Kevin Hansen
I like to keep this website ad-free. If you purchase a cookbook using one of the affiliate links below, I might receive a commission. Thank you!
I’m not much of a collector, but for cookbooks, I make an exception. And since I spend a lot of time testing out pizza ovens and making pizza, cookbooks about pizza always catch my attention.
I’ve spent the last few weeks reading several of the best-selling pizza cookbooks, so I can help you get a sense of which books might interest you most, whether you’re searching for yourself or as a gift. I have tried only some of these recipes myself, so I can’t fairly compare the quality of the hundreds of recipes contained in the pages of these books. (Probably no one alive really can!) But what I can do is give you a good sense of the personality of each book: what its goals are and who it was written for. Let’s begin.
Table of Contents
(click or tap on a title to jump to the section about that cookbook)
- Mastering Pizza by Marc Vetri: a beautiful, educational, and welcoming cookbook that would make an excellent gift or coffee table book.
- The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani: a 300-page instructional book that can take you from beginner to expert in a huge variety of pizza styles from the owner of a pizza school.
- The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish: a wordy, intellectual book that also has great instructions for beginners from a James Beard award-winning author and pizzeria owner.
- Perfect Pan Pizza by Peter Reinhart: a fun cookbook with an emphasis on Detroit and other rectangle-shaped pizzas that can help you achieve the perfect crust in a pan.
- The Essential Wood-Fired Pizza Cookbook by Anthony Tassinello: a book for anyone serious about cooking with fire who doesn’t require photos for inspiration.
Mastering Pizza by Marc Vetri
Marc Vetri, the author of Mastering Pizza, was classically trained as a chef in Bergamo, Italy. He won a James Beard award, wrote three other cookbooks, and opened multiple successful Italian restaurants in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
The tl;dr about Mastering Pizza:
- Educational with just enough technical detail
- Great information about each pizza ingredient, especially flour and the great potential of freshly-milled flour
- Besides regular pizzas, this book also includes several recipes for calzones, rotolos, focaccia, and desserts.
- Recipes for a wide variety of cooking surfaces, including a home oven, wood-fired oven, gas grill, or charcoal grill
- Contains gorgeous photos, so it can serve as a coffee table book (or visual dinner inspiration!)
- Would make a great gift for anyone with even a casual interest in pizza
Overview of Mastering Pizza
This book begins by going into some technical depth about the importance of dough hydration—choosing the right hydration for the temperature and amount of time your pizza will be baking. Marc discusses different baking surfaces and delves into each major dough ingredient (yeast, salt, oil, sugar, flour): what matters and why. He’s on a bit of a crusade to convince people to use freshly-milled wheat in order to improve both the taste and the nutritional value of pizza. There’s even a helpful list of grain mills across the United States where you can purchase freshly-milled flour if you don’t feel like milling it at home. You can tell that Marc really cares about this stuff.
Despite the detail in this book, there’s an emphasis on accessibility. For example, Marc gives advice on how to bake a Neapolitan pizza in a wood-fired oven, on a steel in your home oven, in a cast iron pan, or on a Kamado grill. This approach really made me believe that Marc wants everybody to make Neapolitan pizza who has an interest, no matter what equipment is available to them. He encourages cooking all types of pizzas in your home oven, including Neapolitans, without much regard for the usual “rules” … while at the same time sharing what those “rules” are, in case you want to know. So you get the best of both worlds.
This cookbook is about 250 pages. The first 57 pages are informational and the rest is recipes. It contains a dozen dough recipes, 13 Neapolitan topping recipes, 9 Roman-style topping recipes, 12 “al taglio” (rectangle sheet) style topping recipes, 4 calzone filling recipes, 4 rotolo filling recipes, 6 focaccia recipes, and 6 dessert recipes (half of which are pizzas).
There’s something for everyone in this book. Whether you want to dive into the nitty gritty of making traditional Neapolitan pizza or just ogle the very tasty-looking photos of crème brûlée and nutella-stuffed pizzas, I have a hard time imagining someone NOT liking this book. And there’s not a lot of special equipment required to take advantage of the information. So I think it would make a great gift for just about anyone who is interested in pizza or cooking generally.
