At Bread Stone Ovens Company, we’re endlessly inspired by the people who fire up our ovens — and Kyle Renalds of Pizza Louise is a perfect example of why.
Kyle is a professional pizza maker and baker with one clear obsession: dough. More specifically, naturally leavened, sourdough-based dough that’s treated with patience, respect, and a deep understanding of fermentation. That obsession started back in 2010, when Kyle first stepped into a professional kitchen and fell head-over-heels for food preparation and preservation.
Not long after, he created his first sourdough starter — but the real turning point came in 2016, when he met Brian Strutz of A Dopo Pizza in Knoxville, Tennessee. Kyle became A Dopo’s very first kitchen employee, and for the next five years, he poured himself into learning the fine details of sourdough fermentation and restaurant-scale wood-fired pizza workflow. That period helped shape not only Kyle’s craft, but also the foundation of what A Dopo still represents today.
In 2022, Kyle brought all of that hard-earned knowledge back home to Harrisonburg, Virginia, with dreams of opening a brick-and-mortar shop of his own. To get there, he made the decision to go mobile first — and after years of being familiar with Bread Stone Ovens and our reputation, he knew exactly what he needed.
Kyle chose a Bread Stone Ovens Company oven on a trailer, giving Pizza Louise the flexibility to bring true wood-fired sourdough pizza directly to the people.
Community is a theme that comes up again and again when Kyle talks about inspiration. His biggest influences are the people he’s worked alongside and learned from — especially those in the Knoxville restaurant scene. He credits chefs and bakers like Tarik Bechel (Tarik’s North African), Lawrence Faber and Emily Williams (Potchke Deli & Bagel), Preston Williams (Kaizen), as well as baking legends Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery and Ian Lowe of Apiece Apizza. Despite those influences, Kyle still fondly remembers growing up on local greasy pizza and old-school Little Caesar’s — proof that great food stories usually start somewhere humble.
When it comes to favorites, Kyle’s go-to pizza is a sauce-on-top Margherita:
- Pecorino Romano dusted first
- Fresh-pulled mozzarella
- Bianco Dinapoli tomatoes spooned on top
- Finished with fresh basil after the bake
Simple. Intentional. Perfectly balanced.
Pizza Louise operates with a 100% naturally leavened dough that’s never refrigerated and made fresh for each event. The dough uses only King Arthur Sir Galahad flour, water, and salt, and Kyle pulls his own fresh mozzarella from BelGioioso or Grande curd — because control over every detail matters.
While Pizza Louise is still mobile for now, Kyle is actively searching for a brick-and-mortar space to open a small, to-go-only shop. Wherever that next chapter lands, we’re proud to be part of his journey and to support a craftsperson who treats fire, dough, and time with such care.
If you catch Pizza Louise out in the wild, do yourself a favor — follow the smoke.
