The Italian Pizza Masterclass

Three Evenings with Chef Gió

January 11–13, 2027 • Monday–Wednesday • 6:00–9:00 p.m.

Learn to make four distinctly different Italian pizzas in this small-group, hands-on course for home pizza enthusiasts. We’ll explore the doughs, ingredients, and baking techniques behind each one, with plenty of practical guidance for making better pizza in your own kitchen.

The pizzas

• Pizza Napoletana: Soft, hand-stretched pizza with a light, puffy crust, baked quickly at high heat.

• Pizza Romana Tonda: Thin, round pizza with a crisp crust from the center to the edge.

• Pizza Romana in Teglia: Roman pan pizza with a light, airy interior and a crisp, golden bottom.

• Sfincione Siciliano: Thick, soft Sicilian pizza topped with slow-cooked onions, tomato, cheese, and breadcrumbs.

What you’ll learn

Explore direct dough, biga, and poolish through hands-on preparation, demonstrations, and side-by-side comparisons. Learn how flour, hydration, yeast, salt, temperature, and time affect your dough—and how to choose an approach that works with your schedule.

We’ll cover mixing, kneading, folding, dividing, balling, stretching, and proofing, along with sauce preparation, cheese selection, and toppings. Learn to recognize when dough is ready and what to do when it’s too sticky, too tight, or hasn’t risen as expected.

You’ll also learn to use baker’s percentages and recipe scaling to make the amount of dough you need, whether you’re preparing two round pizzas or filling a particular pan.

We’ll work with gas, wood-fired, and electric ovens and explain how to adapt the techniques to a home oven, baking stone, steel, or dedicated pizza oven. Dough storage, freezing, and reheating will also be covered.

Dough preparation continues across all three evenings, giving you opportunities to follow fermentation, compare results, and build on what you’ve learned.

Your course includes:

• Nine hours of instruction with Chef Gió.

• All ingredients and pizza tastings.

• A recipe and technique workbook, with recipes provided by weight.

• Take-home dough for additional practice.

• A Gió Culinary Studio Certificate of Completion upon completing all three evenings.

Limited to eight students. Minimum enrollment: six.

No professional experience is required. Take this course on its own or join us for the American Pizza Masterclass in February.

Registration includes all three evenings.