The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home by Ken Forkish

The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home Reviews

• 
  Paula

  Just venturing out into the area of pizza making, I was looking for a resource to help me improve my skills. Having made a few bread recipes from Ken Forkish’s “Flour Water Salt Yeast”, I was looking forward to reading his book on homemade pizzas. The book is very informative regarding the origins of pizza, the various types of pizza, how to make a great crust, the method(s) used in making the crust and many different pizza recipes.
  Having just made pizza last night, I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and trying one of Forkish’s pizza recipes.
  Rating:4.5 stars
• 
  Penny

  I love pizza, and as an amateur cook when I saw that this was available for review I knew I had to have it. I love this book is really detail, the pictures are gorgeous, the directions are easy to follow, it covers everything from the history and methods of pizza making, a lot of dough recipes for every occasion (meaning how long you plan ahead), and really great pizza recipes. Chapter 5 was my best friend when I tried to make my first one, it has all the instructions with pictures! For my first try I made the Saturday pizza dough, the pizzas turn out great!
  
  Cons: This book is suppose to be for home cooks yet all the recepies are for 550F, most oven on a regular home don’t reach such high tempratures, luckily mine goes up to 525F and it was close enough. I had problems with the shipping this book was sent to me 3 times before it finally reached me. Which was a long time after it was published.
  
  “I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.”
• 
  Neena

  I learned so much from this book! I've been making pizzas every week for about 4 months now, but hadn't experimented too much with different styles. This book gives a great rundown of the history and differences between the various pizza styles that exist. It's well balanced between technical details of *how* to make good home pizza, the food-science behind it, and the history.
  
  I learned a lot about how to alter my own recipe and methods, but more than anything, it really made me want to go out and eat a lot of pizza. To make the perfect pizza, you first need to decide for yourself what the perfect pizza is :)
• 
  PorshaJo

  I love this book.
  
  I love pizza. My husband and I have had home-made pizza every Friday for about 15 years. We have designed two trips we took all around eating pizza. Reading this book was just perfect.
  
  The first chapter is 'Soul of a Pizza' where you learn about pizza in Italy in various areas starting with Naples then you move onto the US and how pizza is different in various areas. From there, you have chapters on pizza styles (American thin, square, etc), the crust, needed equipment and ingredients, methods, and finally, pizza recipes.
  
  There are a lot of recipes for dough, sauces, and various kinds of pizza. There are gorgeous, mouth watering pics. Now, there is not a picture for every single recipe but in this case, I'm fine with it. The book itself is so detailed and contains wonderful information about pizza and descriptions, I didn't need a pic every single time.
  
  I did get this book from NetGalley for a fair and honest review. I just wished I owned this book as I could see myself using this one over and over again. If you are a pizza lover, I suggest you pick this one up as soon as possible. You will not be disappointed.
• 
  Steve

  I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Not a bad book by any means, and I really enjoyed the "background" of pizza making. The recipes look pretty good, and while I didn't make any pizzas while reviewing this book, it is one cookbook that I'll probably use next time I get a hankering for homemade pizza. My rating may be changed after I try a few of the recipes.
  
  One issue I do have is with the ARC, which was nearly unreadable. The forced two-page format was a constant struggle of resizing the pages to be able read the text, which had to be reaccomplished with every single page turn. Very frustrating.
• 
  Joshua

  I cooked almost all the recipes in this book (couldn't track down ingredients for a couple of them). I haven't read/used a lot of pizza cookbooks, but I can't imagine any being much better than this one.
• 
  Ericca

  My go-to pizza making cookbook!! Love it!!!!
• 
  Don Gillette

  Nothing new here. Simply a re-hash of a dozen other pizza volumes but written by an author who's more concerned with patting himself on the back and impressing you with what he considers his vast knowledge and experience than he is with explanations or techniques.
• 
  Hayden

  I really, really like pizza.
  
