The Art of Pizza Making: Trade Secrets and Recipes - Softcover

Now shipping is the updated 20th Anniversary (1991-2011) updated and expanded edition of this best-selling pizza cookbook.  As an added bonus, this new edition contains 10 new pizza recipes such as Figgy, Foccacia di Recco (“the crown jewel”), Jamaican jerk, pear, Persian, Portobello, satay, shish kabob, stuffed meatloaf and Thanksgiving.  Of course, it also contains all of Dominick’s latest pizza expertise developed since the year 2009 printing, including new sections on the food science of pizza dough (e.g., amylase enzymes, oxidation effects, Mailliard reactions, etc.), comparisons to Italian “00” type pizza flours, and the use of baker’s percentages.  So even if you own any of the previous editions, this one is well worth the upgrade to your collection just for the new recipes alone!

Pizza is America’s favorite food; I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like it.  This coalition of dough and toppings can be as diverse as any ethnic cuisine; it’s not just a round pie with sauce and cheese. If ten people followed the same pizza recipe, each would get different results reflecting his or her own individuality.  So it must be concluded that pizza making is an art, and not just an assemblage of ingredients.

This book is the culmination of over twenty-nine years of research and development.  During this period, numerous interviews were conducted with retired pizzeria owners–active owners would never divulge their trade secrets–and artisans in the commercial baking industry.  As with any artist, some of my creations were influenced by other artists, from pizzerias in the U.S. and in Italy; my mother was born and raised in Italy.

Although I am an engineer by trade, pizza making is my passion.  Each year I go through hundreds of pounds of flour, sharing my pizzas with friends and family, while accumulating valuable feedback on each new recipe.  My inspiration to write this book was due to the lack of availability of an adequate pizza cookbook; I’ve yet to see a cookbook on the market that contains even the basic fundamentals about making professional quality pizza.