My baking story starts at the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 when I started out making various basic bread doughs, baguettes, sandwich rolls, bagels, soft pretzels, anything with flour, yeast, salt and water and I was all in. I bulk ordered 50 pound sacks of bread flour from restaurant supply (grocery stores were sold out), yeast by the pound (again, yeast could not be found anywhere), various other flour varieties to experiment. Countless on-line searches for the next thing to bake. Then.. BAM, it hit me- • - PIZZA! I've loved pizza all my life, all kinds of pizza, it doesn't matter. NY style, traditional Neapolitan, Chicago deep dish, Detroit Style, Grandma, Sicilian, Margherita, Trenton Style, Old Forge Style, Boardwalk Style... the list goes on and on. So, with all this spare time staying home with quarantine, why couldn't I figure out how to make my own pizza? Not just okay pizza, but to make the best pizza possible in a home oven, better than the local pizza joint's pies.. and so my pizza journey began.. and I found something totally unexpected along the way, I discovered an amazing on-line pizza community that has been so welcoming, helpful and encouraging.
Fast forward to today where Jim has competed at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, and placed 19 out of 92 competitors in the non-traditional category with his South Philly Roast Pork Detroit Style Pizza. He's also been honored as a guest to attend the invitation only Stanislaus Tomatoes and Carta Olive Oil Summer Harvest Experience in the central valley of California, where the countries best tomatoes and olive oil are produced. He's also gained a fairly large social media following along the way where he has become affectionately known as 'The Frico King', a testament to his Detroit Style Pizzas that look like they could be featured in Architectural Digest.
