Developing recipes and writing a cookbook is obviously a creative process. Our inspiration may seem to all come from our own heads. Not always so. Often it’s more about iterations. We read about something, or see something, or taste something and our thoughts often go to, “This is good. How can we make it better? And how might we Alaskify this?” This philosophy is borne from a love of where we live and all the Alaskan ingredients that make The Great State one of the world’s best kept food-lovers secrets. Fifteen years in, we are still in the honeymoon phase!

Recently, we have been experimenting with pizza. If you’ve been following along, you know that one of our pantry staples is a few par-baked sourdough pizza crusts kept ready for quick use in the freezer. They’re still a great option. But what about fresh dough and a “wood-fired” pizza?

Chef Briwa (Culinary Institute of America and The Great Courses) demonstrated a technique to make a Margherita Pizza in a regular kitchen oven that comes out amazingly close to what can be achieved in a wood-fired pizza oven. Our first go at Chef Briwa’s technique turned out delightfully crispy with a pleasant amount of charring on a bubbled crust. More recently we turned our attention to a new technique for Chicago-style deep-dish pizza as demonstrated by chefs at America’s Test Kitchen. The results were fantastic, saucy and cheesy with a crunchy crust – the best deep-dish we’ve ever had. Both crusts involved time tending to the dough, so they are not about instant gratification or convenient quick use. But both were totally worth the effort.

With this inspiration, the question arises: How do we take these delicious foundations and build a beautiful Alaskified pizza. Charcoal grilled moose meat and foraged mushrooms? How about salmon sausage? Or marinated halibut? Let the experimentation begin!

Do you make your own pizzas? What “secret” ingredients or techniques do you use?

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