Passionate About Pizza Blog

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

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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

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After buying the PDF version of Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza he says:

I am a divorced dad of 2 teenagers that has limited skill in the kitchen. This book is so well written and put together that it was simple for me to on the first attempt have success.

I made a batch of the basic sauce and dough exactly how it was described in the book. I was expecting to fill a trash can with my first few attempts but to my surprise the first was as good as the sixth. My kids and their friends eat every bite and one even said it was the best pizza he had ever had. This book is a life saver it will allow me to serve my teenagers pizza when they want it now because before it was out of my budget. I can’t wait to work my way thru and learn as I go trying the different types.

Thank You for a remarkable book!

Clay

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Sourdough is wonderful!  It’s an adventure that harkens back to the days before commercial bakers yeast was available.  Sourdough starter is a wild yeast culture that imparts a distinctive sour flavor to the dough. You can purchase a sourdough starter or you can let a sponge made with rye flour and some pineapple juice go “wild” for a few days.  The conditions in which the starter grows such as the amount of sugar, the strain of yeast that thrives locally, and the other starter ingredients a can influence the starter’s flavor.