Epic Pizza Anywhere
Jonathon Schuhrke, a Santa Barbara geographer by training and former profession, found a calling in pizza making. He first moved to Santa Barbara in 2002 to attend UCSB, met his partner and stayed around for his work in geography. Calling himself lucky, he’s found a home in Santa Barbara that has provided the things in life he’s passionate about: all 12 months a year of being outdoors in beautiful places and eating delicious, fresh food.
He dreamed of running his own pizza shop until he was ready to take the leap from his former 9 to 5. In 2019, he left his geography job to pursue his passion by first landing a position as a pizza line cook at the Montecito pizzeria, Bettina. Then Covid hit, and life locked down while his family also welcomed the birth of their first child. This encouraged him to focus more on the art of pizza making and sharing it with a wider audience online and through cookbooks.
Schuhrke’s scientific background and curiosity about making good pizza inspired him to explore, experiment and document his work. Even when experiments weren’t bull’s-eye winners, he still made food that fed himself and his family. He took notes and learned from his mistakes, and he still had fun doing it. He started the blog SantaBarbaraBaker.com and posted videos on Instagram and YouTube, building a following that eventually got the attention of the book publisher Quartro. With a book deal in hand, he could focus on writing and recipe development for his first cookbook.
His cookbook, Epic Outdoor Pizza Oven, was published in 2023. It stands out from other pizza cookbooks with its deep dive into the details of professional-level pizza and the latest evolutions of compact pizza ovens like the Ooni or Gozney Roccbox. The book contains most of the tried-and-true combinations of toppings, plus tips on troubleshooting common challenges like burnt topsides or doughy centers. He provides recipes for a range of pizza dough recipes, each with a special flavor or texture dialed in perfectly for a home cook’s pizza oven.
What’s Schuhrke’s favorite pizza? Simplicity wins: It’s a basic cheese pizza. “There’s no way to hide bad dough or technique. The pizza maker’s craft really comes through. It’s the cornerstone and never gets old,” he says. On the modern artisanal side, try the pizza in his cookbook topped with merguez sausage, whipped apricot feta and pickled onions to feel a burst of early-summer flavors. The recipe was inspired by a glut of summer apricots from his own tree in Santa Barbara’s Westside.
On weekends, you can find Schuhrke at the Saturday farmers market, shopping local and seasonal ingredients for his pizzas. His online persona may give enthusiastic beach vibes and the chatter of a perennial Southern California surfer, but he has a gentle smile and down-to-earth attitude when he browses the aisles looking for seasonal pizza recipe inspirations and other fresh produce to feed his family.
Resources
His cookbook, Epic Outdoor Pizza Oven, is out now. His second cookbook, Epic Indoor Pizza Oven, is scheduled to launch this fall. For more info, visit www.SantaBarbaraBaker.com or find him on Instagram @santabarbarabaker.
