Marco Bianco watches dough like a surfer watches a wave. “I like to think of dough rising as a wave. If I wait too long, and the wave rises too high, I won’t be able to surf it,” second generation, Italian-American Bianco said. “If the dough is above or below the correct temperature, or it rose for too long, I just missed its perfect peak time.”

Bianco makes dough and bakes bread for his brother Chris’s four Phoenix restaurants: Pane Bianco, Tratto and two Pizzeria Biancos. He followed Chris from New York 23 years ago. He began in the front of the house putting pizzas together during lunches. Longtime friend and coworker Dave Garland said Bianco would sit there and try to make these pizzas perfect when it was busy.