Milk Street Class: The Never Ending Search for Perfect Pizza with Peter Reinhart

Guest chef Peter Reinhart, most recently the author of “Pizza Quest,” is the teacher of this pre-recorded Zoom cooking class that finally makes it possible to achieve restaurant-quality pizza at home. You’ll learn how to mix and easily handle a high-hydration dough, which requires different technique than sturdier doughs that have a higher ratio of flour to water. Peter shows you the stretch and fold method, which is a remarkable way to maximize gluten development and trap the carbon dioxide created by yeast. What does that mean in simple terms, you ask? Big, gorgeous air bubbles that you thought you could only get from your favorite pizzeria. When it comes to shaping, you’ll learn two approaches: a stretched, Neapolitan-style round dough and a no-fuss pan pizza. No matter which shape you choose, you can top it with Peter’s simple all-purpose pizza sauce and his secret garnishing sauce (hint: it’s a transformative mixture of peppers, garlic and vinegar)—or you can go rogue with your own favorite toppings. The best part? You don’t need a fancy oven to pull off feats of pizza magic. Peter walks you through baking tips, including his signature embedded cheese technique, to create memorable pizzas in run-of-the-mill home ovens.