Getting Pizza Schooled by Billy Z
I don't feel tardy.
On Friday, March 1st my wife and I were lucky enough to attend a tavern-style pizza class taught by Billy Zureikat at Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio in Portage Park.
While it feels impossible to pay attention to the Chicago pizza or food scene without gaining at least a passing knowledge of Billy and his passion for cooking/baking, just in case you aren’t familiar with him, here’s a small part of his story in his own words:
I’m having the time of my life during the hardest time of my life.
Greetings from the heart of Chicago! I'm Billy, a home cook and baker with a story that's as unique as the flavors I whip up in my kitchen. A decade back, my life took an unexpected turn. From playing basketball and working at ESPN radio, I went from an active lifestyle to a challenging 8-year journey—doctor's visits, legs that seemed to be working against me, and finally, a diagnosis of limb girdle muscular dystrophy 2L in March 2021.
As my body underwent changes, I found solace and a newfound passion in the kitchen. I jokingly say I traded my jersey for an apron, re-focusing my energy on becoming a better home cook and baker. Sandwiches and pizza became my canvas, and from that emerged the "Tripping Billy" pizza. Little did I know, this creation would become a catalyst for raising funds and awareness for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Teaming up with some of Chicago's best pizzerias and restaurants, I shared my story of reinvention through food. It became a way to show people that even in the face of change, positive things can happen. Over the past few years, I've collaborated with over 50 culinary giants, raising an incredible $50,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I'm have been the Illinois Ambassador for the MDA since January of 2022. It's been a humbling journey, using my love for food to make a real impact.
The second Billy posted his class, I knew we had to take it. He was gracious enough to let me write about it, and to sit down for an interview after. I had a fantastic time learning from one of Chicago’s best pizza makers, while also getting to know the man himself.
The Schoolhouse location in Portage Park is on Milwaukee just north of Montrose (either right up up the street from Bacci or Moonflower, depending on what kind of evening you’d like to have), and we had no issues parking on a Friday night. The class was BYOB, so we hit up the Miska’s across the street before heading in.
The interior of Schoolhouse is a long, narrow space with an enormous island/work space in front, and when we arrived Billy was prepping ingredients and checking the ovens. There were some smaller tables set up in back (the class was so full we ended up making our pizzas up front in shifts, then sitting in back when it was time to eat them), and one of the tables was covered by bowls that were already filled with dry ingredients for the dough we were about to make.
Billy started by introducing himself to the class before he went into a heartfelt recounting of his history with MDA and pizza. He talked about when his legs first started to fail him — which included my favorite line of the night: “So I did what any man in his 30s does when faced with a serious health issue. I ignored it.” He talked about how his health got the point where it was so bad that he could no longer ignore it. How long it took for someone to properly diagnose him. How cooking and baking helped to keep him sane during that time. The exact moment he decided he needed to share his diagnosis with the world, and how he used his pizza to help him do that.
As a nice bonus/surprise, Billy made some of hig signature Tripping Billy Detroit-style pizzas before class, and had slices already cut to share with everyone.
This was actually my first time having any pizza made by Billy (though I’ve had a chopped cheese of his from JT’s Genuine Sandwich Shop before). The Tripping Billy features corn, mozzarella, and a Shishito pepper cream sauce on his airy, Detroit-style dough, and it was absolutely delicious.
From there Billy had us hand mix the dry ingredients together with some water and oil to form our own tavern-style dough (recipe below), which we balled up and set aside to take home after class.
Billy brought out some previously made dough balls after that, then walked us through his process for stretching, topping, and launching them.
The most interesting step in the process is the curing of the dough, which Billy spent a good time talking about. I first heard about curing in a pizza a class I took last winter that was hosted by John Carruthers from Crust Fund Pizza. John attributed his knowledge of curing to Pat’s Pizza in Lincoln Park, and the practice is becoming more widely known the last few years after being championed by John and Billy (who introduced the concept to food writer and chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt while he was in Chicago working on his own recipe), and utilized in popular local shops like Kim’s Uncle and Pizza Matta (whom Billy helped to develop their tavern-style recipe).