Some of my favorite things about this book are:
- The technical detail that borders on nerdy (but it’s still interesting!)
- The plentiful and beautiful food photos.
- The wide variety of cooking surfaces used in the recipes.
- The broad appeal and giftability. Anyone who likes to cook or eat pizza will probably enjoy flipping through this book.
This book is genius in its detail. Marc sought out the most acclaimed masters of pizza to give you expert knowledge of the art, craft, and science behind what makes great pizza. What I love about this book is its passion, outstanding research, and easy, step-by-step instructions.
—Jim Lahey, author of My Pizza
The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani
The cover of The Pizza Bible declares that its author, Tony Gemignani, is a “12-Time World Pizza Champ.” He’s the chef and owner of seven restaurants across California and Las Vegas. Plus he was the co-owner of the International Pizza School in San Francisco before it shut down.
The tl;dr about The Pizza Bible
- Could be the textbook for a class
- Great quality photos, but most photos are instructional
- Gives step-by-step instructions that assumes no previous background in pizza making
- Most recipes are intended for a regular home oven plus a couple of pizza steels or stones, but there are a few recipes that are more specialized
- Has recipes for a very wide variety of pizza styles from around the world
- A hefty book with just over 300 pages
Overview of The Pizza Bible
It makes sense that the owner of a pizza school would structure his cookbook like a class, and that’s exactly what Tony Gemignani has done with The Pizza Bible. Its first chapter is titled “The Master Class” and is divided between theory and practice. There’s a shopping list of items that you will need for this class. The theory part covers weighing ingredients, baker’s percentages, dough hydration, and each of the important ingredients for dough and sauce, especially flour and tomatoes. The practice part requires you to follow steps over a three-day period that result in two classic pizzas, one American and one Italian.
The rest of the book is divided into sections according to pizza style category. The idea is that you can choose which categories you’d like to focus on learning. Those categories are: regional American (including New York, New Haven, New Jersey, Detroit, St. Louis), Chicago (deep dish, cracker thin), Sicilian (including Grandma style), California, Napoletana, other regional Italian (Lucca, Rimini, Sardinia, Romana), global (Barcelona, Germany, Dublin, Paris, Greece), and grilled. The penultimate chapter is about “wrapped and rolled” items, such as calzones and meatballs. The last chapter is on focaccia and ciabatta breads. There are handy charts for baker’s percentages and measurement conversions in the appendix.
Most of the pizzas are intended to be baked in a home oven using either a couple of pizza steels or stones, but there are a few recipes for a wood-fired oven or outdoor grill.
This cookbook clocks in at just over 300 pages. It truly deserves the title “bible” because of its size and comprehensiveness. While there are quite a few high-quality photos in The Pizza Bible, most were chosen to illustrate techniques to aid learning. There are several delectable pizza photos, too, though!
Some of my favorite things about this book are:
- You can pick up this book without knowing anything about making pizza and keep referring to it while you become an expert in any style you like.
- The incredible range of pizza styles that are represented in the recipes.
- The easy, step-by-step instructions with accompanying photos demonstrating techniques.
Anyone can hand you a pizza recipe, and if that recipe is halfway decent, chances are you can make yourself a perfectly good pizza for dinner tonight in your own kitchen with no special equipment and not much preparation. But that’s not where I want to take you. I want to get you all the way to five-star, killer-pizzeria-quality pizza. I want you to master any style you love—whether it’s Chicago deep-dish or cracker-thin, a big, fluffy Sicilian pan pizza or a classic Neapolitan margherita with that authentic char blistering the edges—right in your own kitchen with whatever oven you’ve got.
Tony Gemignani, author of The Pizza Bible
The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish
Ken Forkish is well known for his other book, the James Beard award-winning Flour Water Salt Yeast, which is all about bread. But we are lucky because he has also written a book dedicated to pizza! He is the owner of three restaurants in Portland, Oregon, including one pizzeria.
The tl;dr about The Elements of Pizza:
- The introduction is reminiscent of Anthony Bourdain as the author shares what he has learned about how pizza intersects with culture and history.
- A wordy, intellectual book with small print that covers an astounding number of topics.
- All recipes were developed for a regular home oven.
