One word. Meh
Seriously, though, four months in India to learn dosa?! He must have spent 3 months and 3 weeks smoking bhang, because dosa can be mastered in less than a week. Now... if he went to India to master naan... that's a different story.
He painted over the thermometer on the side of the oven. He didn't want to let himself rely on the numbers, on formulas.
I hope he blindfolds himself as well. A good pizzaiolo can never rely on sight.
The dough is hyper-responsive to slight changes in temperature and humidity, and dealing with it is a perpetual mix of improvisation, nurturing and bullying. "People ask me, 'Why don't you get somebody else to make your dough for you?'" says Compani. "I'm committing suicide here! I barely see my son anymore! They have no idea how hard it is to retain consistency. But the dough is everything that I have. It's the infrastructure of everything we do here."
Does Chad Robertson have a hard time 'retaining consistency?' Does Nancy Silverton? Jim Lahey? Of course not. Working with sourdoughs isn't rocket science. You have to stay on top of feedings and control your variables, but, if you know what you're doing, you're not 'committing suicide.' It just takes a learning curve- a learning curve that this guy most definitely hasn't experienced on his globe trotting vacat- I mean his 'international training'
Four months for dosa. That's like saying I spent four months in a trailer park learning Kraft macaroni and cheese. Who's this guy kidding? In L.A., you expect a certain level of pretension and ignorance, but this is really pushing the envelope.
