Franco Manca, Artisan Pizza to Make Perfectly at Home Hardcover – 7 Nov. 2013

I can see that this book has had some mixed reviews and understand why, but as someone who teaches professional cookery and loves pizza, I think that this is one of the best books I have on the subject. It is simple, which is the basic quality of good pizza, but the magic is in the making of the dough - forget sourdough, it is not necessary, but the Poolish method, making a well hydrated sponge 24 hours ahead of time is practical and gives good results. The two dough recipes are for about 80% and 60% hydrations and both can be difficult to work, but by preparing 24 hours in advance, mixing the ingredients well, you do not need to worry about kneeding techniques, just stretch and fold the dough three or four times in the mixing bowl using wet hands and then leaving it, covered in cling film that is not not touching the dough, and you will get a good rise. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle dough on the top, divide it with a dough scraper and handle it just enough to shape it and put it onto a floured peel or baking sheet. prior to adding topping and putting in the oven or onto a skillet. Anyway, practice makes perfect and the toppings in this book are all good as far as I can see from reading it, although I have not tried every one. Using a domestic oven is a problem as you need at least 250C and 300C is better. However a well hydrated dough will work on a pizza stone or skillet. For anyone serious about making good pizza, try this book and you will be rewarded for your efforts, just don't expect it to be easy/peasy without a bit of practice. The toppings are straightforward and there are enough to satisfy many tastes - just work on getting the dough right.

It’s difficult to beat a home made pizza. The base has texture and taste, rather than being like over cooked cardboard that so often is a part of shop bought. And you can choose your topping. It’s surprisingly easy and there’s no need for any fancy equipment. I have a couple of pizza books and bought this ebook on offer at 99p. It’s absolutely packed with information and tips. There’s a brief history of the origins of pizza and then it lists the essentials. This includes suggested equipment like pizza stone. Ingredients next, including the best flour and yeast to use and then some basic dough recipes.There are plenty of colour photos throughout including some which show how to handle and shape the dough. There’s an excellent passata recipe, the sauce being the base of an excellent pizza and the topping ideas are numerous. Plenty of hyperlinks throughout, so it’s easy to navigate and move from one section to another. Clear instructions and some mouthwatering ideas. I’d thoroughly recommend this whether you’re new to baking pizza at home or you’ve done it before. Dozens of ideas.

Lovely book, really well illustrated with good instructions and some wonderful recipes. My only gripe was I needed to do some converting from US weights and ingredients to UK ones. If you're just wanting a recipe for a good old pepperoni deep pan or ham and pineapple then this might not be for you but for some really different tasty pizzas it's brilliant.

Well, I am surprised in reading some of the write ups concern the recipes for making the dough. Please read the book first and concentrate on pages 13-19, or get some glasses. Then enjoy !What a fantastic book this is. We are Pizza eaters, full stop and we recently purchased an outside Pizza oven / smoker and can only say-both purchases have proved excellent value, but most of all kicks bottoms.The book has loads of recipes for both vegetarian (My Wife) and meat. It contains pictures of what it looks like and most of all a simple explanation of the recipe and how to cook it. Not only that, it gives you a twist to add something else to add to the experience.We invited our friends around for next Saturday to try it all out and after they read the book, it could be Sunday as well as there is so much choice.I would recommend this book to anybody especially if you love your pizza's.Hope this helps.

Made my first ever pizza last night with the slow rise dough (neapolitan pizza) and it was superb. Making a pizza is not straight forward and is time consuming but worth the effort. I made mine on a baking stone as i am able to reach 275degrees in my oven so the base was crisp. The book tells you how to cook a pizza if your oven does not reach those temperatures so this is good news but i have not tried them. It also gives methods for different doughs too. You have to flick backwards and forwards a bit and read carefully, as the instructions are precise. The only problem i had was forming the dough for the final rise. I could not understand the instructions so i did my own folding of it lightly, and it worked. Great book, fiddly and time consuming to make but, worth every effort.

Price is low for a hardcover, photos are fine to make you want a pizza, but I have hard time trusting the text if I see this:"dough should be 15-20 degrees C, but if you have no thermometer it will be just warm to the touch" - WHAT? human body temperature is 36-37 degrees, since when touching something half-way down will feel warm-to-touch???"salt added to sauce will decrease it's life span" WHAT? salt is a natural preservative, never heard of it having the opposite effectAll in all, for the price, it's OK, but there are tons of books on pizza far superior to being, more importantly, actually correct. Also photos are looking fine, so if nothing else this is an inexpensive way to imagine a good tasting pizza.

Loads of useful advice and some great recipes. This book advises you how to make great pizzas without a pizza oven and includes lots of recipe suggestions and other invaluable tips for making authentic pizzas. I do have a pizza oven so I originally wanted the book primarily for the topping suggestions but I have found it to be educational as well as a source of inspiration.