155: Let’s talk Pizza Dough with John Gutekanst

This week on The Hot Slice Podcast, we are chatting with creative pizza genius John Gutekanst about his and our favorite subject, pizza dough. John is a past keynote speaker at Pizza and Pasta Northeast. He owns Avalanche Pizza and Slice House in Athens, Ohio, is a contributor with Pizza Today, Emcee at the International Pizza Challenge and frequent demo and seminar presenter. He is an award-winning pizzaiolo, baker, teacher, speaker and author and has been featured in Gastronomica, Food Arts, National Geographic, Alimentum Food Journal, Food Network and Best Food Writing. In the latest Knead to Know column, John goes in depth into building a better crumb structure in your pizza crust or what he calls the “guts”. Pizza makers and pizza enthusiasts are captivated by the interlocking web of gluten on sideview photos of pizza on Instagram. The gluten development isn’t magic. It takes continual experimentation. John talks about adjustments you can tweak during the dough-making process that will dramatically impact the pizza’s crumb structure. If you’ve never manipulated your dough formula, John provides where to start to experiment with various results in crumb structure. Next Big Pizza Movement We couldn’t help but ask John to share his insights on how pizza is evolving and what’s next. Roman has had a gradual rise and he sees the long pan-style pizza to continue. Learn about why and how it is growing across the U.S. Another climber is the pizza slice business. He shares his own experience with the serving pizza slices and where it is headed. This week’s The Hot Slice Podcast hosts are Senior Creative Director Josh Keown and Executive Editor Denise Greer. Thanks to our sound engineer and designer Katie Wilson.