- Several attractive photos accompanying the recipes and information, but the emphasis is on the words primarily.
- The recipes are almost exclusively pizza recipes.
Overview of The Elements of Pizza
The introduction to this cookbook contains so many things: lessons about food, about history, about culture. The first chapter title is “The Soul of Pizza,” and it examines pizza through the lens of both Italians and Americans (many of whom are or were Italian immigrants). The author, Ken Forkish, learned several lessons during his trip to Italy, in particular from a famous pizzaiolo named Enzo Coccia. Enzo was gracious enough to permit Ken to include his way of making pizza dough in this book.
I think this book is the only one of the five that includes poetry about pizza! The first chapter feels artsy, for lack of a better word. It reminds me a little of Anthony Bourdain. In fact, I googled to see whether Ken Forkish knew Anthony when he was still alive, and the answer is no. But there is an Easter egg that was intended for Anthony in The Elements of Pizza!
The rest of the book gets down to business. The second chapter is about the different pizza styles, how they are different, and what the “ideal” looks like for each—which I really appreciated. Chapter 3 gives you eight different suggestions for making the best crust possible. Chapter 4 is about ingredients—with many details about flour, tomatoes, and cheese in particular—and gives a list of helpful equipment. Importantly, the equipment list does NOT include a pizza oven. Ken says that he developed his recipes using a regular home oven. Chapter 5 is called “Methods,” which includes thorough step-by-step instructions for making dough, stretching the dough, and assembling the pizza.
This book contains 13 dough recipes—more than any other book on my list—including one using your own wild yeast culture. There are 4 sauce recipes, 10 Italian (or Italian-inspired) pizza recipes, 9 New York (or New York-inspired) pizza recipes, 5 pizza recipes from Ken’s restaurant (named Ken’s Artisan Pizza), 3 flatbread recipes, 4 vegetable pizza recipes, and 6 “just because” pizza recipes.
This cookbook has the smallest print and probably the most words of the five. It’s a bit on the intellectual side, which might appeal to you or might not! Most of the pizza recipes include photos, but sometimes they are cropped down to just a section of the page—perhaps to make room for more words!
Some of my favorite things about this book are:
- The discussion of history and culture as it relates to pizza.
- The perspective Ken gives about what makes pizza crust different from bread (that he learned while he was in Italy).
- The instructions for how to make dough and assemble a pizza look great for a beginner.
- The lists of ideal traits for each pizza type are clear and organized.
- The sheer effort, time, and care that obviously went into writing this book. It’s both intimidating and inspiring to think about!
If there were ever to be a bible for all things pizza—and I mean all things—Ken Forkish has just written it. The detail that went into this book is so vast and exact that after reading it you will simply never have another question about any kind of pizza, from anywhere in the world.
Marc Vetri, author of Mastering Pizza
Perfect Pan Pizza by Peter Reinhart
Peter Reinhart is best known as an authority on bread, but—as Peter says—the most important thing about a pizza is the crust! He is a full-time baking instructor at Johnson and Wales University. Peter is the author of fifteen books; most are about bread but there are three about pizza.
The tl;dr about Perfect Pan Pizza:
- Narrowly focused on rectangle-shaped pizzas made in a pan
- These recipes can be made in a regular home oven without any special equipment besides a pan.
- Techniques for how to make fantastic crust in a pan from a master bread baker, with photos to illustrate
- About half of the recipes are for Detroit style
- The other recipes are for focaccia, schiacciata (the Tuscan version of focaccia), Sicilian-style, and Roman-style pan pizzas
- Has high-quality photos for most of the recipes
Overview of Perfect Pan Pizza
This cookbook is exclusively about pizza (and related foods like focaccia that are sometimes branded as “pizza”) that can be cooked in a rectangle- or square-shaped pan. The introduction contains some information about tools and ingredients that is similar to some other books in this blog post. But it also contains advice about purchasing the best pans. (A pan is the only real equipment you need besides your regular home oven.) It goes on to explain, using words and photos, a technique called “dimpling” used to achieve irregular holes in the crust to get the most desirable texture.
