American Pizza Masterclass with Leah Scurto and Laura Meyer
January 11, 2027 - January 12, 2027
This two-day Masterclass is geared towards pizza professionals, and those new to the industry, who want to add or learn a new style of pizza for their restaurants.
In this class you will learn 3 different styles of American pizza:
- Classic NY
- Detroit Pan
- Tavern Style
During class, Chef Laura and Chef Leah will also teach how to make two different styles of pizza dough and explore the versatility and variety of Central Milling flours.
Class starts at 9am each day and ends around 3pm. A light breakfast will be served in addition to a working lunch of the pizza you make in class.
Instructor Bio
Leah Scurto owns and operates Pizzaleah in Windsor, California. She first started making pizzas in1997 and spent years honing her skills working in a small Bay Area pizza chain, Pizza My Heart. In mid-2018, Leah branched out on her own and began the process of creating Pizzaleah. Since opening in March 2020, PIzzaleah has been included multiple times on the San Francisco Chronicle’s list of the 25 Top Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area and in 2024 was awarded the Snail of Approval by the Slow Food Russian River Chapter. Leah has won awards in pizza competitions across the United States and in Naples, Italy and in 2025 she was invited to join the World Pizza Champions Team. She is a 10-time pizza champion and in 2022 she was featured on Hulu’s original show, Best In Dough. In 2021, Leah was recognized as one of Pizza Today Magazine’s Rising Stars of the Pizza Industry and has had the honor of judging both international pizza and beer competitions.
Born and raised in Hayward, California, Laura Meyer’s first job was working at Pyzano’s Pizza, her local pizzeria. At just 17 years old, the pizzeria was where Laura met her mentor, Tony Gemignani, and her career as a pizzaiola began. After high school, Laura went to earn her bachelor’s degree, when she discovered her passion for culture and food while studying abroad in Italy. Upon graduating, Laura moved to San Francisco to take the helm at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana as kitchen manager alongside Tony himself.
In 2013, Laura won first place in her first competition in Parma, Italy, becoming the first woman and first American to win the Pizza in Teglia category. The following year, she won Best Non-Traditional Pizza at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. In 2019, she won first place at the Caputo Cup in Naples, Italy for Best American-Style Pizza, once again becoming the first—this time winning in a newly created category in one of Italy’s oldest pizza competitions. Throughout her tenure at Tony’s, Laura’s rising success earned her recognition as SF Chronicle’s Rising Star Chef, an Eater Young Gun, and one of Zagat’s 30 Under 30, and was named Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016.
With an insatiable quest for learning, Laura took on the role of teaching assistant and administrator at Tony’s International School of Pizza where she taught countless chefs and operators for ten hard working years. A newly developed passion for teaching led Laura to speaking opportunities at Pizza Expo, and a role as a contributing writer to Pizza Today magazine. Amid the pandemic, Laura dipped her toes into the waters of entrepreneurship, opening Focaccia da Laura, a focaccia pop-up. Given the success and prospects of Focaccia da Laura, Laura made the decision to depart Tony’s wing after nearly 20 years to open Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, California in March of 2023. This year, 2025, Laura is expanding upon the pizzeria with the addition of the Mercatino expanding her brand within the downtown Berkeley pizza scene. In addition, Laura, along with other leading females in the pizza industry, have started a new nonprofit, Fork to Future, with the aim of uniting and educating fellow women and other underrepresented communities within and surrounding the pizza industry.
Categories: Baking Class, Bread, Cooking Class, Intermediate, Pizza, Professional
