pizza Pizza with Kale, Pancetta & Chile Oil (page 45) pthe izza cookbook Photographs Erin Scott CONTENTS Making Pizza at Home 7 Pizza Equipment 8 Pizza Dough Primer 10 Recipes 13 Index 61 Serrano Ham & Grilled Pineapple Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella (page 52) Pesto Pizza with Summer Squash, Sweet Corn & Pecorino (page 35) Making Pizza at Home Authentic homemade pizza is more achievable now than ever before. Cooks benefit from both a greater knowledge of classic pizza styles and how to duplicate them, as well as from sophisticated equipment designed for the home kitchen and backyard. A ceramic pizza stone in a hot conventional oven is still the most popular way to bake pizza, but aficionados regularly adapt recipes to work equally well in outdoor grills and brick ovens as well as in contemporary countertop pizza ovens. Most modern pizza makers strive for a lightly charred, evenly blistered, and chewy crust—the result of both a terrific dough recipe and the high heat used to bake it. However, the characteristics of a top-rate pizza dough are really a matter of personal preference, so we offer several different recipes—from a dense Sicilian crust best suited for a pan pizza to cornmeal, gluten-free, and cheese-stuffed crusts, plus the thin flatbread-style Roman crust and the chewy, slow-rising Neapolitan crust. Sauces and toppings are secondary but essential components. They’re the easiest way to change up the flavor profile of any pizza—especially when you choose the best local and seasonal ingredients. For light, summery flavors, we incorporate fresh toppings such as tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, figs, and fresh arugula. White pizza is also a favorite, so we often make Potato, Bacon & Rosemary Pizza (page 26) with a white sauce of garlic and Parmesan, and a pizza of shaved asparagus (page 22) with melted leeks and a creamy base of melted burrata. Pizza with Kale, Pancetta & Chile Oil (page 45) is robust enough to stand up to a thick Sicilian crust, as is the Salsiccia Pizza with Padrón Peppers (page 56) and a Spanish-inspired pie (page 40) topped with romesco sauce, chorizo sausage, and plenty of shaved Manchego cheese, though any crust will work with these zesty blends. The combinations of pizza toppings are endless, so you’ll have lots of opportunities to experiment. 7 Pizza Equipment When it comes to pizza making, the essential tools are really quite basic. The recipes in this book were tested using a wooden pizza peel and a ceramic pizza stone in a hot conventional oven. Both are excellent choices for making pizza at home. However, there are many other methods from which to choose. These recipes can be easily adapted for baking in a hot grill (either directly on the grill rack or on a cast-iron pizza pan or ceramic pizza stone), in an outdoor pizza oven, or in any of the countertop pizza ovens now available. (See right for a few of our favorite countertop options.) Timing and temperature will vary with each device, so consult the manufacturer’s instructions for assistance in making any recipe alterations. ROCCBOX PIZZA OVEN Roccbox is the world’s first portable outdoor stone-floor pizza oven. From Britain’s leading manufacturer of commercial pizza ovens, the Roccbox bakes authentic Neapolitan pizza in under 90 seconds. The countertop oven achieves temperatures of up to 930°F using a wood burner for authenticity and a gas burner for convenience, expertly heating the pizza stone inside to replicate the stone-cooked flavor of professional pizza ovens. A unique safe-touch silicone jacket protects users and kitchen countertops from the intense heat. The oven is light enough for one person to carry and includes a strap for easy transport. BREVILLE PIZZAIOLO The Pizzaiolo is Breville’s first countertop oven developed exclusively for baking pizza. Reaching temperatures up to 750°F, the Pizzaiolo features a unique dual heat-source oven technology that radiates heat from two circular panels of a high-performing electric heating coil system—one below the ceramic stone pizza deck and one above the pizza while it bakes. Set the top and bottom heat according to the desired pizza style, using lower temperatures for frozen and thick-crust pan pizzas, mid-range heat for New York– style pizzas, and high heat for the lightly blistered and charred crusts characteristic of traditional wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. 8 Countertop pizza ovens are compact, high-performing alternatives to built-in backyard ovens and capable of achieving similarly high temperatures.