Pizza Today - May 2019 - 12

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MEET THE MAKER

Q&A WITH BRIAN GOJDICS
DIRECTOR OF FOOD & BEVERAGE / TUTTA BELLA NEAPOLITAN PIZZERIA, SEATTLE WASHINGTON

How long have you been making
pizza?
I have been making pizza for 15
years when I first started at Tutta
Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria.
Why pizza?
Honestly, when I first started I
fell into it. I had just moved back
to Seattle in hopes to make some
money to go to culinary school. I
ended up finding TBNP through a
mutual friend and had an instant
connection with Joe (owner/
founder) over food. I went in for a
stage to check it out and instantly
fell in love with cooking with fire
as it is so primal and organic. And
then I got taken in by how special
the pizza was and how moving it
could be. I mean, I was already a
fan of pizza, but never realized that
I would be taken by it the way that
I was. I was at a crossroads in my
life and I ended up getting into the
culinary school that I was looking to
attending and tested out of my first
year. I told myself that I would defer

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school for a year as I wanted to dig
into pizza a bit more and go later on.
That was 15 years ago.
How did you learn your craft?
My original training was from
Joe Fugere, the founder of Tutta
Bella. He was the one that I first
worked with after he attended
AVPN training in Los Angeles, and
he passed what he learned there
off to me. At that point, Neapolitan
pizza was relatively obscure in
Seattle, if not the rest of the
country, and I ended up submerging
myself in what ever book, article,
Web site, etc. I could find to help
gain a better understanding and to
supplement what Joe had taught
me. And then I went to Naples and
that is when the world opened up.
I trained with some of the best and
most regarded pizzaioli there, which
in turn means I've trained with
some of the best in the world. On
these trips I was also lucky enough
to go to flour mills, tomato fields,
cheese makers and so on. This

helped give a better understanding
of the product and history, culture
and craft behind them. After several
similar visits to Naples working
in pizzerias and going on product
tours, I ended up attending the
AVPN training program there for a
few weeks to continue to hone my
skills. And, the learning has never
stopped. Over the years I have been
graced to continue to work with
master pizzaioli whether I am in
Italy, on the East Coast or whether
we have them visit us here in
Seattle. As far as I am concerned, I
am still in my infancy when it comes
to knowledge and learning as it is
never ending. It never stops, there
is always something to learn and
the desire to apply that to produce a
finer end result never dies.
What's been your biggest
challenge with pizza dough and
how did you solve it?
Considering that fact that we
have five restaurants, and we make
dough in each, consistency of our
dough is the biggest challenge. We
have roughly 10 different people
making our dough every day in
different environments. There are
very little controls or constants. So,
with this in mind, we came up with
a systematic recipe and set as many
constants as we could (water temp,
flour temp, etc.). After the dough
is made, it goes into the cooler for
a long cold fermentation to help
develop flavor. Then, the crucial part
is how we manage it on the back
end when we pull it and to make
sure that it finishes its proof and
comes to temp. This is where the
biggest margin of error can happen
and we conquer this through
training, educating and teaching
proper dough management.

FACEBOOK DISCUSSION
QUESTION FROM A PT READER

"I am trying to come up with
a name for my pizzeria..and
don't think I am doing a good
job frankly so I am reaching
for help in different ways."
How did you come up with
your pizzeria's name and
what advice do you have for
him?
Make it personal to you so you
become proud and work harder
to have the name you choose.
Tony Tomassi

Other people are usually better
at picking a name, not a rule
though, engage friends and
family, brainstorm and then
eventually the right name will
come. The name should evoke
your vision.
Scott Sandler

Keep it easy to spell so there's no
confusion with other businesses
on social media.
Domenico Crolla

Never use your own name as
you're not the only one doing
things in your business and joe
from down the street working for
u doesn't care if he ruins ur name
for the rest of your life by his
mistakes. Using a towns name
makes it personal but hard to
brand into other locations.
Adam M.Tucker

We were able to incorporate our
love for travel into our pizza shop
plus the fact that we eat pizza
no matter where we go. Pizza
Nomadz it became!
Lisa Taylor
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - May 2019
