I love pizza and although Western New York has plenty of great pizzerias, I occasionally like to make pizza at home. The Elements of Pizza shows how to make great pizza in the comfort of your home. Ken Forkish shares the secrets of great crust. He enthusiastically develops great pizza recipes. And this book is full of mouth-watering photos of the world-class pizzas you could make, too. I plan to make the Pepperoni, Mushroom, and Onion Pizza this weekend! What’s your favorite pizza?
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1 Introduction
11 CHAPTER 1 THE SOUL OF PIZZA
39 CHAPTER 2 PIZZA STYLES
51 CHAPTER 3 EIGHT DETAILS FOR GREAT PIZZA CRUST
61 CHAPTER 4 INGREDIENTS AND EQUIPMENT
83 CHAPTER 5 METHODS
103 CHAPTER 6 PIZZA DOUGH RECIPES
SATURDAY DOUGHS
108 Saturday Pizza Dough
110 “I Slept in but I Want Pizza Tonight” Dough
112 Single Dough Ball
114 Enzo’s Pizza Dough
116 Saturday Pan Pizza Dough
REFRIGERATED LONG DOUGHS
118 24- to 48-Hour Pizza Dough
120 48- to 72-Hour Biga Pizza Dough
124 48- to 72-Hour New York Pizza Dough
NATURALLY LEAVENED DOUGHS
127 Wild Yeast (Levain) Culture
130 Overnight Levain Pizza Dough
SPECIALTY DOUGHS
134 Al Taglio Pizza Dough
136 Bar Pizza Dough
138 Gluten-Free Pizza Dough
141 CHAPTER 7 PIZZA RECIPES
SAUCES
145 Basic Tomato Sauce, Two Ways
146 FWSY Sauce
147 Vodka Sauce
148 New York Pizza Sauce
ITALIAN & ITALIAN-INSPIRED
150 Pizza Marinara
153 Pizza Margherita
156 The Ferdinando
158 Pomodoro Royale (with Cheese)
161 Prosciutto and Bufala
163 Mortadella and Pistachio Pizza
166 Zucchini Blossom Pizza
168 River Po Pizza
171 Carbonara Pizza
173 Pizza Bianca and Pizza Rossa
NEW YORK & NEW YORK–INSPIRED
175 New York Cheese Pizza
177 Simple Tomato Pie
181 Meatball Pizza
183 A.J.’s Pie
184 Vodka Sauce and Sausage Pizza
187 Brooklyn Hot Honey Pie
189 Pepperoni, Mushroom, and Onion Pizza
192 Grandma Pie
195 Adam Kuban’s “Love Supreme” Bar Pizza
KEN’S ARTISAN PIZZA CLASSICS
197 Margherita and Arugula, Two Ways
200 Arrabiata Pizza
202 Prosciutto Pizza
204 Fennel Sausage and Onion Pizza
206 Spring Onion Pizza
TRIFECTA FLATBREADS
209 Oregon Basil Pesto and Burrata Flatbread
211 Tarte Flambée
214 Nettle Pesto Flatbread With Morel Mushrooms
VEGETABLES & JUST BECAUSE
217 The White Owl
221 Escarole Pizza
223 Delicata Squash Pizza
225 Butternut Squash Pizza
227 Artichoke and Bacon Pizza
230 Chanterelle and Garlic Pizza
233 The Tommy Habetz Pizza
235 The Pie Hole Skillet Pizza
237 Hawaiian Pizza
240 Raclette Pizza
242 Measurement Conversion Charts
We are also big pizza fans – ever since I ha the first one in a little restaurant founded by an Italian “guest worker” that had come to Germany around 60 years ago.
I have to confess though, that I was disappointed by pizza in the US:
Crust too thick for my taste and generally too many toppings – I like it thin and “go easy” on the cheese and tomato sauce, rather add more olives, artichoces, garlic. peperoni, etc …
Wolf, there are many styles of pizza. Thick crust, thin crust, I love them all!
Just give me pepperoni and mushrooms. Don’t like onions, garlic or olives. Generally I like more sauce than most pizzas have.
Steve, that’s the beauty of making your own pizzas. You can customize them to your individual tastes.
Thin crust, just enough sauce to cover, fresh mozzarella, plenty of veggies, and no meat (way too salty for my taste). We have a nice place in town, ITALIAN PIE, which makes a good all-veggie pizza. I’ve never had much success making pizza at home. I think you really need a pizza stone and it’s really hard to get the oven hot enough to get that nice char in the crust.
Deb, I totally agree with you re the stone and the crust – but for me some sausage and/or ham/bacon is necessary! Too much tomato sauce on the other hand – igitt, as we say in German.
