Mastering Pizza

April 2, 2018
In their fourth collaboration, chef and restaurateur Vetri and food writer Joachim (Mastering Pasta) offer a thorough guide to pizza making. They argue that the key to success is “understanding and cultivating a relationship with your dough” and provide three comprehensive chapters that explain how different flours, hydration levels, and appliances affect how dough comes together and cooks. Vetri and Joachim equip the reader with a dozen dough recipes, ranging from soft, chewy Naples doughs to thin, crispy Roman ones. Photos help guide the home cook through sometimes complex instructions (which also include some swearing and surprising descriptions, such as a dish that “smells like sex”). The recipes for pizza toppings include such classics as margherita, marinara sauce with pepperoni, and quattro formaggi, as well as intriguing combinations like fresh crab with roasted peppers, spicy octopus with smoked mozzarella, and pears with provolone cheese and cured pork. The chapters devoted to calzones, focaccia, and dessert pizzas include such enticing creations as kale and ricotta calzones, focaccia stuffed with taleggio and pancetta, and Nutella-stuffed pizza. This is an excellent one-stop pizza guide.

June 1, 2018

According to James Beard Award-winning chef Vetri (Mastering Pasta), great pizza is largely about nailing the crust. Here he offers to help pizza lovers create better homemade pizza with the dough and oven available to them. Unlike Maxine Clark's Craft Pizza, which has a resource list for specialty items but barely discusses crust, this book includes a dozen dough recipes and three chapters detailing the ingredients, tools, and methods that produce delicious crusts. Vetri's sometimes-technical instructions guide home bakers whether their aim is a chewy, crispy, or fluffy texture, which depends on the balance of the dough's hydration and baking temperature. Vetri navigates oven variables (size, material, shape, and fuel source) and suggests uses for home ovens, broilers, wood ovens, and various grills to best effect. Lengthy comments on flour include helpful charts and a list of local, stone ground millers by U.S. region. Vetri touts fermented wheat dough as gluten friendly, but readers wanting gluten-free crust or a dedicated chapter on sauces might prefer Todd English's Rustic Pizza. VERDICT For home cooks not offended by minimal, gratuitous course language, this is a solid guide to making pizza and using pizza dough in snacks and desserts.--Bonnie Poquette, Milwaukee

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.