Jonathon Schuhrke

After years of dreaming about pizza, former geographer, Jonathon Schuhrke ditched the office life and put his hands on the dough taking a job as a pizza maker at a world-renowned pizzeria. Since, he has combined his science background, restaurant kitchen experience, and true passion to share the pizza passionate lifestyle on his Santa Barbara Baker media channels. “Making pizzas is what my hands want to do. Thinking about pizza is what my mind wants to do. Eating pizza is what my mouth wants to do. The love is real,” he writes. Since the career change, he has become the go-to guru on the outdoor pizza oven, on his blog Santa Barbara Baker and on his Instagram and YouTube channels, as well as a widely respected creator of exciting new pizza recipes. He combines take-it-to-the-bank wisdom for making pizza at home—solving common pizza oven challenges like the pizza crust burning before the center of the pizza is baked, or setting the ideal temperature and timing for a perfectly baked pizza—with a wide-ranging palate that makes room for classic pizza-parlor pies, traditional Neapolitan pizzas, and artisanal pizzas made with adventuresome ingredients from around the world as well as local, fresh, farmers’ market ingredients. He lives and makes pizza in Santa Barbara, California.