Most of the book is recipes, with an emphasis on Detroit-style pizza. There are 3 dough recipes, 8 recipes in the “sauces and specialty toppings” chapter, 17 Detroit-style pizza recipes, 5 focaccia recipes, 1 schacciata (Tuscan focaccia analog) recipe, 6 Sicilian-style pizzas, 1 Grandma pizza, and 5 Roman-style pizzas. Most of the recipes include photos, but not all, and the photos are well produced.
Some of my favorite things about this book are:
- The concept of focussing on the opposite of what is traditionally valued in pizza (thin, minimalist, round Neapolitans).
- The author’s entertaining love of food even when it’s not the most healthy thing one could be eating.
- The high-quality instructions and photos that show exactly how to get a mouth-watering crust from a pan.
- The spaghetti and meatballs pizza looks amazing!
While the Neapolitan Margherita pizza is the icon of pizza minimalism, the Detroit-style, aka deep-pan square, is its polar opposite. It’s way too much cheese, way too much dough, way too much oil, but also way too good to stop eating it…. Should I eat it? Probably not. But will I eat it? You bet!
Peter Reinhart, author of Perfect Pan Pizza
The Essential Wood-Fired Pizza Cookbook by Anthony Tassinello
Anthony Tassinello, the author of The Essential Wood-Fired Pizza Cookbook, spent two decades cooking at the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California.
The tl;dr about Wood-Fired Pizza:
- Focused on purely cooking with firewood (which is clear from the title!)
- Info about sourcing wood, using and maintaining your wood-fired oven, and required tools
- Contains recipes for doughs, sauces/condiments, poultry pizzas, seafood pizzas, vegetable pizzas, calzones, sweet hand pies, and a wide variety of miscellaneous dishes that can be cooked in a wood-fired oven
- Interesting approach to planning a whole pizza-centric meal based on an event (e.g., “when family visits” or “an intimate dinner for two”)
- Most recipes do not have photos
- Print quality is so-so
Overview of The Essential Wood-Fired Pizza Cookbook
Part 1 of this cookbook is devoted to the practice of cooking with fire. There is information about different types of wood-fired ovens and a little bit about potentially building one yourself. Anthony explains the science behind cooking in a wood-fired oven, along with advice about maintaining your oven, building a fire, and sourcing wood. There’s also a list of necessary tools and more advanced, optional tools. The last section is about meal and event planning, with four specific scenarios included: a holiday gathering, family visiting, date night, and school night.
Part 2 is all recipes. There are recipes for 8 doughs, 12 sauces/condiments, 15 meat topping pizzas, 3 poultry pizzas, 7 seafood pizzas, 15 vegetable pizzas, 10 recipes in the calzone/hand pie category, and 19 miscellaneous dishes that range from vegetables to steak to fruit-based desserts. The recipes generally have a traditional Italian feel with a little Californian flare.
There are a couple of photos in each chapter, but most of the recipes are plain text. The value here is in spelling out the steps to achieving yummy results while cooking with glorious fire. So this book is less of a feast for the eyes than some other cookbooks. The paperback edition that I’m using has what I would describe as “pretty good but not great” print quality.
Some of my favorite things about this book are:
- The extensive collection of sauce/condiment recipes because those can be used in so many ways.
- The inventive set of vegetable-based pizzas, which includes several delicious-sounding pizzas based on a variety of mushroom types.
- The “Beyond Pizza” chapter with recipes for things like “wood-fired sheep’s milk ricotta” and “Vietnamese-style pork skewers in lettuce cups” since I’m always interested in non-pizza items that can be cooked in a pizza oven.
Tassinello’s love for cooking with fire is contagious.
—Alice Waters, author of The Art of Simple Food and owner of Chez Panisse
Parting Words
Each of these cookbooks has something to offer. I love The Pizza Bible for the serious beginner pizza student, The Elements of Pizza for the awe-inspiring dedication of its author, Mastering Pizza for its casual approachability, Perfect Pan Pizza for its unusual focus on corners and maximalism, and The Essential Wood-Fired Pizza Oven for its bulls-eye focus on traditional wood-fired cooking.
I’m sure that there are more cookbooks about pizza that deserve to be on this list. If you know of any glaring omissions, or if you’ve read any of the books on my list, please let me know your thoughts in the comments!
