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Pizza School in New York City

By , About.com Guide

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Learning to Make Pizza at Pizza A Casa
Photo of Mark Bello of Pizza a Casa

Mark Bello of Pizza a Casa

Photo by Alison Stein Wellner
Mark Bello is the force of pizza passion behind Pizza A Casa. He takes pizza (and food) very seriously, but also is obviously having good fun. Listen carefully during class as he'll give you many hints and tips of gourmet food shops in the area that he frequents, his own favorite pizza places when he's not making his own at home. Also take note of his "MacGyver" pizza-making tips for when you don't have ideal pizza making conditions: for example, you need a cup and a half of water for his dough recipe, but if you don't have a measuring cup, that's the same as a 12 ounce bottle of beer.

While you'll learn that you can make delicious pizza at home, you will need a few tools. Among these is not a commercial oven, although you'll need a pizza stone and for best results a "pizza peel" -- that wooden paddle you see at pizza places.

Pizza A Casa sells all the tools that you'll need to make pizza at home; students get a 10% discount. Bear in mind that if you are a kitchen gear addict, it may be hard to get out of there without dropping money, since Bello has additional tools that seem hard to resist. For instance, a Mastercool Infrared Thermometer, which measures the temperature of a pizza stone. This is also used by race car drivers to measure the temps of their tires.

Next: Learning How Pros Make Pizza

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