VPN Pizza Class

[jjerrier]

Hey all -

My wife surprised me with a 3 day Verace Pizza Napoletana training class out in Marina Del Rey at Antica Pizzeria. We just got back on Saturday night and it was awesome - a ton of work and I'm exhausted, but it was so much fun. You basically work in an actual restaurant making pizzas for actual paying customers...that was a little stressful! I probably made close to 300 pizzas over 3 days.

It was definitely geared more towards commercial operations, but I picked up a lot of tips on making dough, rolling dough balls, shaping pizza, managing the oven, managing multiple pizzas in the oven, etc. I also found out how easy it is to make fresh mozzarella. The hands on experience was extremely valuable. One thing to note was that they made good use of a log holder in their oven...i've already ordered mine from FB.

The place is owned by guys from Naples and it is very authentic. I will go through all of my notes and post the recipe for the VPN dough (Caputo flour only!!) and put some pictures up. You can google "vpn pizza" I think to find out the details.

Jay

[jengineer]

Sticking it out there

Hey folks I live about 15 minutes from LAX. If you need a base camp we may be able to accomodate. Granted our facilities rate a 1/4 star on the Michelin Guide but we do have a fold out couch, plenty of living room floor and one working bathroom. This weekend would noot have been good since we have visitors from New Mexico and The Netherlands.

je

[jjerrier]

Hi All - pictures from my VPN Training excursion are now posted at

http://www.texaspizzaoven.com


Jay

[DrakeRemoray]

Those are some good looking pizzas!

[james]

Would you recommend it someone else?

Jay,

I wanted to ask if you would recommend the class to owners of residential ovens? I have talked with a number of folks who attended the school who were either setting up restaurants or catering businesses, and they had good things to say.

Is it good for a non-professional cook?
James

[PizzaMan]

Oh, man, am I jealous!!

Congrats on that experience!

I enjoy your site and the slide show of the training. What a great experience!

I'd love to see some opportunties like that come together for forum members like li'l ol' me.

James, if you can put this together I'll glad ride the Harley up to where you are.

[jjerrier]

I would say the class is good for the non-professional cook if you are very obsessive about your oven and want everything perfect - which I assume almost everyone in this group is.

It does give you some hands on experience for serving large groups/parties - which always comes in handy. Multiple pizzas in the oven was huge for me. Also learned a lot of tips on cooking the pizzas perfectly in the oven, how to manage heat, not burn the bottom, not burn the top, perfect peel sliding, perfect turning in the oven, and perfect dough handling...so I think if you use your oven a lot and entertain - it is awesome. Making mozzarella was great too - very easy. I'm picking up 10 lbs of curd on Monday!!

My habit has taken a dangerous turn...my wife and I just bought into a wood burning pizza restaurant slated to open in Dallas in October. Yikes.

[grapeape]

Hi All - pictures from my VPN Training excursion are now posted at

http://www.texaspizzaoven.com


Jay

I love your website. Bravo, amigo!