Pizza Tips from Grato – Palm Beach Illustrated

National Pizza Day is February 9. To celebrate, we asked chef Clay Conley of Grato in West Palm Beach to share his tips and tricks to achieve the perfect pizza at home. 

The longer the pizza has to ferment the better the flavor. Instead of commercial yeast, we use a sourdough starter to naturally leaven our dough and allow it to slowly cold ferment in the walk-in, building lots of flavor.

For the best puffy, airy crust, allow the dough to come to room temperature and also be very careful when stretching not to flatten the rim (or crust) of the pizza. 

Less is more with the toppings. If you are anything like us, you spend days developing a flavorful dough—make that the star of the show. Don’t weigh it down with too many toppings.

For maximum oven spring (puff), make sure the oven is ripping hot. The hotter the oven, the more spring you will get in the crust.