In order to cure your pizza you roll your dough out into a circle, dock it with a dough docker (or poke it repeatedly with the prongs of a fork), place it on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, cover it with another piece of parchment, then place it into your fridge for 24-48 hours (John says he flips his halfway through, so both sides dry out evenly). The curing helps remove as much moisture from the dough as possible, which give the finished crust a crispier, cracker-like texture. It also helps ease your workflow, as you can roll out as many dough skins as you’d like beforehand, and then all you have to do is top them and bake them when the time comes.
After we finished baking my wife and I adjourned to the back so the next group could get started on their pizzas, and we could eat ours in less time than it took to properly cut it into squares.
Thank you to Billy and Schoolhouse for putting on a fantastic class. I would highly recommend spending some time with Billy (in or out of the classroom) if you ever get the chance.
Our interview is below, as well as his tavern-style recipe, plus video of a similar tavern-style pizza class Billy did last summer.
Billy’s Tavern-style Dough Recipe
Ingredients (yields two dough balls good for two 14” pizzas)
363 grams organic bread flour
2 grams active dry yeast
3 grams sea salt
3 grams sugar
185 grams room temperature water
30 grams olive oil
25 grams corn meal
Directions
By hand: In a large bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients. Add your water and oil. Stir to combine and then knead until a shaggy ball forms with no dry spots. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Knead until a smooth dough forms and bounces back after poking. Divide into two equal balls.
By food processor: Add the dry ingredients to a food processor bowl fitted with a dough blade. Pulse until combined, then add the water and oil. Pulse ingredients until the ball comes together and rides the blade. Process for 30 seconds then let the dough rest 20 minutes. Process for another 30 seconds then divide and ball dough.
By mixer: Add the dry ingredients to a food processor bowl fitted with a dough hook. Set to stir until combined, then add the water and oil. Turn to medium low and let mix until a shaggy dough forms. Let rest for 20 minutes then mix on medium low until a smooth dough forms, about 2 minutes. Remove from mixer and divide and ball dough.
Place dough balls in an oiled container and let cold ferment in your fridge for 3-5 days.
After cold fermenting, remove dough from the fridge. Place on to a well floured surface. Press all the air out of the dough with your fingers and use a rolling pin to roll dough to a 14 inch circle. Use a dough docker or fork to poke small holes to help release steam while baking to keep your crust thin and crispy. At this point these are ready to bake but to take it another level, you can cold cure your dough.
Dough Curing: Lightly flour a 16-18 inch piece of parchment paper. Place your rolled dough on top. Lightly flour and place another piece of parchment paper on top. Repeat with remaining dough and place back in your fridge for 24 hours to cure. Curing dries out the surface of the dough, which leads to a crispier, cracker-like texture.
To Bake: Set your oven to 500 F and preheat your baking steel for at least an hour. Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel. Remove your cured dough from your fridge and place it on your peel removing the parchment paper. Top and bake for 7-9 minutes or until well done. Remove from your oven and let rest on a cooling rack. Slice into squares and enjoy!
If you want to watch the master to study his techniques for yourself, here’s a tavern-style pizza class Billy did online with Andris Lagsdin from Baking Steel:
CPN: When did you first start making your own pizza?
Billy: End of 2016, beginning of 2017. Detroit-style was the first pizza I did, because it’s the most approachable pizza for a home cook. You don’t need any special equipment besides maybe a Detroit steel pan. You don’t need a crazy high heat oven or anything like that. So it’s more of a controlled situation. So Detroit first, and then tavern-style was right after.
CPN: What made you want to try doing your own?
Billy: I want to grow in everything I do. I love cooking, but I wanted to get into baking. I started with sweet baking, like making cookies and other things I never did before. But I was always really enamored with the idea of making pizzas and bread, and to me, they go hand in hand. So I started with a little bit of bread at first until it was like, okay, I’m ready for pizzas. And it’s part of my sports background, I think. The want to get better. The urge to get better and grow. That was the next step for me. As a basketball player, it’s like, I worked hard on my post move, so maybe I can step up and shoot three pointers now? Let me work on it. That’s how I looked at it.
CPN: What do you love about making pizza?
