A Slice of the West

Renowned pizzaiolo Daniele Uditi shares the secrets to billowy, charred pizzas that expertly blend the traditions of Italy and regional flavors.

-  HUGH GARVEY

When chef Daniele Uditi moved to California from Italy 10 years ago, he was accompanied by a secret companion. In his suitcase, he'd hidden a container of his family's sourdough starter, a living, growing, flavor-improving treasure known in Italian as a crescere, the critical ingredient in transcendent pizza dough.

Born of the ambient yeast of Naples, the spiritual seat of the perfect pizza, this crescere became the foundation on which Uditi refined his craft as a pizzaiolo, absorbing the culinary influences of California, its farmer's markets, its produce, and its multicultural foodways, eventually producing the billowy blistered crust served at Pizzana, the restaurant chain he helms with Candace and Charles Nelson, the culinary entrepreneurs behind Sprinkles Cupcakes. The sleek Pizzana restaurants are the minimalist backdrop for Uditi's vibrantly topped, expertly baked pies. Take, for example, his elote pizza, an homage to his Mexican wife: Adorned with charred corn, spicy mayo, cotija, Oaxaca cheese, and cilantro, it channels all the flavors of Los Angeles street corn, albeit with Neapolitan flair. His sole d'oro is topped with peak-season Sungold tomatoes, dressed with garlic, shaved zucchini, squash blossoms, and an herbaceous hit of fresh mint instead of the usual basil, and tastes like a freewheeling weekend visit to the farmers' market.

In pizzas such as these, Uditi has developed a formula that's a perfect balance of Southern California and Southern Italy, with all of the technique but none of the orthodoxy. Here, we present a masterclass in Uditi's next-level West Coast pizza perfection.

Daniele Uditi's Pizza Best Practices