Product Description

Baking bread is mysterious enough. But creating truly great pizza--the transformation of next to nothing into something extraordinary--is downright alchemical. It is for no small reason that there are distinct words in Italian for those disciples of these mystic arts who bake pizza and focaccia, pizzaiolo and focacciaiolo. Peter Reinhart, he who gave us Brother Juniper's Bread Book and the multi-award winning The Bread Baker's Apprentice, takes the reader of American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza right into the heart of the matter.

Reinhart begins his inquiry into pizza with his baseline palate memory for what a great pizza should be. As a teenager he had worked in a pizzeria, Mama's, and instinctively knew this pie to be the best. Returning as an adult years later, he discovered otherwise. Had he changed, or had the pizza changed? Both, it happened, were true.

So what is the nature of perfection, and where do you go to find it? In the case of Peter Reinhart, this journey includes travels through Italy and across the US. This is Part One of the book, called The Hunt. It's not the most enlivening travel writing, which would have helped elevate the insights into the nature of great pizza and the people who make it happen. But it's only a third of the entire package. The best is yet to come. In Part Two: The Recipes, Reinhart comes entirely into his own. Here is the master at work. Chapters include "The Family of Doughs", "Sauces and Specialty Toppings," and "The Pizzas." Reinhart gives you the building blocks, no matter what your kitchen, tools, and oven might be like. And then he unfolds the roadmap--pizzas from the strictly classical to the strictly whimsical.

Work diligently with American Pie and in time you will be able to call yourself, without hesitation or rising color, pizzaiolo and focacciaiolo. --Schuyler Ingle

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Product Details

Publisher	Ten Speed Press
ISBN	1580084222
Features	ISBN13: 9781580084222 Condition: New Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Format	Hardcover
Author	Peter Reinhart
EAN	9781580084222
Label	Ten Speed Press
Dewey Decimal Number	641.8248
Studio	Ten Speed Press
Number Of Pages	272
Title	American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza
Release Date	2003-11-04
Publication Date	2003-11-04
Manufacturer	Ten Speed Press

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Customer Reviews

If you love and want to make pizza........

Review by Mattie, 2010-08-25

It took me a few years to actually purchase this book. I thought I already made great pizza and really wasn't looking for any other recipes for it but decided to go ahead and finally buy this book and am loving all the information he gives in it. There are several recipes for doughs and lots of helpful information in all parts of the text. If you want to take your pizza to another level I would suggest purchasing this book.

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Best homemade pizza ever

Review by baldy70, 2010-06-27

This booked pushed my pizza making abilities to new levels. Friends agree that the pizza I make at home is far superior than pizza's we had had at local restaurants.

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Pizza making

Review by Donald A. Foster, 2010-03-26

Great book, well written and easy to read. After trying many different pizza doughs, I now only use the ones in this book.

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American Pie is an inspiration

Review by Chansen, 2010-03-04

It wasn't too long ago that baking bread was a complete mystery to me. I started with the now very popular no-knead technique popularized by Mark Bittman and then began branching out into other types of bread. I now make bread on a weekly basis. But even after becoming our family's bread expert, I still left the pizza-making to my wife, who is by far a much better cook than I. But I knew her pizza technique was lacking (sorry, Honey), and decided, since crust is key, that I needed to put my newly-found bread-making expertise to work.

I started with the recipes available in the cook books we own and with some online resources. Once I got rolling, I was hooked. I had been looking to buy Crust and Crumb (one of Reinhart's other popular books) and, being bitten by the pizza bug, I knew I had to check out American Pie. This book has truly inspired me to create the best pizzas I possibly can at home. In fact, I've begun thinking seriously about even opening a pizzeria. But I digress...

If you want a fairly complete compilation of pizza styles available in the US as well as a perspective on Italian pizza, this book is a great addition to any shelf of cookbooks. The wonderful thing about Reinhart's style is that the book is not just a cookbook; rather, it is accompanied by his narrative on the process he went through in discovering great pizza. This book has everything you need to know to make great pizza at home. I have only two knocks against it (and results in the four- instead of five-star rating). The first is that there's not quite enough perspective on pizza-making from the professional pizzaiolo. I would love to know more about working with dough, sauce and toppings beyond 555 degrees. The other is that I think his perspective on sauce tends to be more is more. One of the reasons I am so attracted to pizza-making is because, like great design, less is more.

All in all, this book is a good read (not something you usually hear about a cookbook) and a great jumping off point to learn more about making pizza. If you want to make good pizza at home, you'll need only this book.

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Dear Author, New York Pizza does not have Cheddar Cheese

Review by M. Mann, 2010-03-03

Mr. Reinhart,

I have been researching New York City Pizza recipes for some time. After reading all the reviews of your book I was excited that you would have a correct approach.

First off, I am an experienced baker, and bake almost daily. I turn out very good breads and I followed your recipe exactly.

My heart sank as after I made the dough, and the sauce and then turned to assembly.
Imagine my shock as a Brooklyn guy reading that you believe that Cheddar cheese belongs in New York Pizza. I followed through the recipe substituting the Cheddar with a bit more Mozzarella, and I can tell you that the pizza was terrible.

We tossed it and went out for Chinese.

You have no idea about pizza, and Cheddar in NYC Pizza proves it. I would sell your book on eBay except for the fact that some poor schmuck may follow your recipe.

Do not order this book.

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