

they will all learn from the MC Pizza.  possibly a lot.

 

"' Those who Can , Do ;  the Rest , Teach "

 

one thing MC has not done yet 

 

is run a business , and make that business

 

both successful and profitable.

 

MC would be out of the Book Business

 

w/o its Endowment.

 

and Im very very very pleased

 

as I look at my  MC@Home ,  MC set , and MC Bread

 

that they chose this path

 

rather than this one :

 

https://www.barrons.com/articles/paul-allens-414-foot-yacht-octopus-lists-for-over-300-million-01567781178

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOFKuZgLQ8Q

 

however , the Boat is a bit cool.

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

It appears we are pitting why against how.    Knowing why doesn't guarantee results.    Knowing how comes from expert tutelage and experience. 

[rotuts]

@Margaret Pilgrim 

 

consider watching the video , ref's above.

 

you may not be in the market for a rotary evaporator

 

but i wouldn't mind one.  After all I used them in HighSchool

 

but not for BetterEats.

 

the Chef makes a Pizza near the end.

 

I think he Knows How , and Why ( things turn out the way they do )

 

might have helped him make that pizza.

 

maybe the i{Pot makers should look into a HomeRotaryEvaporator .

Edited May 21, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

I think he Knows How , and Why ( things turn out the way they do )

Exactly. How and why are complementary not antagonistic. 

[Eatmywords]

I get there is a market for books like these.  I just think it's a stretch for pizza (no pun) which is simple in nature. - Good ingredients, equipment, experimentation, repetition.

[weinoo]

22 minutes ago, Eatmywords said:

 repetition.

 

This is the nail on the head, in my opinion. It goes hand in hand with consistency.  All the knowledge in the world is great (though perhaps some of it ought be put to better use), but if you make pizza once a week or once a month, I don't care how many books you read.

 

Understanding of the equipment you're actually using, the ingredients you're using, and even the temperature and humidity of your cooking environment is going to be a lot more useful than why the first caveman made pizza.

[rotuts]

its possible to repeat bad chemistry 

 

and bad technique

 

over and over again

 

and get nowhere in improving your result .

 

"" Understanding of the equipment you're actually using, the ingredients you're using, and even the temperature and humidity of your cooking environment ""

 

My impression is the above quote is what MC is all about.

 

not so much MC the Cat.  He understands everything that he is interested in.

 

' why '  is more philosophy than science .

 

I don't follow, with respect , how cavemen enter into this discussion.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

its possible to repeat bad chemistry 

 

and bad technique

 

over and over again

 

and get nowhere in improving your result .

 

 

 

Husband has a favorite phrase.    "Some people have done something 200 times and have become expert; others have done it "once" 200 times and learned nothing."  Obtuse remain obtuse.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

quoting weinoo,

 

"" Understanding of the equipment you're actually using, the ingredients you're using, and even the temperature and humidity of your cooking environment ""

 

My impression is the above quote is what MC is all about.

 

But weinoo shows us how to achieve this in our own simply equiped kitchens by observation and reflection.

[rotuts]

I surrender.

 

Ill have an MR now

 

MC ( Seattle )

 

has lost its way.

 

clearly..

Edited May 21, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[Honkman]

8 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

I think that depends; sometimes the telling of the theory of something is just plain boring and useless to all but a select few.

 

If you just learn from working with the masters you rarely will understand the science behind it to able to improve even further. Working with the masters is good for replicating- books like these are good to understand the fundamentals.

[Honkman]

5 hours ago, Eatmywords said:

I get there is a market for books like these.  I just think it's a stretch for pizza (no pun) which is simple in nature. - Good ingredients, equipment, experimentation, repetition.

So is bread but I learned a lot from Modenist@Bread - have you learned anything from it ?

[chefmd]

I want this book.  I don’t even make pizza 😂.  I will probably abstain for now.  May be will borrow it from the library 

[Chris Hennes]

The PR material says this book has 1000 recipes in it (or something like that)... so I sense a LOT of practice/repetition in my future .

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, chefmd said:

I want this book.  I don’t even make pizza 😂.  I will probably abstain for now.  May be will borrow it from the library 

 

Our library does not acquire items that expensive.  We did get MC@Home and The Photography of Modernist Cuisine.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

19 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

The PR material says this book has 1000 recipes in it (or something like that)... so I sense a LOT of practice/repetition in my future .

 

For 900 of those they probably just cribbed your pizza toppings.

 

[weinoo]

4 hours ago, Honkman said:

 

If you just learn from working with the masters you rarely will understand the science behind it to able to improve even further. Working with the masters is good for replicating- books like these are good to understand the fundamentals.

 

Here's the thing...I'm very happy that people are excited about buying this book. In my situation, vis-a-vis pizza, I feel that the pizza I make here is as good as it's gonna get; that is, it's good enough for the people I feed...and me. I don't want it to be any better - then I might have to feed more people. If I really want better pizza, I walk up the block, or around the corner, or hop in the car and go somewhere else in the city.

 

Also, I feel the pizza books, and bread books with dedicated pizza sections (we're talking dozens of books here) I already own, and the other stuff about pizza I have read, and all the pizza I have eaten in various places, have done a good job helping me to understand the fundamentals. There are 4 or 5 basic ingredients in dough, and there really are only a few basic toppings that matter. Once again, in my opinion. How much more fundamental does it need to be?

 

I really can't wait to see what the 1000 recipes offer. I won't buy the books to find out; I'm hoping @Chris Hennes will post them one at a time as he makes them. With pictures. Or even videos.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by weinoo (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Hear, hear!   

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

13 hours ago, rotuts said:

I agree Watching is very important.

 

tiny little nuance here , another there  .

 

Ive learned more technique from watching

 

which added to a solid base from reading.

 

watching the Video

 

@drago ref'd  above ,

 

MC Chef makes a pizza.

 

I doubt that pizza can be improved significantly.

 

but , as @Anna N correctly suggests

 

YMMV.

 

for those that are doing ( rather than chatting about ) pizza

 

I hope there are techniques in the book that can be done @home

 

that will improve your pizza based on your tastes.

 

I doubt very much anyone here going to be making

 

Tomato ' flour ' to add to their dough , any time soon.

 

OK two people will.

 

Id like to hear from them , and ask them to tell us what they think.

 

I doubt there is going to be a single Tome :

 

MC Pizza@Home

 

why ?  so far they have not come out with

 

MCBread@Home.

 

just yet.

 

 

Is there a recipe for dough with tomato flour? I've got some freeze dried tomatoes around here, 

[weinoo]

See, Hennes already has a jump on it...

 

 

Though I think you need to lay off the coffee, @Chris Hennes.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

12 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Is there a recipe for dough with tomato flour? I've got some freeze dried tomatoes around here, 

I would re-hydrate it in the recipe's liquid.      I sub green walnut wine for a portion of the liquid to make sublime walnut bread.    Might this work for you?

[Kerry Beal]

32 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I would re-hydrate it in the recipe's liquid.      I sub green walnut wine for a portion of the liquid to make sublime walnut bread.    Might this work for you?

I suspect they mean to grind up the freeze dried tomato to make tomato flour and add that as part of the flour in the dough. But I could be way off base. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I understood that but felt that a liquid addition might be more in line with the recipe balance.   I wonder how the end products would differ, method to method.   Ah,,,,time for MC, or a side buy side comparison..