The buzz around Jules, a pizza pop-up from a former Tartine baker and self-described "dough nerd," has been growing for months, and I can confirm it's not all hype.

San Francisco has been blessed with a wealth of terrific pizza in the last decade and a half — particularly of the well-blistered, wood-fired variety, but also, more recently, of the burnt-cheese-crusted, Detroit variety. Still, none of these has risen to the level of Jules, a pop-up from Tartine alum Max Blachman-Gentile, where the combination of flavorful, yeasty, perfectly crisped crust and stellar topping combinations make for memorably delicious pies every time.

Jules remains a pop-up, making regular appearances on certain Tuesdays and Sundays at Mission District wine bar Buddy, and elsewhere — recent pop-ups have been at Bimbo’s 365 club and Loquat Bakery. But it's already caught the attention of local foodinistas and pizza aficionados, not only for that excellent dough and ever-changing menu, but for the care and taste that has clearly gone into the salads and small plates as well.

One memorable starter from recent months was a spin on an Italian chopped salad, featuring Iacopi Farms butter beans, chopped iceberg lettuce, Bulgarian feta, pepperoncini, and mortadella with Italian dressing.

While people who order it have loved the salad, Blachman-Gentile laments that it hasn't been a huge seller. "I think people have a weird thing with beans, which is sad for me because I love them so much," he says.

A white pie in the current rotation, for example, the Field Dream, is an ultimate ode to summer, featuring a corn pudding base, fresh sweet corn, mozzarella, perfectly blistered cherry tomatoes, dollops of Thai basil pesto, and Makrut lime shrimp dust.

Another summer selection is the Curse of the Golden Flower (did I mention the whimsical pizza names?), a squash-blossom pizza with confit garlic cream, thin slices of summer squash, and an anchovy-Old Bay hollandaise that you could easily mistake for Caesar dressing.

One pizza that Blachman-Gentile says will most certainly be in the regular rotation once the brick-and-mortar shop opens is the Spicy Ronny — a celebration of pepperoni with ajika chile flake and Calabrian chiles, and both mozzarella and caciocavalla cheese.

The name references 'roni cups, but Blachman-Gentile says, "I honestly kept thinking about Ronny from The Jersey Shore when I first made that pizza because he was so beefy and it has a ton of pepperoni on it so I figured it was something he would like."

Don't miss out on the house-made tarragon ranch for dipping — a sauce that's like if ranch dressing and green goddess had a baby.

A simpler but equally fantastic pizza that will be on the regular menu but only makes occasional pop-up appearances is the Drunken Sailor — a red pie that you can have topped with some optional mozzarella, featuring a white-wine-rich tomato sauce, anchovies, and capers.

All these pizzas are coming out of five small, propane-burning, counter-top ovens, which produce top-notch pies every time in the hands of the Jules team.

"Honestly I'd prefer to be cooking at a lower temperature and [the countertop models aren't] really perfect," Blachman-Gentile says. "I'm very excited for a deck oven in a real space."

Seriously, though, we need to talk about the dough. The secret to the crisp, shattering crust that stays crisp all the way to the center, and the delicious flavor, is the result of many months of experimentation — and not opting for straight-up sourdough.

"I've tweaked the dough a lot over the last year, but I'm really happy with where it's at right now," Blachman-Gentile tells SFist. "With that said, I look forward to being in one consistent location since that makes managing the fermentation a lot easier."

Calling himself a "total dough nerd," he explains that it contains a mix of two flours from Cairnspring Mills, a mill based in the Skagit Valley in Washington state that uses grain exclusively from farmers using regenerative farming practices. The mix brings a higher percentage of whole grain into the flour than your average pizza dough.

And fermentation with just sourdough starter tends to have a "leathery" result, Blachman-Gentile notes, so he's mixed it up. "I use a mix of a sourdough starter (levain), another type of starter that uses commercial yeast (poolish), and a very small amount of straight commercial yeast as well. I've landed on this because each of the three contribute their own properties I really like that help to give the dough the flavor I want."

And the crispness, he says, along with the sweet, yeasty flavor of a New York pie, come from the poolish.

While Blachman-Gentile says he can't reveal the brick-and-mortar location just yet, there's one he's "very hopeful" about getting.

Follow Jules on Instagram for their next pop-up appearances. Reservations are more than recommended at this point, via Resy, and note that Jules will be at Buddy the next four Sundays (7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/25), and at Loquat Bakery for three Fridays in August (8/2, 8/9, and 8/23).