August 15, 2006 - 6:13pm
Obssessive pizza guy
Here is a really interesting and informative pizza discourse written by a guy who is clearly insane for perfect pizza.You will find plenty to argue with here, but also some interesting ideas on how to get that great pizza dough (aside from having an oven that can heat to 800+ degrees - yikes!).
http://www.think2020.com/jv/recipe.htm
Share
This guy is way over the top! As an engineer who has worked with other engineers for nearly 30 years, I've occasionally seen the stereotypical nerdy, obssessive, oblivious-to-the-outside-world behavior but this dude is approaching Dilbert-like levels. He's either single or has a very patient wife.
Despite his disclaimers, disabling the safety features on an oven is NOT a good idea. Better to build a brick oven so he can get the temperatures and flavors he is looking for.
> As an engineer who has worked with other
> engineers for nearly 30 years, I've occasionally
> seen the stereotypical nerdy, obssessive,
> oblivious-to-the-outside-world behavior but
> this dude is approaching Dilbert-like levels.
I think you are being a bit harsh there. Keep in mind that Dilbert and Alice are the only two people who get any work done in that mythical office!
Generally speaking, if you want to achieve success in a technically demanding task (and a tour of your town's pizza joints should be enough to convince you that making good pizza is technically demanding!) you have to be persistent and perhaps a bit "obsessive" (though that word tends to be mostly tossed around by extroverts as part of the compensations they use to cope with their illness). IIRC this guy spent 5 years developing his technique, which probably works out to a few hours per week. Less demanding than most hobbies.
And I think his point about the oven is a good one: if it can run for 5 hours at 900 deg.F on the cleaning cycle once per week, why can't it run for 2 hours at that temperature once per week while he cooks a pizza?
sPh