This weekend my wife and I attended a Hot Stove cooking event where Wildwood Grilling had a smoked cooking event. Below is the Wildwood crew with Tom.

What was a pleasant surprise is how much time Tom Douglas was there hosting the cooking class.

With Tom Douglas in front us I figured it was a good chance to get cooking tips from a top chef. Tom has two awesome pizza restaurants in Seattle.

So I decided to talk to Tom about pizza. What should I ask?

I went up to Tom. And told him, "I have a Woodstone Oven at home (which is the same as what he has in his restaurants). I make my own dough. What should I do to make pizza at an advance level?"

His answer. "The crust."

Totally agreed. But he was busy with the cooking class.

I tried looking for a downtime when I could follow up.

So food is on the table. We are all eating. Then Tom comes over. Pulls me to side let's talk.

I knew Tom's time is valuable no different than any top executive, so needed to quick and go with his thoughts.

We discussed dough time high gluten vs. low gluten, oven temperature, how long to let the dough rise, stretching the dough, how to cook without the cheese for 3/4 time then finish, his attempt at patenting his pizza trays and how he retains heat after removing from the oven versus the common practice of putting the pizza on a grated surface to reduce moisture.

I think the discussion was maybe 3 minutes. and what Tom shared will give me months of ideas to experiment with as ultimately I need to find my own way to make advanced pizza. Pizza that has a great crust.

Below is a picture of one of my pizzas. I think I am pretty close, but always can do better.