Pizza Books

American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza

Peter Reinhart

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Baking bread is mysterious enough. But creating truly great pizza--the transformation of next to nothing into something extraordinary--is downright alchemical. It is for no small reason that there are distinct words in Italian for those disciples of these mystic arts who bake pizza and focaccia, pizzaiolo and focacciaiolo. Peter Reinhart, he who gave us Brother Juniper's Bread Book and the multi-award winning The Bread Baker's Apprentice, takes the reader of American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza right into the heart of the matter.

Reinhart begins his inquiry into pizza with his baseline palate memory for what a great pizza should be. As a teenager he had worked in a pizzeria, Mama's, and instinctively knew this pie to be the best. Returning as an adult years later, he discovered otherwise. Had he changed, or had the pizza changed? Both, it happened, were true.

So what is the nature of perfection, and where do you go to find it? In the case of Peter Reinhart, this journey includes travels through Italy and across the US. This is Part One of the book, called The Hunt. It's not the most enlivening travel writing, which would have helped elevate the insights into the nature of great pizza and the people who make it happen. But it's only a third of the entire package. The best is yet to come. In Part Two: The Recipes, Reinhart comes entirely into his own. Here is the master at work. Chapters include "The Family of Doughs", "Sauces and Specialty Toppings," and "The Pizzas." Reinhart gives you the building blocks, no matter what your kitchen, tools, and oven might be like. And then he unfolds the roadmap--pizzas from the strictly classical to the strictly whimsical.

Work diligently with American Pie and in time you will be able to call yourself, without hesitation or rising color, pizzaiolo and focacciaiolo. --Schuyler Ingle

Pizza on the Grill: 100 Feisty Fire-Roasted Recipes for Pizza & More

Elizabeth Karmel, Bob Blumer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Pizza is a perfect food . . . . . here are some perfect recipes 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book is a pizza.

Just as pizza is a perfect food, this is a perfect book about pizza. The intelligent reader may never use a recipe from this book; that's because it's a book of ideas. The "perfect pizza" is one you create, and the great strength of this book is ideas for crusts and toppings.

Cinn-O-Bun pizza? Kung Pao Cashew pizza? Yukon Gold? Lucy in the Sky with Pizza? Chicken, chutney or chocolate? Fire roasted veggies are one thing; but, what about asparagus? How about blistered corn? Or Blueberries and raspberries with honey?

This book brims with ideas.

Beginners get a clear introduction in creating and grilling a great crust. Remember, the crust is not just a chunk of dough rolled flat. It is also a work of art. Start with basics, which are well explained; then, your toppings become the genius of your great pizza.

The recipes are wonderful, varied, inspired and interesting. But it's my contention "the perfect pizza" is a delight to your personal taste -- not mine or anyone else. Your taste buds will tire of monotony unless you try variety. Broccoli? Would that work? These recipes will spark the imagination with plenty of "Hey! I never thought of that ... I wonder what it will taste like with a little ....."

Remember, pizza is not a burger. Mickey D created the world's most beloved hamburger by adding four slices of pickle. That's all it took. There's no way to create an "enduring pizza' by a similar simple trick. Every one is a signature of its maker.

I've been making pizzas for 40 years, and I wish I'd come up with at least some of these ideas. Had I done so, I'd probably be writing books instead of book reviews. Here's your chance to leapfrog into a creative pizza future.

Every recipe will produce a wonderful meal -- including pizza for breakfast. Why not? Start with six eggs . . . . Before long, you'll produce your own pizza that's as good as this book.

Editorial Review:

Americans love pizza and Americans love to grill--put them together and you have your own made-at-home version of a wood-oven pizza, straight from your gas or charcoal grill. Pizza on the Grill contains 100 recipes for innovative, just-got-to-make-it pizzas--including dessert pizzas--that will make you the backyard patio grill meister or mistress of your neighborhood--think Thai One On Pizza, Pulled Pork Pizza, and Fig, Walnut, and Rosemary Pizza, along with traditional classics like Pizza Margherita and Little Italy Pepperoni Pizza. Each recipe will contain music-to-grill-by and drink suggestions, as well as appetizers and salads to round out the meal and make this a one-top entertaining resource.

Pizza: More than 60 Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pizza

Diane Morgan, Tony Gemignani

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $7.70

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A must have for pizza lovers 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is fabulous! A must have for anybody who loves to eat and cook pizza! The recipes are easy to follow and the pictures make your mouth water. There are many unique pizza's that look fun to try as well as your basic pizza. The dough recipes are exceptional.