  I mean, I think most people do, but I just felt the need to admit that I, too, am not immune to the charms of this dish. It's the one thing I just can't seem to get enough of, and I can keep up with my three teenage brothers on the amount of it I can eat. And since my family actually does make homemade pizza on a pretty regular basis, I thought that this would be a good book to give us some more knowledge and tricks in the making of this blessed gift from Italy.
  
  There's a lot of background information packed into this book, and I think it might be for a person who's slightly more serious about pizza-making (I did skip some of it), although I did find some of the historical information interesting. A lot of the recipes look really good, and I liked how many different styles of pizzas are included (I also like the simple sauce recipes, which I'd like to try). Overall, if you're in to making pizza (or you'd like to start) this one would be a good one to pick up.
  
  I received this book for free from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Nic Lishko

  This book was absurd. After learning the techniques and taking the first bite, I've decided to deem this book absurd. The pizza is absurdly delicious and I may never order pizza again. Much praise to Ken for all his research and phenomenal recipes. Words escape me.
• 
  Rooks

  I think this is DEFINITELY going to be a high-rated book for me, but I have yet to actually make a pizza from it, so.
• 
  N.N. Heaven

  If you're like me and love making pizza, this cookbook is a must-own! Filled with amazing techniques and tried-and-true recipes, this cookbook is a gem. I loved how open Chef Ken was without talking down to me, the reader.
  
  I tried a few recipes on my own retired chef (MR N) and he was really impressed with the taste and flavor of the pizza.
  
  Makes a great gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day or birthday.
  
  Many thanks to Netgalley and Ten Speed Press for giving me a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Roni Loren

  This was intimidating when I first started flipping through it, but once I went ahead and decided to give the dough-making a try, the instructions were easy to follow. I’ve now made six fantastic pizzas from scratch. Be warned, this does require a couple of kitchen purchases if you want the full effect (baking steel, dough tub, pizza peel, double zero flour). We bought a baking steel that worked beautifully.
• 
  Donna

  I really love this book! It is one of the best cookbooks I have ever bought. I have the hardback, have read 90% of it and used several recipes.
  
  The chapters on the history of pizza and different regional styles is a great read, and very informative. Forkish travels to Italy and discusses the variations in pizza, in Rome and Naples, and then back to NY, NJ, CT. It will make you fall in love with classic pizza! I was lucky to have visited one of the pizzerias he mentions in Rome, Bonci, home of the Al taglia pizza. And yes, it was amazingly good.
  I have been baking sourdough bread for a year now, and was most interested in Forkish's Levain Pizza Dough recipe. I do not have his bread book, Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, but it will be on my list to add to my collection. I have Robertson's Tartine Book, which is wonderful, but he treats pizza dough the same as bread.....and well, it's not. So I was excited to try Forkish's recipe. It is perfect! It makes the best tasting, bubbly crust! I was so thrilled. This is the real thing!
  
  Forkish's tips for the whole process are very helpful. I agree completely with his Basic Tomato Sauce recipe. The simplest sauce is the best. Simple, fresh, whole ingredients are what Italian cooking is alllll about! He discusses each ingredient, and has a lot of unique recipes/ toppings ideas. And the many photos are gorgeous!
  
  **There is one major typo, I came across** On pg 131, he has the quantity of Levain starter at 250g, at a baker's % of 25%. The flour is 375g, so 25% of 375 is actually 94g, not 250g. This would be a big mistake, so I am glad I caught it. The recipe worked perfectly at the correct levain quantity.
  
  I have made pizzas for years with commercial yeast packets, but making them now with my own ferment/ levain is a huge step up. It may seem daunting at first, but once you have made one successfully, it would be hard to go back to the quick yeast. The flavor is very different. And yes, go ahead and buy a kitchen scale. It is so easy to use and I now prefer weighing over measuring with cups. So I would say this book is good for those who have some pizza experience and has a lot of great tips for more experienced pizziaoli.
  
  My favorite to make is the Neopolitan Margherita pizza with Mozz di Bufalo. Thin crust perfection.
  
