PHOENIX (October 20, 2007 03:42 AM EDT) Pizza, how much do I love thee?

Enough to travel to the desert for a slice is how much. Granted, it might be the best slice in the United States, but it's a long trip from New York, which widely considers itself the pizza capital of the United States.

Is that really worth boasting about? I mean, who doesn't love pizza other than my wife Izabela? (She says she hates a bad slice, but philosophically speaking, what's a bad slice?)

I went all the way to Arizona - apologies New York, Chicago and California - to try and pry a few secrets from Pizzeria Bianco owner Chris Bianco, who is widely considered the best pizzaiolo in the country.

Bianco would have none of it - unless I was willing to devote myself to years of apprenticeship. My devotion is to EATING pizza - making it was a job I had after I graduated from college. Years of - how did he put it?, "wheezing flour" - was not what I had in mind.

As I got to know the transplanted New Yorker, I realized his reticence wasn't out of some paranoid, egomaniacal desire to remain on top. Rather it was a devotion to his craft and to his life-consuming process of creating a pizza that is so much more than just the mixing of salt, yeast, flour and water.

To Bianco, making a pizza is about connecting first with the ingredients, where they come from, how they're produced, what they become when combined. Then it's about connecting with the diner.

"That I make (pizza) because it's better than anyone else's isn't it at all," he said. "I make it because I want to make it for you. ... Even if I make it imperfectly it's something that you become connected to. There's a human involvement to it."

I know, it sounds pompous. We're just talking pizza, but consider Bianco's been making, by his account, 250 pizzas a day, five days a week, for 19 years. From a layman's point of view it seems more lunacy than pomposity.

But hey, his pizza is that good.

What's inspiring about being around Bianco is his passion for the purity of the experience. Whether you're eating in a four-star dinning room or at his simple one-room restaurant with just 32 seats - and upward of a 3 1/2-hour wait for entry - or just making dinner for friends, to him it's about owning the thing your doing. Devoting yourself to something, doing it every day, repetitiously, until it becomes you. And this just doesn't apply to pizza. To wit: Bianco occasionally teaches a course at the Les Gourmettes Cooking School in Phoenix, and the syllabus doesn't include a lesson in making his otherworldly crust.

Shop for good ingredients. Learn what you like before committing to a brand. Get to know the local farmers. Everything's connected, and without that awareness you're just going through the motions.

"The first thing I would tell a kitchen idiot is learn to eat before you can cook," Bianco said.

Inspired by but in no hurry to make the commitment - I'll head out to 15th Street and Avenue J in Brooklyn for pizza that is made by an equally devoted if less tortured soul - I returned home eager to make pizza.

The easy way. With quick-rising dough.

The beauty of this dough is that it's ready in 45 minutes to an hour, and you can do most of the mixing and kneading with an electric mixer - no disrespect to Bianco, who says he hand-makes two batches of dough, 60 pounds each, every day. I wanted my pizza as soon as possible.

There is a lot of yeast in the recipe and that helps compensate for the rising time, the period when yeast does its work and imbues the dough with flavor.

One truth relating to pizza - not just his - Bianco did impart was that you have to let yeast do its work and know when to step in and help it along. I have no idea when that stepping in point is, which brings us back to repetition.

Even with a mixer, the most important point to making dough is to avoid overworking it. When it came for some physical exertion my fingers hurt after kneading for just two minutes. Why would I want to exceed the prescribed times?

Just because I went for the easy dough doesn't mean I didn't treat the final product, as Bianco puts it, with the proper "reverence." We bought freshly made mozzarella and Parmiggiano Reggiano, and picked basil and tomatoes from our garden. Choosing quality ingredients is crucial. (I wish I had some of his fennel sausage.)

When topping a pie it's important to find balance with the ingredients. Keeping it simple is best, and don't needlessly weigh down the pie. Too much cheese is worse than too little. Too much sauce and the pie is a wet mess. Each bite should be a combination of flavors, none dominating.

Granted, our pizza didn't come close to Bianco's. But with some really good toppings it was OK.

And it cost a whole lot less than a trip to Phoenix.

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QUICK PIZZA DOUGH

Note: This dough will keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to three days or it can be frozen for up to two months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before using.

Start to finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes (15 minutes active)

4 teaspoons (1 1/2 packets) active dry yeast or 3 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/3 cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon

4 cups all-purpose flour or a combination of 2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

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To Make the Dough by hand:

In a large bowl, add the yeast. Add the warm water and stir with a heavy whisk or wooden spoon to dissolve. Add the 6 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 cup of flour and whisk until smooth. Add another cup of flour and the salt and mix well. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate as much of the flour as you can.

Onto a clean work surface turn the dough out and scrape out all the flour and flakes of dough from the bowl. Begin kneading the dough with both hands, folding the dough over, pressing it out, turning it a half turn and folding it again. Incorporate any flour and dough flakes on the counter as you work. After about 10 minutes of kneading, the dough should have a soft, smooth texture, and it won't be sticky. Shape the dough into a ball.

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To Make the Dough with an Electric Mixer:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the yeast. Add the warm water and stir with the paddle attachment on low to dissolve. Add the 6 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 cup of flour and beat on medium-low speed for a minute or so until smooth. Switch to the dough hook. Add another cup of flour and the salt and mix well. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and put the machine on low until the dough forms a mass around the hook - about 2 minutes.

On a clean work surface, turn the dough out and scrape out the bowl. Knead for a minute or two, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball.

In a large, clean bowl, place a teaspoon of olive oil. Place the ball of dough in the bowl and move it around to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and set in a warm place, such as near a preheating oven or in an oven that has a pilot light, to rise until the dough doubles in bulk, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Punch down the dough and divide in half (or into quarters, if making smaller pies).

Makes 2 1/4 pounds of dough, enough for two 14-inch pizzas or four 10-inch individual pies.

(Recipe from Mitchell Davis' "Kitchen Sense: More than 600 Recipes to make You a Great Home Cook," 2006.)