Editorial Review:

Team five-time world pizza-throwing champion Tony Gemignani with acclaimed cookbook author Diane Morgan and the result is a cookbook that will turn any home kitchen into the best pizzeria in town. There are over 60 selections on the menu, including the thick, rounded-edge crust of classic Neapolitan pizza Margherita, the thin crust New York style Italian Sausage and Three Pepper Pizza, and the stick-to-your-ribs, deep-dish kind, smothered in spinach and mozzarella. There are also plenty of new-fangled pizzas: layered with Thai curry flavored chicken or pineapple; cooked on the grill; even quick and easy versions using storebought crust. Aficionados will find six pizza dough recipes ready to suit anyone's crust preferences. Tips for proper use of such related gear as peels, stones, tiles, pans, grills, and ovens make this a complete pizza package. And with step-by-step dough tossing instructions from Tony himself, it's clear: When it comes to pizza Pizza delivers.

California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook

Larry Flax, Rick Rosenfield

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $11.41

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Editorial Review:

Bring the California Pizza Kitchen experience to your home with nearly 50 recipes and inspiring color photographs found in the California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook, which shows you how to make popular dishes from the restaurant known for its eclectic pizzas. Crowd-pleasing recipes that are easy to make and appeal to both adults and children include pizza like Jamaican Jerk Chicken and other favorites like Thai Crunch Salad. This book will show you how to make three kinds of pizza dough with step-by-step instructions, and it even presents ideas for create-your-own pizza parties.

The Art of Pizza Making: Trade Secrets and Recipes

Dominick A. DeAngelis

Amazon Price: $12.95 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The Creative Pizza Company Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $12.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of pizza making, for both the amateur pizza maker, and for those who would like to open their own pizzeria. It contains additional information not normally found in a cookbook such as trade secrets, where to buy ingredients wholesale (e.g., the high gluten flour), and comparisons and instructions for special preparation and baking equipment such as baking pans, baking stones, pizza screens, commercial pizza ovens, mixing machines and proof boxes. It also contains my unique collection of over 40 pizza recipes such as barbecue, breakfast, Buffalo, calzone, cheeseburger, deep fried (a.k.a. Old Forge style ), dessert, Hawaiian, Indian, mac-n-cheese, mashed potato, Middle East, pesto, red, roasted red pepper, seafood, Sicilian, Southwest, stromboli, taco, tuna melt, vegetable and white, with preparation instructions for stuffed, rolled or open-faced style. All the recipes in this book have been perfected, and all the details have been included so that even the most amateur pizza makers can get professional results. Not only does this book include proven recipes, it provides all the tools necessary to create your own masterpiece. I've tried too many recipes that show beautiful pictures of pizzas, but once created are displeasing to the palate. This book is for genuine pizza lovers who are willing to take the time to do-it-right. Creating pizzas can be as much fun as eating them!

The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook

Larry Flax, Rick Rosenfield

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Love this book 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I love this cookbook. As far as the dough recipes go, I have no idea if they turn out well because I use a Boboli pizza crust. If your a Rachael Ray fan, you'll figure out how to make most of these pizzas with the quickness. My favorite CPK pizza is the peking duck pizza, since my grocery store doesn't carry duck and I'm not going out of my way to find it(I want what I want when I want it) I buy precooked Tyson chicken and mix it with a lil hoisin sauce and proceed with the recipe. And it is sooo delicious-same flavour components, and I don't miss the dough. If I'm not starving I'll cook up some chicken breasts. Honestly, if you just use a pre-made pizza dough and a lil creativity you can get most of these pizzas in the oven in less than 15 minutes. When I make these pizzas, everyone loves them. And my friends that eat at CPK say they taste just like it. Buy the book, you will not regret it!!! If you do live near a CPK call them and ask if you can buy the dough from them, many pizza joints sell their dough.

Editorial Review:

The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook BBQ Chicken Pizza, Mixed Grill Vegetarian Pizza, Tandoori Chicken Pizza, Thai Chicken Pizza. These are just a few of the delicious pizzas, baked fresh in wood-burning ovens, that have helped to make California Pizza Kitchen into one of America's hottest and most successful restaurant chains. Founders Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield "put the world on a pizza" and the results are fantastic. Now, for the first time, here are the recipes that have made CPK restaurants so popular, with step-by-step directions to make pizza cooking easy and fun, even for beginners. In addition to the pizzas and calzones, Rick and Larry include recipes for creative pastas, salads, soups and appetizers, not to mention the tempting dessert pizzas. Whether CPK is already your favorite place to dine with family and friends or you're a creative cook with a taste for bold, fun, international flavors, The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook is the cookbook for you.

Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas

Craig Priebe, Dianne Jacob

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Yum! Yum! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This week, I made the Thai and Gamberian pizzas for a group of 14, and they were a huge hit among very discerning diners. Everyone raved about them. One guest said that the Thai pizza was the best new thing she's tasted in years. Nothing was left. Can piadinas be far away?

Editorial Review:

Chef Craig Priebe's culinary creativity comes to life through his innovative Italian dishes. Focusing on his award-winning pizzas and piadinas, he uses a variety of ingredient combinations to deliver delectable meals right into the home cook's kitchen.

Mouth-watering recipes for grilled pizza with meat, chicken, seafood, and vegetables comprise the first part of this book, followed by chapters on crispy grilled piadinas, fresh salads, and grilled desserts. A typical recipe of Priebe's calls for smoky, thin, and crispy crusts and vibrant combinations of toppings such as grilled figs, Gorgonzola, and proscuitto.

Through quick and easy instructions for 75 recipes, full-color photographs, step-by-step techniques, and party menus, a beginner cook or a seasoned chef will be inspired to fire up the grill.

California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups, And Sides

Larry Flax, Rick Rosenfield

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

At California Pizza Kitchen restaurants across the country, many of the favorite dishes (and most-requested recipes) are not the pizzas! Customers keep coming back for the boldly flavored pastas, soups, salads, and side dishes. The follow-up to the bestselling California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook, this new cookbook serves CPK customers just what they ordered -- secret restaurant recipes, never available before. With gorgeous color photographs of the finished dishes throughout the book, CPK fans will be tempted by recipes for Oriental Chicken Salad, Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Kung Pao Spaghetti, to name just a few.

The new cookbook will include stories and anecdotes from CPK employees from around the country about favorite recipes, customers, and more. In the generous spirit they're best known for, CPK owners Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield will donate all royalties and proceeds from sales of the book in the restaurants to children's charities.

Just like the first CPK cookbook, expect Pasta, Salads, Soups, and Sides to be one of the hottest cookbooks of the year. The CPK chain of restaurants is bigger than ever, and thi5 new hook will be published in the cool California style that has made the first book and the restaurants themselves so popular.

The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook

Jr., Pasquale Bruno

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $2.98

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The BEST Deep-dish Pizza Book Ever Written 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

If you want to make incredible (and authentic) deep-dish pizza, this book shows you in thorough detail exactly how to do it.

The first half of the book is full of pictures describing the processes of making deep-dish pizza in enough detail that someone who has never cooked a pizza can produce an outstanding pizza on the first try. The second half of the book is recipes from the Chicago pizza restaurants. It's hard to imagine the first half being any more clear, and the second half doesn't bore you to death with stuff you will know cold once you've read the first half and used it to make a couple of pizzas.

It is the perfect balance of educational detail and long-term utility.

I've had this book since 1983, the year it was first published. When I bought it, I loved deep-dish pizza, but hadn't a clue how to make it. I've used it to make more than a hundred different deep-dish pizzas, with never a flop yet. I've just purchased my THIRD copy, because I've used the first two copies until they disintegrated. My most popular is the Spinach-stuffed pizza, although the Greek pizza (with Kalamata olives, anchovies, feta and spinach) is my personal favorite.

One thing you won't find is innovations since 1983, but if you hear about something new, it's a snap to include it. It is the difference between learning a recipe and learning the theory. Get this book, and you'll be able to make the kind of pizza you want.

Editorial Review:

"A fun cookbook for any audience." --Booklist

Classic recipes for deep-dish, stuffed, thin-crust, and vegetarian variations.

Building a Wood-Fired Oven for Bread and Pizza

Tom Jaine

Amazon Price: $17.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prospect Books Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $12.73

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

a good supplement to The Bread Builders 4 out of 5 stars.
106 of 106 people found this review helpful.

If you're interested in building a wood-fired oven for baking, this is a good supplement to Alan Scott's essential "The Bread Builders". Provides very interesting historical background, amusing anecdotes and a set of plans which are aimed a bit more squarely at the amateur builder than Alan's plans. I'm building an oven now using plans interpolated between the two. If you're going to tackle a project like this, get a good book on masonry techniques too, or better yet, a video. (Amazon, care to provide some suggestions?)

Editorial Review:

The ultimate project for the DIY cook and baker: an oven in your own back yard. Pizza cooks faster and is more tender, bread crusts as it's never crusted before. The anticipation prompted by the smoking chimney is indescribable, the results without peer. This little book tells how to build a outdoor brick oven from scratch, with working drawings; and how to restore an existing oven if your house is so lucky to possess one. There is guidance in firing and running the oven, and some recipes for good measure.