And my wife would partially agree with the Captain – her favourite is what in Europe is called Pizza Hawaii – Ananas aka pineapple and ham.
Last Sunday we were in Budapest with our young ones in the Pizzeria Capri – really good and we could sit outside, now we feel a cold front …
Seems summer has ended in Europe – how is it in the USA?
Wolf, it’s 54 degrees in Western NY this morning. Very brisk!
Wolf, we’re still in New Orleans – we leave for home this evening – and summer shows no sign of ending here. It was 92 yesterday, the hottest day yet, though the rain and humidity of last week are gone.
New York is still warm , but the forecast I saw predicted 50s over the weekend, with lows in the mid-30s!
Jeff, have a safe trip home! We’re headed for the 70s this weekend.
Deb, maybe we can visit ITALIAN PIE the next time Duane and I come to New Orleans!
Lately we’ve been buying Papa Murphy’s, which you bake at home! I like everything but anchovies, pineapple, and peppers, although I’ll have pineapple and peppers if I must! There’s no way I’d bother making it from scratch!
Bob, it really doesn’t take much time to prepare a pizza for the oven. And, the results can be yummy!
What I want to know, George, is, do you deliver? My mouth is watering.
Good idea, Jerry!
maybe accompanied by a bottle of locally produced wine?
I still remember my brother in law’s face when we brought him (he had driven us to the airport for our New York/Niagara holiday) a bottle of wine from Niagara on the Lake – we told him it was Niagara water …
It’s a pity that our local airport here in Hungary has almost closed down – its code btw is SOB
Wolf, Southern Ontario, Canada and our area have plenty of great vineyards. Ice wine is a popular product!
Jerry, I could send you a frozen pizza. Western NY is a long way from Florida!
My first memory of pizza is mom making one from a chef boyardee box. I often had the leftovers for breakfast. It didn’t hook me on pizza
Now, I’m happy with just cheese and tomato with maybe sausage. I also like the hawaiian with pineapple and ham or canadian bacon.
I remember a trip to syracuse and I think we went to buffalo (could have been the trip to rochester for the lilac festival) when I had garlic pizza white sauce and lots of garlic. I really liked it and don’t recall seeing it ever again
Maggie, The Amazing Patrick also loves Hawaiian Pizza with pineapple and ham/Canadian bacon.
We have bought all the things you need to make it and concluded that we have many pizzerias that can do it much better. We like thin pizza, a smidgen of sauce and lots of veggies although I can go for a BLT pizza every so often.
Patti, we have a lot great pizzerias around here, too. But, on a cold winter night, nothing is better than firing up the oven and popping in a home-made pizza. It heats the house up and tastes delicious! And, I don’t have to go out to pick up a pizza in the snow (or wait for a delivery guy bringing a soggy, lukewarm pizza).
There are plenty of places you can buy the pre-made dough in Brooklyn, of course, but with several of our favorite places and delivery service, why make it ourselves?
Jackie likes hers plain – just sauce and cheese – buy I often get my half with mushrooms or sausage. In Florida we share one with ham.
Jeff, I like to mix it up with pizza, too! I’ve been focusing more on veggie pizzas recently.
I love pizza, and have made it at home, but am convinced it’s a lot easier and faster to get it at a pizza joint or – what we usually do, same as Bob – pick one up at Papa Murphy’s and bake it at home. That’s what we did last night. Though sometimes we get a plain pizza, just sauce an, cheese, and then add our own toppings, usually get the Murphy’s Combo, hold the olives. That means it has pepperoni, sausage, ham, onion, mushroom. Good stuff. We usually get regular crust, though sometimes thin crust. They also have calzones, but we rarely get one. I sometimes get a yen for a Hawaiian, with pineapple and ham, but only once a year or so, Barbara won’t eat that one. Never, never any anchovies.
Rick, variety in pizzas is the Spice of Life!
I’m with Barbara there. Yuck.
Update : we’ll be leaving in about an hour. Temperature is 93.
Not too much OT:
If you visit Germany or Hungary – we also have our own variations of Pizza!
The German one is called Flammkuchen (flame cake) – it’s made similarly to a Pizza but the main topping is sour cream (plus cheese, sausage, onions, Black Forest ham, mushrooms etc). It has a very thin crust!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarte_flamb%C3%A9e
From the name you can guess that it derives from the Black Forest and Elsass (Alsace in French) – .
And in Hungary you have Langalo with a thick crust and sour cream plus paprika/peppers in all variations (from sweet to extremely hot …) and sausage, but no tomato sauce. It’s usually a sheet in the oven for the whole family …
Wolf, I love the infinite variety of Pizza! It’s the Perfect Food!
Wolf, both those sound good. Love the sour cream option