Welcome!

Thank you for visiting this web site.  This site and my book will hopefully bring out your passion for making wonderful pizza.

I will use the blog to add thoughts about the book, pizza, and anything else I hope you might find interesting.

Posted in Introduction | on December 25, 2008 | Comments (0)

Passionate About Pizza Cookbook Quickstart Tutorial

passionate-about-pizza-ebook-cover

Available at Amazon

Do you want to try making pizza but are not yet ready to plunk down the money for a pizza cookbook?  Have you tried finding pizza recipes on-line but have been left with a messy pizza-making experience?  The Passionate About Pizza Quickstart Tutorial is for you!  The tutorial provides the basics on ingredients, preparation techiques, and a basic pizza recipe.  Get started making pizza with confidence!

This Quickstart Tutorial eBook will ignite your passion and help you make great homemade pizza!

  • Brings you the Quickstart chapter from the cookbook Passionate About Pizza:Making Great Homemade Pizza
  • bookmarks take you right to the page you want to see
  • ePub format eBook

View an excerpt from the Passionate about Pizza Cookbook. Published by Twin Minds Technology.

Posted in Pizza Cookbooks | on January 29, 2009 | Comments (0)

Passionate About Pizza Cookbook Earns Top Honors

Pizzameister has run an award-winning pizza web site for almost ten years. He has reviewed 100 (yes that number is correct!) pizza cookbooks. In his own words, he’s never met a pizza cookbook he didn’t buy. Pizzameister recently reviewed Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza which was given five stars and is NUMBER ONE ON THE LIST out of 100 pizza cookbooks! You can find the list and a link to Pizzameister’s review at:

Pizzameister Pizza Cookbook Reviews

Posted in News, Pizza Commentary | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Passionate About Pizza eBook – Now Optimized for Ereaders!

The Passionate About Pizza eBook has been updated to take advantage of the new ereaders:

  • Links make navigation throughout the book easy
  • Color pictures that can be zoomed into
  • Search function works better than an index
  • Now includes Quickstart guide to make getting started easier
  • Available via Amazon Kindle

Links:

Buy Passionate About Pizza eBook at Amazon.com

Posted in News, Pizza Cookbooks | on August 29, 2010 | Comments (1)

“Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza” Coobook!

 

Passionate About Pizza Cover

This comprehensive pizza cookbook will ignite your passion and help you make great homemade pizza!

  • contains 256 full color pages
  • over 300 color pictures guide you each step of the way
  • 14 dough recipes
  • 10 sauce recipes
  • learn to make 17 different styles of pizza
  • 35 easy-to-follow pizza-making techniques
  • 65 recipes in all!
  • helps you consistently make great pizza every time
  • tips on Having a Pizza Party
  • Troubleshooting Guide with simple solutions to common problems
  • Softcover binding with sturdy color printed cover and 70# coated paper
  • ISBN 978-0-615-25860-7

View an excerpt from the Passionate about Pizza Cookbook. Published by Twin Minds Technology.

Sorry, out of print.  Ebooks are available now.

!Click Here!

Posted in Pizza Cookbooks | on December 23, 2008 | Comments (0)

Brozetti’s Pizza Passion from Belgium

Dear Sir,

My name is Fré and I am Belgian.

It seems that you and I have a thing or two in common.

Like yourself, I am also very passionat about pizzas. Also, like yourself I believe that the test of a good pizza maker is his (or her) cheese pizza.

Moreover, like yourself, I have had the pleasure of living in upstate N.Y.

In fact, as I am typing this letter, my mouth is watering just thinking about a delicious Brozetti’s pizza. I’m sure that you can imagine how one can crave for something even after so many years have gone by.

It’s almost spiritual!!!

Forgive my entheusiasm sir, but my problem, and the reason for writing this letter, is this…

For to many reasons to bore you with a list, I can’t imagine my ever being able to return to the Empire State. Do you think you would be able to help me? Do you think you could teach me to make such a heavenly pizza?

I don’t know how I could ever repay you for such a service except to say that if you were ever inclined to travel to Europe I could give you many good tips on what to see here in Belgium.

I anxiously await your reply as I remain…

Sincerely and respectfully yours,

Fré

Posted in Pizza Commentary, Pizza Friends | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

PizzaMan’s Book Signing – East 48th Street Market

PizzaMan had a really nice turnout for the book signing at the East 48th Street Market in Dunwoody, Georgia.

PizzaMan's Book Signing - E 48th St Market

The market sells a wide range of Italian specialty products.  They also make fresh pastries, breads, Italian foods, and deli items.  It’s wonderful so stop by!

Posted in Pizza Friends | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Dough Thickness Not Right? Adjust it to your taste!

 Here is another consultation between PizzaMan and a friend:

From: ADAM
Date: Sat, 2 May 2009
To: PizzaMan
 
Hey a quick question on my "P.A.P.B."….My biggest problem is being consistent about my dough. It’s a little tough on the bottom. Not as soft as I like. Maybe too tough on the bottom. Did I knead it too long? Not let it rest enough? Too much flour? Stone too low/high in the oven?
 
Hope all’s well.
 
Adam
From: PizzaMan
To: ADAM
Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009
Do you mean too crunchy? Too thick? Too dense?
 
PizzaMan
Posted in Pizza Techniques | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Why Make Homemade Pizza?

