MMOT: Pizza Books 🍕📚
1-15-21
For this week’s Monday Morning Open Thread, let’s talk about our favorite (or not-so-favorite) pizza-related books. I’ve often found new pizza cookbooks to be disappointing, especially those from lauded pizzerias. I don’t know if chefs are tempted to keep their “real” recipes close to the vest, or if they feel like they need to dumb them down for the home cook, but most of the restaurant-specific cookbooks I’ve read have not contained the intel one would need to recreate the pies that landed them the book contract in the first place.
That said, I do like the new book The Joy of Pizza, from Razza NJ’s Dan Richer, a lot. It’s a comprehensive guide to making pizza at home in all sorts of ovens, and while it is opinionated, it is does not aim to recreate Razza’s pies to the letter, but rather to give you the skills to make your best pizza at home.
As for Modernist Cuisine’s Modernist Pizza, I cannot yet comment, since I haven’t spent time with it. yet. At $425 and 40 lbs, it’s probably not something the average home cook will want or need, but I plan to see if it contains useful intel to mine. So stay tuned.
Which pizza books do you like (or were less than wowed by?)
—Andrew
Do you have an opinion about "The Pizza Bible: The World's Favorite Pizza Styles, from Neapolitan, Deep-Dish, Wood-Fired, Sicilian, Calzones and Focaccia to New York, New Haven, Detroit, and More" by Tony Gemignani?
I also love "American Pie," but mainly because I love the author's writing style. To me it communicates both technical content and a heartfelt love of the topic.
I like Jim Lahey's books in general and find them informative, practical, and great recipes. "My Pizza" is no exception and probably my go-to. But I've also enjoyed Marco Vetri's "Mastering Pizza." I use a largish wood-fired oven (cob) for my micro-bakery business and use it for making pizza on the weekends. Vetri's book addresses wood-fired recipes and also a nice variety of styles such as Naples, Roman Doughs, Pizza al Taglio, Calzones, etc. I like Vetri's casual approach, too, esp. in his instructions: " ... knead the dough like a cat would, pressing your hands and fingers into it ... observe the beauty of the dough as it comes together in a ragged mass."