Flour + Water Pizzeria, San Francisco
I am more than happy for someone else to make a fully fledged gluten pizza for me to scoff all to myself!
This musings section of the website is a quiet sounding board for my thoughts and ideas about pizzerias around the world. Pizza is one of my favourite things to eat, and I find it endlessly intriguing to come across different doughs, fermentation times, processes, toppings, sauces—you name it. Everything to do with pizza interests me. This was not always the case. Years ago, when I started my training, my focus was more on bread making, desserts, or tackling the savoury side of cuisine. Pizza hadn’t been forgotten; it was simply hidden amongst everything else I was learning. The real passion began at home, when I finally had the time to read Modernist Pizza and properly give it a go. Gluten free pizza is the hardest to get right, and that is largely where my practice took me. But when I am sitting in any pizza place, I am more than happy for someone else to make a fully fledged gluten pizza for me to scoff all to myself! I see it as a treat.
I had heard about Flour + Water in San Francisco, and we walked in spontaneously on a Saturday afternoon. There were no tables free, but we could sit at the bar, which suited me just fine. Skip the starters—this isn’t what you come here for. Take a good look at the red pies or the white pies.
One thing California does well is gluten free, and of course they had a pizza option: a Sicilian style 8 inch square with your choice of toppings. We ordered both this and the normal dough, choosing the burrata (garlic, Sicilian dried tomatoes, oregano, chilli, and lemon oil). I was craving some protein for health reasons (not that it would make a whole lot of difference!), so I added extra white anchovies. In hindsight, I should have left them off.
I have an opinion about the gluten free Sicilian. There is far too much bread in relation to the toppings, although I could not fault the bake. It was light, had height, and didn’t taste like cardboard. It was a proper dough. The problem is that this is exactly what you are eating: bread with something on top. Not pizza. There is a difference! If you are thin crust crazy, this will not satisfy you.
The dough for the “normal” pizza was accomplished in an artisanal style. This is the sophisticated, posh nosh of pizza—the serious one. It is not laughing and wouldn’t been seen dead with a hair out of place. Surprisingly, after eating almost the entire thing, I didn’t feel full or bloated. I also appreciated the Sicilian mandarin orange to go with it. Thankfully, there was no Fanta in sight. Yay.
Well, that was a lunch well spent, and I left ready and prepared for the onward activities ahead. Whenever I am in the area again, I will be sure to grab my pizza fix.
La Reine Gourmande is a professionally trained chef, former dancer, and lifelong food obsessive with a deep passion for haute cuisine and global gastronomy. She has dined her way through the world’s top restaurants while honing her culinary skills at L’École Ferrandi in Paris and the Ashburton Cookery School in the UK. Blending her love for food and fashion, she offers a unique perspective on what to eat — and what to wear — on your next culinary adventure.
