Can a household kitchen produce world-class pizza? Yes! Once you learn the basics. Join Pizzaiolo Rafi Bildner, the Hilltown Hot Pie chef, as he shares the fundamentals of perfect pizza making. In this demonstration workshop Rafi will focus on dough production, fermentation basics (with an overview of sourdough/naturally leavened pizza doughs and traditional yeasted styles), stretching and topping styles, baking techniques and how to create a multitude of different pizza styles. You’ll learn in our kitchen how to create delicious pizza in your home kitchen. From higher temperature Neapolitan applications in the many portable ovens that are now available to the home user, to baking steels and stones, and classic sheet pan methods in traditional ovens, there are countless ways to produce perfect pizza at home, and we'll go through each of these methods during our time together. Students will come out of this class with an overview of baking styles and techniques, a recipe for home dough production (and some sourdough starter to take with), and a foundation on which to continue explore making pizza at home.
Menu to include:
- Sicilian-Style Pan Pizza with a decadent vodka sauce.
- Berkshire Forest Spring Pizza with ramp pesto, spring peas, chives, and burrata.
- Classic Pizza Margherita with plum tomato sauce, fior di latte, fresh basil, finished with Grana Padano.
This demonstration class (plus lunch!) is limited to ten people.
About Rafi:
Rafi Bildner is the chef, pizzaiolo and proprietor of Hilltown, a previously nomadic mobile wood-fired pizza operation roaming the Berkshires and Hudson Valley (called Hilltown Hot Pies), and now, a forthcoming brick & mortar restaurant in Egremont, MA. After years of pop-ups at farms and in fields, other restaurant kitchens and rural venues all over the region, Rafi purchased the old John Andrews restaurant property just down Route 23 over the border in Massachusetts, and is currently in the process of a major renovation to restore this 1790s farmhouse restaurant and transform it into a destination for wood-fired naturally leavened pizza, and a place for connecting with the Berkshire landscape and the local food system. Plans for the property include a robust veggie garden and small farm program. A major part of the Hilltown mission is to collaborate with local farmers and producers to create pizzas that are canvasses for the agricultural bounty of the Berkshires region. Rafi's cooking and pizza making have been gaining a loyal following in the region and beyond for the last five years, and Hilltown Hot Pies has received acclaim in the New York Times, Eater (which featured it as a must-visit culinary destination in 2022), and the legendary restaurant critic and food writer (and local community member) Ruth Reichl named Hilltown as one of the restaurant openings she is most looking forward to in the coming year. Outside of his pizza life, Rafi has worked as a political consultant and campaign manager on local and national elections, an adventure travel guide around the world, and has worked as a veggie farmer all over New England. He graduated from Yale University where he studied US food and agriculture policy and rural development, and prior to that, he studied French pastry and cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute in Ottawa, Canada.
Cancellation policy: We do not offer refunds on purchased tickets. Persons who notify us at least seven (7) days in advance that they cannot attend may receive credit and register for another class of equal value held within the subsequent two months if a class is available.
Cooking class attendees receive 10% discount on kitchenware and cookbook purchases on class day.
HGS Home Chef is a member of TheWorkshopExperience.org, a group of friends who produce exceptional experiential learning through classes and workshops on a wide variety of topics in and around Hillsdale, NY - at the crossroads of the Hudson Valley and Berkshires.
