Pizza: From Its Italian Origins to the Modern Table

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Summary: Do-It-Yourself Pizza
Review: American pizza is a culinary crime, but you don't have to go to Italy to get the real thing if you're willing to do a little work in your own kitchen.

Rosario Buonassisi shows you how easy it is to make this simple but superb treat, and there's every reason to believe that once you taste the real thing you'll never go back to the pizza from take-out shops, which seldom tastes as good as the box it comes in.

This book gives clear directions and is beautifully (and encouragingly) photographed. It's as good as Charles and Michele Scicolone's book "Pizza Any Way You Slice It (also available from Amazon), and it is similarly packed with recipes, tips and advice. There are a couple of differences worth noting. Buonassisi is a scholar (in archeology) and a writer on many other subjects, and he naturally takes something of a scholarly approach here, providing a wealth of detail on pizza's origins and development. Gastronomically he goes further, providing an excellent chapter on what to drink with pizza: You can easily do better than just beer or wine, and his advice will improve your meal.

Finally, Buonassisi's recipe for basic dough uses bread flour only, rather than the Scicolones' blend of hard bread flour andsoft cake flour). Having put both recipes to the test--with excellent results--I'd advise buying books and spending some adventurous hours in the kitchen.

It's important to realize, by the way, that once you get the basics down, home-made pizza is a snap. The sauce and dough freeze beautifully, so you can easily make enough at one time to provide for maybe half a dozen home pizza nights--until your neighbors find out how good yours is.--Bill Marsano

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Summary: Includes over twenty recipes from all eras
Review: Rosario Buonassisi's Pizza provides a brief history of pizza, from ancient to modern times, and includes over twenty recipes from all eras. Color photos of finished dishes and intriguing references to pizza dishes and history round out the presentation and make for a lively, colorful pizza guide.