The Elements of Pizza

April 15, 2016
For most Americans, the telephone is the primary appliance required to put a pizza on the table. Those who do bake pizzas in their houses and apartments usually start at a local grocery by selecting among the dozens of varieties that take up more cubic footage in freezers than vegetables. Forkish aims to raise the bar on home pizza consumption by showing just how possible it is to bake extraordinary pizza to rival the artisanal output of any pizzeria. No pizza is better than the dough beneath, so Forkish guides his charges through the basics of yeast dough science before outlining how different styles of pizza arise from different approaches to doughs. He then gives complete instructions on equipment and techniques that yield Roman, Neapolitan, New York, and other pizza styles. Committed bakers will find plenty here to keep ovens hot and families' plates filled with honest versions of one of the nation's most beloved foods.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)