Monday, May 23, 2016

The Elements of Pizza

Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home      



This isn't just pizza; it's gourmet that you truly can make at home.  Ken Forkish has written the master book on homemade pizza. He is the owner of Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland Oregon and is the James Beard award winning author of Flour Salt Water Yeast.  He visited Italy, spending much time in the area around the Bay of Naples, where he says "great pizza as we know it has been happening for about 150 years..."  
The beginning chapters of the book are informative reading as he takes you through the Soul of Pizza, Pizza Styles, Great Crust, Methods.  It gave me an understanding of pizza I did not have before.  Don't skip that part.  This is not about a bread dough recipe used for pizza.  He achieves perfect crust with a scant minimum of yeast and longer rise time.  It is delicious.  The recipes are easy to use and have conversions from grams to teaspoons and cups.  He recommends you buy a kitchen scale that measures in grams if you don't already own one.  I used his conversions and my pies were delicious.  Most scales have both.
I made several of these pizzas and they were all good.  It is the best crust I have eaten.  And I like pizza a lot.  He separates the book into dough recipes and pizza recipes. He even has a gluten free crust if you prefer it. The book has sections featuring Italian Inspired in which he includes Margherita Pizza, including the history of that name, Carbonara Pizza, Pizza Bianca.  The New York Inspired chapter includes New York Cheese Pizza, Pepperoni, Mushroom and Onion Pizza (I made that one) and Meatball Pizza.  He also gives us Artisan, Flatbread and Vegetable Pizza recipes.  I made Adam Kuban's Love Supreme Bar Pizza as well as the Hawaiian Pizza.  It was all good.  The pizza recipes have suggestions for which dough recipes best suit the pizza recipe you are making.  This book has everything you need to make world-class pies at home, just like it says.  Check out his site at Ken's Artisan.
I give The Elements of Pizza five stars!  If you like to make your pizza at home, this is the book you need to do that.  Complete, easy and delicious!  I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.
Thanks for being here, see you soon!

Jeri~





4 comments:

  1. Awesome!! I was wondering how easy/difficult the crust is because that's always the biggest part. The book sounds great. I can't wait to try some of the pizzas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You will love it! I will loan you my copy :-)

    ReplyDelete