WHAT ITALY TAUGHT US
 A journey with Chef Raine & Sommelier Mark
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05 | PIZZA 🇮🇹
“It’s all about the flour.”
If there was one thing Chef Raine Sindicich came away from Italy understanding more deeply, it was that great pizza starts long before the toppings ever make it onto the dough.
During his two-week immersive cooking course at the Italian Culinary Institute, Raine and Sommelier Mark saw just how many different ways there are to prepare pizza in Italy.
“There are a zillion different styles of pizza,” Raine says.
Different regions have their own traditions. Different shapes. Different textures. Different methods of preparing and cooking the dough.
But underneath all those variations is something fundamental.
It starts with the flour
“Flour is the most important aspect of any pizza, any bread, anything.”
It sounds simple, but the type of flour used can have a tremendous effect on the dough. It influences how the dough stretches, how it behaves during preparation and, ultimately, the texture of the finished crust.
That was one of the lessons Raine brought home with him.
After returning from Italy, Victor’s changed the flour used for its pizza dough.
The difference?
Better stretching and a fluffier crust.
It may seem like a small change, but that’s part of what Raine and Mark were looking for in Italy: understanding how individual ingredients and techniques affect the finished product.
The beauty of the crust
Raine also came home with a renewed appreciation for something pizza lovers at Victor’s already know: the crust matters.
“A little crispy and charred, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
In Italy, many pizzas are cooked in wood-fired ovens, creating that characteristic combination of a tender interior with a lightly crisp, charred exterior.
For Raine, that slight char isn’t something to avoid.
It’s part of what makes the pizza authentic.
The goal isn’t a perfectly uniform, untouched crust. It’s the character that comes from high heat, good dough and the right cooking technique.
And that’s something you can see in the pizzas Raine and Mark photographed throughout their time in Italy. There wasn’t just one version of Italian pizza.
There were countless variations.
But the attention to the dough remained.
Bringing the lesson home
That’s one of the things Raine appreciated most about the experience.
He wasn’t simply learning how to recreate a particular pizza he ate in Italy. He was learning to pay closer attention to the fundamentals behind it.
The flour.
The dough.
The cooking method.
The crust.
And how small changes can make a meaningful difference in the finished pizza.
That’s a lesson that came home with him.
And if you’ve noticed a difference in the pizza at Victor’s, there’s a reason.
Sometimes what you learn in Italy comes home in a very practical way.
A better flour.
A better stretch.
A fluffier crust.
A little char.
That’s what Italy taught us about pizza. 🇮🇹🍕