The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home [A Cookbook] Hardcover – April 19, 2016

Confession: I'm a pizza snob. My first job at 14 was in a pizzeria where I threw the dough in front of a window people waking by could look in. I'm now in my 60s and had given up trying to make "real" pizza at home. Thank goodness Ken Forkish didn't give up. Finally we have the secrets to making true artisan pizza at home. I particularly like that it isn't just Neapolitan, but a number of different doughs and styles that work for different occasions. For example, don't make Neapolitan pizzas for 12 guests if you want to enjoy their company! Instead you can do amazing sheet pan pizzas for a crowd using Roman al taglio or the long-fermented bar pizza doughs. (Never in my wildest dreams did I think you could make an artisan pizza on sheet pans!) Time is flavor in pizza dough, so while there are shorter fermentation recipes for when you need them, the stars of this book are the longer fermentation doughs. The 48-72 hour biga dough is my favorite. The shortest one with that artisan level of flavor is the overnight naturally leavened dough (if you have a mother starter established). The other game changer is how Forkish took best in class pizzeria dough recipes, designed for 900 degree F commercial ovens, and adapted them for home ovens that can "only" reach 550 degrees F. Before this book I wanted to get one of those special 900 degree home pizza ovens like an Ooni, but now I have zero need for one. Thanks for saving me the trouble and expense of that!While the dough is the key, the book has a number of wonderful recipes for what you put on it. But that's a little like giving a jazz musician sheet music; it's a great starting point. But let me call out in particular two of the San Marzano tomato-based sauces (FWSY & New York). So easy and so much better than anything in a jar, including Rao's. We use them as our basic pasta sauces now, too.To the people complaining about the recipes not being for the home pizza ovens they bought, if you read the book you would know that you just need to reduce hydration to 65%. Pretty darn simple. If you don't know what dough hydration is, it's easily found online.

The first thing that stands out about this book is the helpful way in which the sections have been arranged. There is an absolutely gorgeous introduction chapter called appropriately The Soul of Pizza, and for the first time when reading a cookbook I found myself immersed in a wonderful story of pizza and the regions of Italy that take pizza to levels of yummy perfection. It is a carefully researched and beautifully written story and I actually read it all the way through (something I never do with cookbooks). I guess that is because The Elements of Pizza is actually much more than a cookbook. It embraces all things pizza, not least of all pizza's Italian origins and the wonderful culture it arose from. Ken Forkish does an amazing job of capturing the beauty of the Italian country (amazing amazing photography wow), and the skill and dedication of pizza artisans there who have been perfecting their skill for generations with loving dedication. His descriptions of the consistency of crusts and the various regional tastes is nothing short of miraculous. I mean I could really imagine the taste and texture of the pizza. It is a mouth-watering and very inspiring journey into the world of pizza.Instead of finding a bunch of pizza recipes attached to a couple dough recipes, as in most recipe books, I discovered in this book a whole chapter talking about nothing but dough. And by that I mean to say there are 12 different pizza dough recipes plus one gluten-free pizza dough recipe. They are divided into helpful categories based on time it takes to make the doughs, starting with 5 fairly fast doughs, followed by refrigerated doughs that take 24, 48 or 72 hours respectively, followed by a couple naturally-leavened doughs, and then some more specialty doughs. In other words, this chapter alone has taught me all I need to know about every pizza dough I could ever want to make. Wow. I am absolutely delighted. Big smile on my face. It takes all the confusion and uncertainty out of the process and helps one master the whole world of pizza dough in short order. I am sure it will take lots of practice to actually master the making of the doughs, but at least here there is a clear and solid foundation to build on. I just love it!I also love the subsequent chapter that is divided into sections, to give pizza recipes specific to each region. It starts with recipes that are true to Italian and/or Italian-style pizza. Followed by New York style recipes, and then a section of Ken's own artisan creations, and then specialty recipes, some Trifecta flatbreads, and then vegetable and other recipes. This amazing and comprehensive chapter starts with a bunch of recipes for pizza sauce alone, including 2 ways of making basic tomato sauce, FWSY sauce (Flour Water Salt Yeast), Vodka sauce, and New York pizza sauce.There is a whole chapter dedicated to talking about details for making Great Pizza Crust... an extremely helpful resource... with beautiful photos. I feel like it is an actual pizza-making class, at a height I could only previously dream of attaining. Ken Forkish makes it seem so simple and elementary. It is very well written and an invaluable resource. Again, a beautifully strong foundation with which to begin a pizza making journey... practice will make perfect, I trust. Honestly, even my most scatterbrained attempts at making pizza have been delicious and yummy. One can hardly go wrong with pizza. It is a food of the gods.. hehe... but this book is something else. It will take your pizza skills to new levels and enable great control over the crust consistency and texture and taste. This is something I had not mastered before. And this book gives such a variety of different styles and types of dough that I will never again be stuck making just the one kind of pizza, as I have been. The taste and consistency of the dough is shown to be the real king in pizza, more so than the toppings themselves. The toppings are wonderful in this book and beautifully varied. But the dough is really what I am excited to work with here. And I can't wait to compare side by side the different tastes of Italian vs New York style pizza, both of which I have always loved.In conclusion, this book is really not to be missed by any pizza lover. It is comprehensive, beautifully presented, and the photography is plentiful and stunning. it will teach and inspire anyone, I think, to delve into the exciting world of pizza making. And it gives a passionate and loving history of the art, with a detailed study of pizza making in Italy. Ken Forkish actually went there and worked and talked with some of the greatest pizza artisans in Italy. And it's all in this book, with photos of the pizzaiolos (pizza makers) that he talked to, and photos of their establishments. And some really inspired shots of Naples too. This is the most passionate, authentic, helpful, delicious book on pizza I have ever seen!PS: FYI ...My pizza making, personally, is in a 30" Viking gas oven, and more recently in a Uuni 2 wood-fired (900F) pizza oven (amazing birthday present thank you dear hubby). The Uuni 2 bakes pizza super fast so the times of baking have to be adjusted accordingly... Great for the thinner crust pizzas