Billy: The process. You’re taking water, flour, salt, yeast, and a little fat, and you’re turning it into something over time. I like steps. To me, that’s fun. Like with tavern-style, it’s a lot of front end steps. But seeing it through, seeing what you start with and what you end with, and how rewarding it is at the end, there’s no better feeling. Plus, it’s pizza! When are you not happy when pizza pops out? So if you’re making it on your own, and you can make great pizza, that’s a cool skill to have.
CPN: What do you feel like is the most important thing that anyone who wants to start making their own pizza should know?
Billy: Just be yourself. Pizza and food is so subjective. Everybody has a hot take about one thing or another. It’s gotta be done this way, and it’s gotta be topped this way, and you have to use these ingredients or if you don’t then that’s not pizza. And you can’t cut it into squares! That’s not pizza. There’s all these rules. But just make your own rules. Make your own experiences. You can learn from others, which is great. There’s so many great pizza makers in the world, and so many resources, but tell your own story. Figure out what works for you and do it. I use that analogy with my health, and with muscular dystrophy; make your own story. I do tavern-style pizzas that don’t have traditional toppings on them. I did that all season for the Bears. You know how much flack I got? The majority of people loved the idea. But then there’s also, no, that’s not pizza. Just don’t be one of those people. Make the things you want to make. Figure out what makes you happy in that process, and go after that.
CPN: When do you feel like your pizza making went to the next level? Did you have a big, aha moment?
Billy: Making pizza for other people for the first time. Like, for strangers. I remember in 2019, and this is before muscular dystrophy, before The Tripping Billy, this was just Billy making pizzas. And I got asked by a friend of mine who does wine tastings at a store called Off Premise in Lincoln Park, which is just a cool local liquor store and a specialty wine store. They do tastings on Friday afternoons. And he was like, “Hey man, want to make pizzas for this tasting? It’ll just be for a few customers.” And I was like, cool. I never made pizza for anyone in the public before. So I made some Sicilian-style pan pizzas. And no one is paying them for them, they’re just coming in and shopping. And again, this is the first time strangers are gonna try my pizza. They don’t have skin in the game. They’re not my friends, who are gonna tell me it’s good, even if it’s not good. But people were like, this pizza is awesome. Is it from a pizzeria? And that wasn’t even my specialty. That was some Sicilian, Grandma-style pizzas I used to do constantly. So that was my first moment of like, okay, maybe I’m pretty good at this. And I started to dabble more and more. And I always relate this stuff to sports, because it’s a confidence thing. So I got a little confidence, I started to see the ball go through the hoop, and it was like, now it’s time to do more.
CPN: How did the idea for the class come about?
Billy: I’ve done virtual classes before. I did classes at Kittch.com, and I also did a class with the owner of Baking Steel — he does weekly classes and I drove out to Grand Rapids, Michigan to do a class with him, and it went over really well. I got connected to Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio because I did an interview two months ago with the Patti Vasquez Show, which is an afternoon show. And the producer who brought me in was like, I have a friend that we do sponsor work with, and you should connect with them because they do a lot of cool classes and maybe there’s a connection and you can do something for charity there. So I came here and met them back in December. I said I wouldn’t mind doing a tavern-style class, but let’s wait until the new year. I was taking kind of a mental break at the time. But I knew it would be fun to do a tavern-style class for charity. And I don’t take a penny for this class, I just dedicate my time to it. And maybe in the future if I start doing it more then I’ll make it for myself, or make it make more sense for me. But everything I’m doing with the collaborations, I just like to support restaurants. And it’s the same here. I can help them get some eyes and ears, and help bring some people in. It’s a beautiful space, and I love cooking in here. I told them I want to film all my cooking videos here. It’s been fun. And after tonight, I told them that I want to do more. So we’ll see.
CPN: Would you want to do classes for your sandwiches? Or for any other food besides pizza?