Think of the best pizza you ever had.  Don't you wish that you could have that pizza again, maybe even all the time?  If you are lucky, you can get that great pizza locally.  However, if you are like most people, you just cannot seem to find the great pizza you want.  If you live on the east coast, there are not very many Chicago-style or California-style pizzerias around.  If you have moved away from New York City (or even upstate New York), you can only find great New York-style pizza in your memories.  Well, if you cannot buy it, you can certainly make it.  If you can buy it, you can certainly make one that is better!

Posted in Pizza Commentary | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Dough needs help? Don’t forget the Salt!

Here is an exchange PizzaMan had with a friend:

Scott
January 26 at 12:29pm
when you have time. I’ve been working on my pizza for a while now but its still lacking.
 
Scott 
January 26 at 4:34pm
Hi, Scott!

What about your pizza needs improvement?

May your dough rise,
PizzaMan 

Posted in Pizza Techniques | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Julia makes her first Passionate About Pizza pie!

One buyer of my book just made her first pizza.  Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=307053&id=1053367080&ref=mf#/photo.php?pid=307053&id=1053367080&ref=mf.

Posted in Pizza Friends | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Questions about Sourdough

Bill Morris asked a couple of questions:

I am making the sour dough starter sponge. After leaving it out for a couple of days, can I put in a closed jar in the refrigerator. (Well it expand and break the glass?)

Also, on page 140ish, Calif sour dough pizza and the next style, do not state how much sour dough starter to use in the recipe. Can you please clarify.

 

P.S.: I bought 3 books and everyone loves them.

PizzaMan replies:

The wild yeast in the sourdough starter will slow down when you refrigerate the starter but it will NOT stop entirely.  If you place it in a closed jar it may very well explode.  Virtually everyone recommends that you use a loose-fitting cover for any sourdough starter.

The California-style Sourdough recipe was written to use the entire quantity of the Sourdough Starter Sponge recipe on the prior page; in other words, a cup of water, a cup of flour, and 1/2 teaspoon yeast.  That works out to be something like 1 1/4 cup of sourdough starter if you already have one made.  Depending on the consistency of your sourdough starter you might need to adjust the amount of flour you use when making dough to reach the consistency you prefer.

Posted in Pizza Techniques | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (2)

Passionate About Pizza has a Facebook Fan Page

There have already been a few discussions about Passionate About Pizza on Facebook.  So, there is now a fan page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Passionate-About-Pizza-Cookbook-Fans/58905449185?sid=8891c79d461a2110dea7d2efee65d2d0&ref=s.

Please visit the fan page and show your support!

Posted in Pizza Commentary | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

Family Pizza Nights

Ward writes:

Apparently engineers make great chefs! The author has an engineering background that comes through clearly in this book. It is clear that the author has systematically examined what makes good pizza in every aspect and from every angle, and has assembled that knowledge in a clear and organized manner in this book.  It’s easy to read, too!

The result is that not only does the book provide fantastic recipes to follow, but it provides you with the principles and techniques that you can use to customize the recipes to produce pizzas that are ideal for your personal taste. The ideas are presented in such an orderly and logical manner that it is easy to do. 

The pizzas are so good and the process of designing them and making them is so fun that making pizzas using the book is a fun family event that occurs about once a week in our household. The pizzas we make using the recipes and principles in Passionate About Pizza are so much better than any other pizzas we have ever bought or made that it doesn’t even seem right to use the same word to refer to the bland, circular chewy things that we used to eat before we bought Passionate About Pizza.

Posted in Pizza Commentary, Pizza Friends | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (1)

Mixing Dough

The goal is to mix the right amount of the proper ingredients together to create uniform dough. Good dough has all the ingredients evenly distributed throughout the dough. There are two basic methods – the dry mix and wet mix methods. Both work well, so use the method that suits your fancy. I generally use the wet mix method because it gives me a chance to see that the yeast is active.

Posted in Pizza Techniques | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

The Making of a Pizza Cookbook

You might wonder who I am and how I developed such a passion for making pizza and writing about making pizza.

I began making Chicago-style pizza soon after I got married. My wife and I received a Chicago-style pizza set as a wedding shower gift. The kit had a deep-dish pizza pan, pizza cutter, pan lifter, and a pizza cookbook specializing in Chicago-style pizza. One day I asked my wife if she was ever going to make pizza; she said, “You go ahead.” So, I did. I used the kit to make pizza quite frequently. I kept practicing until I could make a better pizza than most of the local pizzerias in the suburbs of Chicago where we lived at that time. After a while, I missed the New York-style thin crust pizza that I grew up with; you just could not buy that kind of pizza in Chicago when I lived there. Therefore, I decided to try my hand at making New York-style pizza. After another intense period of practice, I was able to duplicate and even improve on the New York-style pizza I remembered from my youth.

I practiced making pizza whenever I could. I made and served many hundreds of pizzas to my family and friends over the years. My pizzas became more and more consistent and I kept getting rave reviews; that is, when they were not begging me to make something other than pizza! Many of my friends said, “You should open a pizzeria!” Others said, “Can you teach me to make pizza like that?” I wrote this book to capture the techniques that I had learned and developed so that you can make great pizza, too!

Read More »

Posted in Pizza Commentary | on September 19, 2009 | Comments (2)

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