Table of Contents
The Evolution
Leading to the end of 2023, I’ve been occupied with organizing my data and updating my blog. It all began with my Pizza Data (because, really, could it have started any other way?). Below, I’ve outlined a summary of this journey. But while doing this, I realized how much my blog has transformed over nearly four years.
Initially, my posts were centered around personal anecdotes, tales involving family and friends, musings about Post Offices, and my foray into pasta and Italian-American cooking during the era of COVID-19.
Nowadays, the focus has shifted towards stories connected to Nebalatan words from my youth and the intricacies of pizzas, both bought and homemade. I’m eager to witness how this evolution continues into the next year.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | Total | |
| # of Blog Posts | 31 | 28 | 0 | 36 | 95 |
| # of Nebalatan Words | 46 | 37 | 0 | 23 | 106 |
You will see that in 2023, we ate pizza more than once per week with 39 purchases and 39 homemade events of 208 pizzas!
2023 Purchased Pizzas in Review
Included as part of the review and cleanup mentioned above is a detailed update of my pizza tables. That’s been interesting for me. As an engineer, data analysis is cathartic!
| Purchased Pizza | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | Other | Grand Total |
| # Purchased Pizzas | 39 | 45 | 13 | 22 | 1 | 120 |
| # (%) Great Pizzas | 3 (8%) | 8 (18%) | 3 | 2 | 16 (13%) | |
| # (%) Good Pizzas | 24 (62%) | 23 (51%) | 9 | 13 | 1 | 70 (58%) |
| # (%) Meh Pizzas | 12 (30%) | 14 (31%) | 1 | 7 | 34 (29%) |
As you might expect:
- A Great Pizza is Rare! So, don’t trust Google, Yelp! or lists that you might find on the internet. Trust yourself!.
- it’s much easier to make a So, So (Meh, which is not bad) pizza than it is to make a Great Pizza
- and most pizzas are good (not great)
As time has passed, fewer pizzas are rated “Great”. I’ve become much more attentive to keeping track of the pizzas that I’ve been buying by improving my rating table to make it easier to fill out while eating and not be too annoying to my wife.
And, I think that as a result of spending time learning more (especially the chemistry, biology, and physics of dough), dough-making techniques, and simply making more homemade dough and pizza has caused me to become more critical of what others are doing.
Making pizza needs to be a passion, not just a business. It’s easy to tell the difference now.
2023 Homemade Pizzas in Review
I’m pretty sure that no one would question my passion for pizza making. Even so, I made less dough and pizza in 2023 versus 2022, but still a lot!
| Doughs | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | Grand Total |
| Total Doughs | 38 | 49 | 9 | 7 | 109 |
| #/% Doughs Made | 35 (92%) | 40 (82%) | 9 | 7 | 97 |
| #/% Doughs Purchased | 3 (8%) | 9 (18%) | 12 |
I rarely buy dough and reduced my purchasing in half in 2023. Purchased dough is not nearly as good as homemade. Every dough that I’ve purchased in the last couple of years has been very hard to work. I’m unsure why. The purchased dough is likely at lower hydration because it’s less sticky and easier for a novice. The kind of flour used for purchased dough is likely not as high of a quality as I use.
If you look at the Homemade Pizza page on the site, you’ll see that I’ve pretty much used Caputo Red flour. I purchase this in 10-bag lots from Amazon. I like the taste of fresh yeast, but due to the difficulty in finding it, I’ve gone to primarily dry, but not instant, yeast.
I’ve been reading more about using sourdough starter, which I have for my bread and have used for almost 5 years, and plan to try that more in 2024. I will start using sourdough with my pan pizzas (Detroit, Grandma, Tomato Pie) before I try with Neapolitan since pan pizzas are more forgiving when shaping.
| Homemade Pizzas | 2023 | 2022 | Grand Total |
| # of Pizza Making Events | 39 | 50 | 89 |
| # of Homemade Pizzas | 208 | 229 | 437 |
| # (%) of Great Pizzas | 18 (9%) | 41 (18%) | |
| # (%) Good Pizzas | 171 (82%) | 116 (51%) | |
| # (%) Meh Pizzas | 19 (9%) | 20 (31%) |
I didn’t keep good data in 2020 and 2021.
Just as with purchased pizzas, I’ve become much more critical of my own. My percentages, without trying, seem to mirror the Purchased Pizza table which is comforting because it says that I’m not biasing my pizza over purchased pizzas.
My friends tend to tell me that my pizza is “the best that I’ve ever had”. I appreciate that praise, but my best critic is my son. He always asks me to make pizza and is never hesitant to say when it’s not up to his expectations.
2024 and Beyond
Looking ahead to 2024, I plan to delve deeper into Post Offices. I’ve captured numerous pictures of these places during my bike rides, yet to be documented in my blog.
What truly captivates me is the WPA (Depression Era) architecture, the lineage of the construction crews (many mirroring the Southern Italian heritage of my great-grandfather), and particularly, the artwork commissioned by the WPA.
Of course, I will continue with the Nebaletan Word of the Day. I have a backlog of about 200 more “interesting” words to share and stories that surround those words from my youth.
Much like my pizza fascination, the more I uncover, the more I find myself drawn to learn. Surprisingly, this exploration has sparked a newfound interest in art—an unexpected turn, but a welcomed one, nonetheless.
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