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

I typically never write reviews or answer surveys. But I've been so impressed with both the content, layout, and the writing style of _The Elements of Pizza_ I've got to recommend this book. It presents everything a pizza lover needs to know: mixing and fermenting different kinds of dough; making dough balls, proofing the dough, and stretching it; making pizza sauce; and finally cooking the various kinds of pies. Whether you want to make pan pizza, Neopolitian pizza, New York style or sour dough, this book guides you step by step with clearly written instructions and outstanding illustrations. Thanks to Ken Forkish for sharing his knowledge.

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

I own multiple pizza cookbooks. This one is by far my favorite, and then one I keep going back to for reference. I get a lot more out of other pizza cookbooks having read this book cover-to-cover and learning everything I possibly can about traditional methods and ingredients. This is the pizza book that makes other pizza books more valuable.Baking has always appealed to me, since I was a little kid. I think part of it how much it tickles that part of my brain that's very systematic and orderly, and every time you bake it's like a fun science experiment too. It also has a nostalgic quality for me as my mom was always baking different things, and I got to help her in the kitchen growing up.All too often, you look up a recipe online, or in a regular cookbook, and it's just a series of steps, often vague, and no real explanation of how to do them, or why you should do them. The authors either assume you have certain knowledge already, or lack that knowledge themselves. For many kinds of food, that's okay, and you can get good results just muddling through, but with baking there's chemistry and biology at work that requires very careful attention and specialized knowledge to achieve the best results. Sometimes you wish you could experiment, but you're unsure what parts of the recipe you can play with and how to play with them to get different results. This is a book for those who don't just want to make a decent pizza at home, but want to understand the ins-and-outs of pizza dough, and all the different things you can adjust to achieve the results you want.This book contains some recipes, some very good recipes, but it's not a cookbook. It's really a textbook, written in evocative prose, with tantalizing full-page photos of ingredients, dough, toppings, and of course finished pizzas. If you read the book cover-to-cover, and you should, you won't even encounter a recipe until page 103. The first five chapters are a history lesson, stories about pizzaiolos (those who make pizzas in Italy) and discussions on pizza styles, ingredients, equipment, and methods. Throughout is vast amounts of wisdom, and very important details on what makes a great pizza dough. If you're the kind of person who wants the very best results from your pizza-making, and discussion of protein percentages in your flour or the brix of the tomatoes you use doesn't scare you off, this book is a fount of invaluable knowledge. This is a recipe book for those who WANT to worry about the humidity of their kitchen, and want to precisely measure time and temperature as ingredients in their dough-making. All of this information is presented in a clear, well-organized way, that's beginner-friendly.Armed with all of this knowledge, the recipes in the latter half of the book are really just examples. You are encouraged to use the techniques you've learned in the first half to experiment and decide what sort of pizza you want to make. The first dough recipe, Saturday Pizza Dough, is an excellent baseline, but depending on what style you like you might try any of the other dough recipes, or use them as starting points to develop your own. After the dough and sauce recipes come specific pizza recipes which may or may not suggest specific doughs. If you're like me, you'll find yourself eager to hunt down the very best ingredients you can find, and happily making many pizzas to perfect your skills.Bottom line, will you make great pizza after reading this book? Heck yeah you will! The best pizza I've ever had comes out of my own oven now. Perfect crust, perfect sauce, and the toppings just how I want them. It's a bit of work, making food this good, but it's so worth it and the experience from start to finish is a lot of fun. It's very satisfying to chew a pizza crust and admire its qualities, knowing exactly what you did to make it so good. My first few pizzas after I started making them the traditional Italian way were a little stressful, some mistakes were made, but even the worst pizza I made using this book as my guide were still a lot better than you get from most restaurants.

I believed I was making pizza before this book, I'm kind of ashamed of serving family and friends that thing I used to make, now they are demanding more pizza nights...