A day baking pan pizza with Peter Reinhart

Who is Peter Reinhart?

When I found out Peter Reinhart was coming to town, I just had to make the drive out to Petaluma to meet him. After all, how often does a baking enthusiast get to meet one of the most important names in pizza and perhaps all of baking? For those that don’t know, Peter is an award-winning baker, world-renowned speaker and author of 12 books. If anyone knows anything about pizza, it’s him!

I made my journey to the Artisan Baking Center, which features some of the country’s best instructors, to see first hand how great pizza is made.

Peter recently released his latest book “Perfect Pan Pizza”, something I recommend for anyone serious about pizza. In a later post, I will do a recipe for pan pizza using a white dough and a recipe for a simple red sauce. Stay tuned for those.

Take home lessons:

Let’s get right to it. Here are some of the things I learned from Peter about pan pizza and pizza in general.

Crust

Your crust is everything (almost). Peter feels (as many pizza experts do) that in terms of importance (not proportion of ingredients), 80% of your pizza is the crust and 20% is your toppings/sauce. If you have really special toppings or sauces but a mediocre crust, your pizza may taste great, but it won’t be memorable. It will just be an interesting pizza. In order to have a “memorable” pizza, you absolutely must have a great crust.

Pan Pizza Temperatures

Unlike typical pizzas like Neapolitan that require very high baking temperatures to get a great crust, pan pizzas do best at around 500F, a temperature easily achieved by most home ovens.

The Pan

There are wonderful (and expensive) pans available, but even a brownie pan from Target for $8 will do the job. You can even use a round cake pan, but they are harder to get the pizza out of later because the walls are parallel. Ideally, your pan has tapered walls. The key is not to get an insulated pan, because you need rapid heat transfer to the bottom of the pizza. An insulated pan will prevent the crust from setting correctly. A baking stone can be a great help in achieving the proper heat from the bottom.

“Secret Sauce”

Acids on your pizza make flavors pop. That’s why Peter likes to use “secret sauce”, which is also known as Hoagie Sauce. Everyone has their own recipe, but it is basically a slightly spicy pickling brine with vinegar, olive oil, garlic, peppers and salt. You sprinkle this on your pizza as it comes out of the oven to really get the “wow” factor.

Proofing with half the cheese

Peter has his own trick to get the best results. He recommends cubing the cheese (ideally full-fat Mozzarella and something like Muenster or brick cheese) and sprinkling half the cheese on the un-proofed dough in the pan. As the dough proofs, it rises and envelops the cheese which cooks into the crust later. My waistline can attest to the fact this trick works very, very well 🙂 .

Spread cheese along the pan edge (Detroit-style)

Another trick to getting that slightly burnt, crispy cheese crust distinctive of Detroit-style pizza, is to spread cubed cheese along the perimeter of the pan. As it bakes, the cheese melts and runs down the sides and coats the crust. It’s advisable to use cubed cheese rather than shredded because the latter will likely burn before the pizza is fully baked.

Pizza, pizza, pizza!

I had an amazing time working alongside Peter and the experience was invaluable. We made lots and lots of pizzas. “Detroit-style,” Sicilian pizzas, “grandma pizza,” focaccia and thin-crusted, Roman-style pizza…it was a heart-burn-inducing lunch and dinner that day!

Have any questions or comments? Please share below!