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Standing at the corner of St. Clair Ave. West and Greenlaw Ave. in Toronto, Bob Blumer takes a bite from a pizza slice and lets out a boyish grin. The chef-cum-television host has a lot to smile about having just broken the Guinness world record for pizza-making with 168 pies.
But his victory was not without its hiccups.
“The oven shut down about five minutes just as I was in the midst of crossing the line and breaking the record,” said the Mr. Blumer, who would only refer to his age as being ‘in a state of arrested development.’
An oven technician was on hand and quickly removed the roadblock.
Mr. Blumer made a total of 172 pizzas with 168 making the cut. The pizzas yielded over 1300 slices which were quickly handed out and devoured.
The spectacle was held Sunday afternoon at the 13th Annual Corso Italia Festival where over 500 onlookers marveled at Mr. Blumer’s spastically agile moves, ladling puttanesca and sprinkling a three-cheese blend of asiago, provolone and mozzarella.
He was filming an episode for the fifth season of Glutton for Punishment, a series that follows the host to different destinations where he masters food-related challenges like oyster shucking, noodle pulling or Kung-Fu Tea.
Mr. Blumer trained for five days straight with pizza professionals practicing on at least 150 balls of dough a day.
“There was more riding on my success than any other [challenge] I’ve ever done,” said Mr. Blumer, who noted that the crowd comprised of friends and family as well as Food Network producers. “I’m a bundle of nerves when these things are about to start. It never gets any easier.”
The self-described culinary adventurer collaborated with Toronto notables like Massimo Capra, Pino Padula, Michael Primucci and Rocco Agostino from Pizza Libretto. However, come game time, Mr. Blumer was on his own.
Only four per cent of people who attempt to break a world record actually succeed, according to Guinness World Records. For Mr. Blumer, it wasn’t this low probability that frightened him. It was previous title holder Donnie Rush, a Domino’s Pizza general manager from Mississippi who pumped out 142 pizzas in 2008.
“I was in the state of shock because [Donnie] was just a machine,” said Mr. Blumer after watching YouTube videos of the record-setting feat. “It was terrifying and in a sense, it let me know what level I had to rise to.”
Mr. Blumer is not new to the Guinness circuit. In 2008, he broke the record for pancake cooking by flipping 559 cakes in an hour and beat the previous total of 555.
A day after the pizza-making victory, Mr. Blumer is on the road with his relatives but he is still feeling side effects of the challenge.
“With all of my episodes, there’s usually one appendage or part of my body that gets extremely sore,” he said. “I’m feeling it in my fingers because there’s a lot of pressing that goes on when you’re stretching dough.”
Asked how the pizza tasted after 60 minutes of kneading, pressing, sprinkling and ladling, Mr. Blumer said:
“It was the best slice of pizza that I have ever eaten in my life.”
But his victory was not without its hiccups.
“The oven shut down about five minutes just as I was in the midst of crossing the line and breaking the record,” said the Mr. Blumer, who would only refer to his age as being ‘in a state of arrested development.’
An oven technician was on hand and quickly removed the roadblock.
Mr. Blumer made a total of 172 pizzas with 168 making the cut. The pizzas yielded over 1300 slices which were quickly handed out and devoured.
The spectacle was held Sunday afternoon at the 13th Annual Corso Italia Festival where over 500 onlookers marveled at Mr. Blumer’s spastically agile moves, ladling puttanesca and sprinkling a three-cheese blend of asiago, provolone and mozzarella.
He was filming an episode for the fifth season of Glutton for Punishment, a series that follows the host to different destinations where he masters food-related challenges like oyster shucking, noodle pulling or Kung-Fu Tea.
Mr. Blumer trained for five days straight with pizza professionals practicing on at least 150 balls of dough a day.
“There was more riding on my success than any other [challenge] I’ve ever done,” said Mr. Blumer, who noted that the crowd comprised of friends and family as well as Food Network producers. “I’m a bundle of nerves when these things are about to start. It never gets any easier.”
The self-described culinary adventurer collaborated with Toronto notables like Massimo Capra, Pino Padula, Michael Primucci and Rocco Agostino from Pizza Libretto. However, come game time, Mr. Blumer was on his own.
Only four per cent of people who attempt to break a world record actually succeed, according to Guinness World Records. For Mr. Blumer, it wasn’t this low probability that frightened him. It was previous title holder Donnie Rush, a Domino’s Pizza general manager from Mississippi who pumped out 142 pizzas in 2008.
“I was in the state of shock because [Donnie] was just a machine,” said Mr. Blumer after watching YouTube videos of the record-setting feat. “It was terrifying and in a sense, it let me know what level I had to rise to.”
Mr. Blumer is not new to the Guinness circuit. In 2008, he broke the record for pancake cooking by flipping 559 cakes in an hour and beat the previous total of 555.
A day after the pizza-making victory, Mr. Blumer is on the road with his relatives but he is still feeling side effects of the challenge.
“With all of my episodes, there’s usually one appendage or part of my body that gets extremely sore,” he said. “I’m feeling it in my fingers because there’s a lot of pressing that goes on when you’re stretching dough.”
Asked how the pizza tasted after 60 minutes of kneading, pressing, sprinkling and ladling, Mr. Blumer said:
“It was the best slice of pizza that I have ever eaten in my life.”
Bob Blumer breaks Guinness World Record 2010 for pizza pie-making exclusive video 2010