  This book is a must for serious pizza bakers, and will get you experimenting with time, temp, ingredients, use of broiler, cast iron vs stone, etc..,
• 
  patrick Lorelli

  This is a wonderful book for anyone who enjoys food, and or cooking. The idea of a few ingredients yeast, flour, water, salt and you can have the makings of a good homemade pizza. I grew up cooking Italian food but we really never made pizza. When I was out of high school I started working for two brothers who were from the Naples region of Italy and had opened a pizza restaurant just outside of Palm Springs. Making dough almost every day was essential, but the dough we made on Monday was used on Tuesday, and etc… The different recipes that the author gives you is fantastic because really most people have not had a really good pizza, made fresh, with mozzarella, especially made from water buffalo milk, yes there is a difference along with the difference in Parmesan cheese as well. All of the recipes are wonderful and I do agree with the author about buying a cooking stone I have several different sizes because I also make bread, but this will really help the pizza cook faster and taste better. Just remember to make the dough in the morning and you will be good to go in the afternoon with excellent pizza. I am sorry that I am doing this review late. A wonderful addition to anyone’s cookbook library. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at
  www.1rad-readerreviews.com
• 
  SlowRain

  A followup of sorts to his excellent bread book Flour Water Salt Yeast, but this time focusing on pizza. While that previous book did have some pizza recipes in it, they were from a bread baker's perspective, and he freely admits he was wrong. The doughs in this book are from a pizza maker's perspective, because he did a lot of research in Italy and New York about making pizza. In fact, parts of it read like a who's who of pizza joints. I'd even go so far as to recommend the first section of this book to people traveling to Italy and looking for a culinary experience.
  
  As with his bread book, he not only gives you recipes, but also how to alter them to your particular needs. There are a wide variety of styles, and it's nice that he isn't fixated on only one "right" way to make pizza. There are several different kinds of dough and styles of pizzas, as well as different ideas for toppings--some of them way out there.
  
  It's an easy read, and there are videos on YouTube that can assist as well (see link below). If I had one complaint, the book was repetitive at times--to the point I actually thought I'd read one chapter already because much of what was being discussed seemed so familiar. But, all in all, a good book.
  
  
  https://www.youtube.com/user/KensArti...
  
• 
  Nick

  If you're interested in bread baking, there's quite a selection of fine books to guide you into the rabbit hole of the craft — and thanks to the efforts of such great writers and bakers, really outstanding bread can come from home kitchens, given time and effort and technique. However, most of these books approach pizza as, well, just bread shaped differently, with stuff thrown on top. Including Forkish himself, in his prior book Flour Water Yeast Salt.
  
  Here, Forkish — immersed in a deep study of Pizza in Italy — has the revelation. Pizza is not bread. Pizza is it's own unique thing, with myriad traditions and styles across the states, and ALSO across Italy. Getting to the root of making good pizza, then, comes to understanding the style you want to achieve, the ingredients you have available, time, temperature, and technique.
  
  No other book goes into the history and technique of pizza making quite like this. And while the recipes themselves might be more "examples of what one could do, given this style," it's the emphasis on the dough and technique that makes this a winner. I know I'll be regularly referring to it.
• 
  Jean

  Excellent resource for serious home pizza cooks. This book walks you through the history and lore of pizza as it originated in Italy and eventually emigrated to America with the Italians in the early 20th century. It is also a comprehensive style guide for the many varieties of pizza that exist in the world today. Additionally, as a person who was looking for practical pizza making procedural knowledge, this book did not disappoint. Ken Forkish has provided many recipes here for a variety of dough styles and suggestions for topping combinations. With that said he also encourages the user to mix/match doughs and topping combos to create their own personal creations. There are tidbits of veteran pizza maker knowledge provided throughout this book, such as scraping the burnt flour off the stone/steel in between baking pies ect., so pay close attention if you’re new to making pizzas. A great resource overall!
• 
  Hannah

  Helpful insofar as it can be if you don't possess a kitchen scale. Extremely motivating if you've always wanted a kitchen scale but have't yet bothered to do so.
  
