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Hobby

Baking & Pizza Making

Peter Piper Pizza, high school, mid-late 90s - ongoing

I worked the ovens at Peter Piper Pizza in high school and took it seriously - I wanted every pizza to come out perfect. That's where I actually learned dough: how it's made, how it proofs and rests, and the difference between green dough and dough that's ready. I carried it home and started making pizza for the family, and got hooked on the dough process itself.

It grew from there into bread in general - artisan boules, braided loaves - and eventually into pulling my daughter into it too, rolling out dough together for a batch of dumpling wrappers on the pasta roller.

These days it's not just dough - cheesecakes have made their way into the rotation, and a pavlova after the kids wanted to bake one following an episode of Bluey.

A homemade ciabatta and a round pretzel bread on a cutting board
A homemade ciabatta and a round pretzel bread, fresh out of the oven.
A braided loaf of dough, proofed and ready for the oven
A braided loaf, plaited and proofed, ready for the oven.
The same braided loaf, baked golden brown, cooling on a rack
The same loaf, baked golden - about an hour later.
Homemade cheese pizzas, sliced, with a thick hand-formed crust
Homemade cheese pizza, sliced and ready.
Me feeding dough through a pasta roller attachment on a stand mixer, with my daughter working dough beside me at the counter
Rolling out dough with my daughter for a batch of dumpling wrappers.
A cheesecake, puffed and golden, in a springform pan in the oven
A cheesecake, puffed high straight out of the oven.
A caramel-colored pavlova, baked into a rustic nest shape on parchment paper
A pavlova - the kids wanted to bake one after watching an episode of Bluey.