w/Heat is a Neo-Artisan Pizza startup initiated by a baker.

In addition to working in bakeries for the last 5 years of my life, and attending Johnson & Wales University to study baking and pastry, I have been a lifelong lover of pizza.

Growing up, a key family structure was to order pizza and watch a movie every Friday night. 

I always looked forward to these nights as a kid - usually the pizza more than the movie. And at that age, spending time with family was the default in most circumstances. 

What excited me most about pizza nights was trying the different styles from our array of local shops.

Experiencing different textures and synergy from what I originally viewed as all the same thing fueled my curiosity.

Why are they all made of the same things, but all different?

This experience growing up, in conjunction with my higher education and professional work, has led me to saying the same thing about yeasted dough -one of the 3 components to pizza, and a crucial one.

I almost said bread, but since we dont refer to living humans as “corpses,” we shouldn’t refer to dough as bread.

And although bread and pizza are not the same thing, they both require a yeasted dough.

A Ciabatta bread dough could also be a neapolitan pizza dough, if processed differently.

That same dough, however, could also make a thinner roman-style pizza if fermented, baked, and stretched differently. 

“Artisan Bread” is a difficult thing to define. Yes, there are packaged loaves at the store labeled “Artisan Bread,” but besides these products- essentially decorative chew toys-  what fits the category?

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