Passion for Pizza by Craig Whitson

My rating: 5 of 5 spoons
ggggg

Calling all pizza lovers! I've had a few pizza books, and I was really expecting more of the same; a smallish book with a couple dozen or so pizza recipes with a little miscellaneous history or information thrown in. Boy, was I wrong! There is history from Italy starting at Naples and moving throughout the country with many pizzerias highlighted before heading to the States with chapters on New York, Chicago/Phoenix and California.

There is an entire section dedicated to Ingredients and Equipment and it is a jewel! Flour; so much information about one simple ingredient! Did you know that durum wheat is used for Neapolitan pizza, but 00 is better for most other pizzas? Tomatoes, cheese, olive oil, cured meats and basil are covered under ingredients, while baking stones, pizza peels, pizza wheels, electric mixers or food processors, knives and so much more are covered under equipment.

Now we come to page 181--recipes!! Six dough recipes are followed by three sauce recipes before getting to the "good stuff". There is such a great variety of recipes here; something for everyone. There's even a couple of desserts at the end. Nutella Alla Spacca Napoli is not to be missed! My favorite pizza would probably be the Pizza Quattro Formaggi, though I would trade out a couple of the cheeses to make it closer to the amazing Quattro Formaggi I had in Sicily! I would substitute Emmental for the Gorgonzola piccante, and Primo Sale (a young pecorino cheese) or Pecorino Toscana for the Parmigiano-Reggiano. That is just me, though.

This is a truly lovely cookbook that I thoroughly enjoyed and am happy to highly recommend. Dive in and enjoy!!

I received a copy of this book from Agate Publishing for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.