If you’re used to bland commercial pizza, can your palate adjust to pies made in a wood burning oven? That was basically the question from a reader who has been bitten by the pizza bug:

I have been going around the Bay Area to check out these “artisanal pizza joints” that are popping up all over the place while convincing my wife (her favorite pizza is Blondie’s) these pizzas are indeed better. So far, we have checked out A16, Pizza Antica, Oliveto Cafe, and most recently, Zero Zero. While the ingredients are great, the pizza crusts are always burnt. I understand these artisanal pizzas are made in a 900- degree wood-burning oven, and are usually baked in under 3 minutes. For the most part we love the pizzas, but I have a hard time telling my wife why these burnt crusts (which really kind a ruins the experience instead of adds to it) are indeed better than those souless, pre-formed pizzas made by national chains. And, of course, if you try to send these pizzas back, the server usually tells you “this is the way our pizzas are supposed to be served.” To me, there is a fine point between nicely charred and burnt, and normally, we are faced with burnt pizzas and have to listen to the servers justify them. What are your thoughts about this subject?

The reader went on to say that he actually loved the places, expect for the burned crust, and at A16 he actually got his wife to eat and enjoy tripe and sardines. So maybe burned crusts are next.

He brings up an interesting point, because indeed there is a fine line between a properly crisped crust and one that is burned. The one I had recently at Zero Zero was just right, in my estimation. Notice the little charred boils on the crust — when you bite into them they shatter and scatter onto the topping, in this case is a blend of tomato, cheese, sausage and soppressata. If it were any more charred, the acrid flavor might overpower, but this version was just right.

It only goes to show why producing the perfect pizza is so elusive; it takes patience, skill and an almost innate sense of the oven.

I remember talking to Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, considered by many to make some of the best pizza in the United States,when I was researching my best pizza story about three years ago. He told me, “Pizza is like snowflakes. No two look the same. At some moment, there’s a line of perfection and you’re there for it. ”

Wow, but it’s fun to be there for it, isn’t it?