About Boccalone
Boccalone is a new, independent pizza publication with one editorial rule that governs everything else: state the number, name where it came from, or say plainly that no reliable figure exists.
How we test · Editorial standards
In short
We publish dough science, structured style references, formula-recording methods, ingredient specifications, equipment evaluation, technique, troubleshooting, and regional history. We sell no pizza, ovens, or ingredients, claim no borrowed heritage, and have no connection to the San Francisco salumeria that previously used this name.
Who this is for
- Readers deciding whether our numbers are worth trusting
- Anyone who wants to know how we make money before reading our recommendations
- People who arrived looking for the former Boccalone Salumeria
- Writers and researchers checking what this publication is and is not
What we are
A publication about pizza, aimed at people who have decided it is a craft and want to get better at it. That includes home bakers with a steel or a portable oven, cooks working through named styles, and people who mostly want to eat well and know what to order.
We are not a recipe blog. A recipe here without hydration, dough temperature, a fermentation schedule with temperatures, and bake conditions is not publishable, no matter how good it tastes.
We are also not a shop. We sell no food, no equipment, and no ingredients.
The one rule
Every number on this site either cites a published source or comes from a dated test record supplied by the person who ran it, including the equipment and conditions.
When a figure has neither a source nor a dated record, we omit it. When there is genuinely no established convention, the page says so rather than filling the gap with a plausible range.
That last part is the one people find strange. An empty field looks like a failure. In a technical reference it is the opposite: a fabricated number sends a reader confidently in the wrong direction, and they will blame their own hands for it.
- The full testing method, including what this publication has not tested
- How sources are chosen and cited
How we use AI, and where we do not
We use AI assistance for drafting and structure, and we would rather say that than let you guess.
What it is never allowed to do is originate a measurement. No hydration, temperature, time, percentage, or specification enters this site from a model. Every published figure is traced to a source or dated test record; unsupported figures are omitted.
Every page is checked for source support and internal consistency. Safety material is limited to current manufacturer or official guidance, excludes construction and modification advice, and routes site-specific combustion, electrical, and structural questions to qualified professionals.
How we make money
At the moment, we do not.
The publication currently sells nothing and carries no affiliate links or sponsorship. Nothing is recommended because it pays, and safety pages remain noncommercial.
We will not run display advertising. We will never carry gambling advertising of any kind.
Operating a restaurant, shop, pop-up, or food brand is outside this publication's current scope. The conflict policy requires any real commercial relationship to be disclosed where relevant before it can affect coverage.
What we do not do
- We do not invent test results, tasting panels, awards, credentials, or team history.
- We do not claim heritage. This publication is exactly as old as it is.
- We do not publish a house formula without a dated bake record; formulas here are cited to their source.
- We do not publish oven modifications that defeat a safety interlock, at any level of review.
- We do not publish home-curing methods. Cured meat appears here strictly as a topping you buy and bake.
- We do not gatekeep styles or moralise about authenticity.
- We do not carry gambling content, links, or advertising.
The name
Boccalone is ordinary Italian for big mouth. We picked it for that, and it earns its keep: this site has opinions, and it states them with a number attached.
A San Francisco salumeria used the same word until it closed in 2017. We are not that business, not connected to it, and hold none of its brand or recipes.
Where to go next
Frequently asked questions
Who writes this?
Boccalone does not name individual authors and claims no team, credential, or outside reviewer. Judge each claim by its linked source, its recorded method, and its stated limits; the site's rules are built so that you can.
Why should I trust a new site's formulas?
Because you can check the method. A formula is presented as a reader-run record with equipment, conditions, date, and outcome fields; the site does not invent a completed bake.
Do you accept free equipment or ingredients?
No. The current material contains no supplied-unit or affiliate recommendation. Manufacturer specifications are attributed and dated, and anything not tested is presented only as an evaluation procedure.
Does Boccalone operate a pizza business?
No. The publication sells no food and operates no shop or pop-up. Its conflict policy also excludes comparative coverage that would create an undisclosed commercial conflict.
Do you review pizzerias?
We publish our criteria, and wherever we apply them we say plainly whether we have been somewhere and when. What we do not do is rank businesses or present second-hand recommendations as first-hand experience.
Why is there no cured-meat section?
Because we are a pizza publication, and because home curing is genuinely dangerous to write about casually. Cured meat appears here as a topping: how to buy it, and how it behaves at high temperature. We publish no curing methods.
How are errors handled?
A substantive correction is noted on the affected page and logged on the corrections page with a date, rather than edited quietly. Boccalone does not currently publish a reader inbox; the contact page lists who can answer case-specific questions.
Check the method before you trust the numbers
The fastest way to judge a technical reference is to read the rules it holds itself to. Ours are published in full, including the parts that are inconvenient.