The world needed a pizza book. So we wrote one.
Introducing our newest cookbook, The Book of Pizza.
Does anybody actually need this?
That’s the question my colleagues and I ask ourselves whenever we embark on a new cookbook. We know we can make the book. But to make sure it’s the right book, we first interrogate why anybody would want it.
When it came to our new pizza book, the question was easy to answer.
The public’s general interest in pizza was never in question. We’re in the midst of a pizza renaissance in both professional and home kitchens. On the professional side, regional styles are finally getting the exposure they deserve, higher-quality ingredients are making their way into pragmatic slice shops, and chefs are pushing genres forward with new techniques (see: Wylie Dufresne putting cheese down first [mon dieu!] on his otherwise New York-style pies). At home, the revolution is happening in the oven — bakers are investing in high-heat pizza ovens, which instantly turn any backyard into a Neapolitan pizzeria.
Could a book meet this moment? We thought it could. So we wrote a pizza book. Or rather, the pizza book. The Book of Pizza has the title it does because it captures our intention, which was to make the only pizza cookbook anybody could need in our current pizza moment.
It’s a lofty goal. A comprehensive pizza book has to convey elemental pizza knowledge, like how to shape a dough and how to think about the intricate interplay of toppings, sauce, and cheese. It also has to cover a spectrum of pizza styles, and explain how to bake not just in a home oven, but in those high-heat pizza ovens and on the grill. The Book of Pizza does all that (and because we couldn’t help ourselves, we included salads and desserts). Here’s what’s inside:
- The elements of great pizza: a guide to all the pizza fundamentals, such as mixing, developing, balling, and shaping doughs (QR codes to videos included); a discussion of cheese and sauces, including seven sauce recipes; an encyclopedia of toppings and how to prepare them; and a guide to what we call the “finishing touch”: the sauces and sprinkles that go on top of the pie when it comes out of the oven. (Do not sleep on our recipe for garlicky hot honey.)
- 12 styles of dough: These range from regional classics like Chicago Tavern-style, Neapolitan, New York-style, and New Haven-style, to evergreen styles like our weeknight doughs, from whole wheat to Detroit-style.
- 49 ways to top your pizza: Each style of dough comes with four or five toppings, but you can mix-and-match most of these. Make a corn, cheese, and chiles pie with the Weeknight Wheat dough, or make a New Haven clam pizza on the New American dough.
- Salads for pizza night: Because we staunchly believe that every pizza deserves a salad of equal greatness.
- Desserts to end your meal: Italian and Italian-American recipes for cakes, cookies, and lovely creamy things like mocha mousse. A final bite to cap off pizza night with a kiss.
Order a copy of The Book of Pizza and you’ll be ready to meet not only this current pizza moment but also any pizza moment — including the ones that are yet to come.
King Arthur Baking Company's The Book of Pizza
Not Yet Reviewed
$29.95
$32.50
Cover photo by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova.