Billy: I would do other classes. I’m mainly known for my pizza and sandwiches, but I can do just about anything. I would love to do a sandwich workshop because I think that’s something I don’t really see anywhere, and a lot of people don’t know how to make a good sandwich! There’s an art to sandwich making. I’d be open to other stuff so long as it made sense. Even other styles of pizza. Tavern-style is what I’m known for most, but Detroit-style, Tripping Billy, that’s where I started. And I love making Detroit-style. I think people know me more as tavern-style, but I’m always open to showcasing other styles too. But a Detroit one would be a fun class. So we’ll see.
CPN: Do you have any projects or collaborations coming up?
Billy: I always have something. There’s literally something every day. The Tripping Billy Tour continues, and I have some more spots coming up. I have a really big one coming, but that’s off the record (Editor’s Note: Billy told me about it, and it’s definitely a big one!). Then I’ve got to find some time to do more of my own tavern-style pop-ups. I did one with Bang Bang, and I’ve got some other really cool projects coming up. I tell everybody, I don’t know how I find the time to do the things I do, but I’ll always make it work. I’m having a blast. And I just want to continue to raise awareness for the cause and hopefully inspire people with what I’m doing, but also just put out good stuff and make good food. I want to have a good time, and not always ask people like they have to make a donation. Just come eat the food, and you can donate that way if you want to.
CPN: Two more that are kind of silly. What warrants a detention in pizza school?
Billy: Using Provel cheese from St. Louis. I’ve had it before, and I do not care for it. And not cooking your pizza well enough. If you undercook your pizza, you should go to jail. I like a good, well done pizza that has texture. And also, get all that puffy pizza out of my face. That’s my hot take, Neapolitan pizza is (poop noise). If you can put that sound effect somehow in writing, like poop noise or fart noise. (Editor’s Note: We can all thank Billy for literally making a fart noise and inspiring me to find this). There’s no texture. Once it comes out, you have 30 seconds to eat it with any sort of crispness before it turns into a soft mess. I need texture in my pizza. Those are the only two things. But honestly, I’d be the teacher that would let you get away with a lot of stuff. I really do preach to make the pizza you want to make. What’s good for you may not be what’s good for me, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Food is very subjective. Just make my answer that. There is no detention. Do what you want to do. If that’s the pizza you want to make, go for it. Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do whatever you want with pizza. There’s no rules.
CPN: Last one, if all of Chicago was a pizza school, who is the principal?
Billy: That’s a tough one. I’m going to shout out my guy John Carruthers, because he’s the man. He’s the principal. Not only does he make amazing pizza, but he’s does it for amazing causes. He’s doing it out of his house, and you pick it up in an alley. And his pizza is better than 98% of the pizza in the city. And I say that truly, because I’ve had it, and I’ve worked with him, and I’ve learned a lot from him. He’s got great intentions, and he’s also a great teacher as well. He’s the best. And yeah, he’s also the principal.
I also spoke to Bethany Storey (the GM of Schoolhouse Portage Park) to give you a quick rundown about who they are.
CPN: For anyone who isn’t familiar with Schoolhouse, what types of events and classes do you typically offer?
Bethany: At this location we offer classes and events for kids and their families as well as private events and team building for adults. We also offer cooking camps when kids are off school. When school's out, we're in the kitchen! Kids learn fundamental cooking and baking skills while making new friends.
CPN: Do you have plans for more pizza classes in the future?
Bethany: We currently offer pizza parties for kids and a fun "pizza wars" style event for adults and families where teams make a Detroit, NY or Chicago-style pizza and vote on the winner! And Billy and I are already planning his next pizza class, so stay tuned!
CPN: What attracted you to Billy, and made you think he'd be a great teacher?
Bethany: We were introduced by a mutual acquaintance who thought we’d have a lot in common because of our mutual love of food, and they were right! Billy has a way of taking complex information, especially in pizza making, and translating it into fun, applicable tips for home cooks. The way he tells his unique story holds the attention of the room in a way I rarely see. This and his approachable, easy going personality make him a great teacher!
To find out more about Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio (they also have locations in Wicker Park and Oak Park) and see a schedule of the classes they offer, you can check out their website right here.
The besy way to keep track of all the awesome things Billy is up to is by following his Instagram. He also has a ton of recipes plus links to other interviews and podcasts he’s done on his website. And if you want to make a donation to Billy’s MDA fundraising campaign, you can do that right here.