  He provides a variety of crust and sauce recipes that allow you to create a pizza to your exact taste, and explains the math involved quite clearly. He writes very well about different styles of pizza and the cultures to which each belongs, which helped me enjoy the book even though without the aforementioned kitchen scale I was unable to try out a recipe.
• 
  GertJan

  Uitstekend boek over alle finesses en veel technische (en smakelijke) details over pizza's in Italie en de VS. Recepten voor vele soorten deeg zijn aangepast aan thuiskeukens, er vanuit gaande dat je een pizzasteen of stalen plaat gebruikt. Voor wie een houtoven heeft moet je soms wat aanpassen, maar dat is goed te doen door de goede uitleg over de manier waarop water, zout, gist, tijd en temeratuur op elkaar inwerken. Met de Pizzabijbel erbij heb je alles wat je wilt weten in handen. Goed initiatief van Stefan Tibben van italieplein.nl om dit boek in Nederlandse vertaling uit te geven.
• 
  Jeff Specht

  Just like he did with Flour Water Salt Yeast, Ken Forkish has permanently changed my life. While over half this book is recipes for dough and pizzas, the first hundred pages or so of this book are dedicated to the history of pizza, descriptions of Forkish's experiences learning from some of the world's best Pizzaiolos, and the techniques he's found successful in making quality pizza in a home kitchen. I tend to be a bit of a nerd about where my food comes from, both in the ingredients and the history of the recipes themselves, so I found the content of this book very enjoyable.
• 
  Spencer Mize

  I didn't love this one has much as Ken's first effort, but that's partially because much of it was duplicative. I sincerely appreciated the author's humility in recognizing that his skill as a bread baker didn't directly translate to pizza. Revising some old recipes based upon new learnings is part of what makes Ken so relatable - baking is an iterative process.
  
  I had hoped that he'd spend a little more time on some other crusts (Chicago!), but all in all this is a solid book that's probably even more valuable if you haven't read his first.
• 
  Avalon1224

  El autor sabe explicarte los fundamentos y procedimientos para hacer buena Pizza.
  
  Te recomienda el uso de herramientas (algunas obligadas), te sugiere buena calidad de materias primas, y te da unos tips excelentes para hacer buena Pizza en horno de casa convencional.
  
  A mi me resultó, cero experiencia en hacer pizza desde la masa, y los primeros resultados fueron increíbles. Claro, necesito experiencia para perfeccionar las técnicas, y irme adaptando a las condiciones y limitaciones de mi horno de estufa.
• 
  Scott

  The Bible for Serious Home Pizza Nerds
  
  I’ll admit to spending much of the last 40 years trying to make great pizza at home. Why, you might ask? Because pizza is life’s most perfect food. I could (and have) eat it 5 days per week. Yet making great pizza at home is easier said than done. This book appreciates pizza for what it is. No more; no less. If you’re serious about making pizza at home this book is a must read. Wish I’d had it 40 yrs ago.
• 
  Luke Gruber

  I love how this book explores a wide variety of pizza styles and tries to honor their differences.
  
  Ken treats the pizza dough with care allowing time and temperature to activate the yeast to give the dough it’s flavor and desired rise.
  
  I especially appreciate how this book goes into detail of all the ingredients (flour, canned tomatoes, mozzarella). The reader is left with the right information to visit the local grocery store and know what to look for.
• 
  Shannon Ture

  This book has transformed my pizza-making. I could never get beyond sub-par with my pizzas. I sat down and gleaned from this guy, who reads like a friendly uncle, and who has done the thorough work of explaining the nuances of getting those favorite Italian and New York flavors and textures from a basic home oven. Thank you, Mr. (Uncle) Forkish! My stomach is so happy.
• 
  Richard Brylczyk

  This is a great volume for pizza bakers to gain perspective on pizza. The description of various styles of pizza was great. The recipes and methodologies for making pizza were also superb. I learned more from reading this book than from 2 years of baking pizzas using several recipes from other cookbooks.