Best Pizza Bible: Neapolitan, Deep-Dish & Wood-Fired Styles for Home Chefs

The Pizza Bible is truly a masterpiece. I've been making pizzas going on 10 years now and have learned mainly by trial and error and being methodical. If this book had existed 10 years ago, it would have shaved at least a few years off my learning curve. I own hundreds of cookbooks, and generally speaking, the signal-to-noise ratio is really high. Not the case in this book. The Pizza Bible is written in a very approachable, likable style, but is just brimming with useful information.The typical pizza recipe, whether it's found in a cookbook or on the Internet, involves a packet of yeast and punching down a ball of dough after it's doubled in size. Sure you'll get a pizza if you follow a recipe like that, but it's nowhere even close to what high quality artisanal pizza is about. The Pizza Bible, on the other hand, offers step-by-step instructions on several regional styles of pizza in painstaking detail.If you make a pizza using one of the recipes in a cookbook, it'll be more involved than your average pizza recipe. But, that's why you'll end up with a better pizza.There are several things I love about this book. I won't cover them all, but I'll talk about a few of them:1. The Pizza Bible covers the *why* part very well. When you're asked to do something, it's always followed by a very clear explanation of why something should be done a certain way.2. The Pizza Bible uses gram-based, weight measurements. Baking is a very precise craft. Volume-based measurements are a bad idea with baking. Most cookbooks don't use weight measurements. When you see a recipe that asks you to use a cup of flour, you should be skeptical.3. The Pizza Bible is all about the details. While I'm an amateur, I've made pizza thousands of times (for serious). The biggest takeaway is that every single step matters. This book really captures the essence of this point. Most dough contains 4-6 ingredients, but there's an infinite number of ways to prepare it. The steps matter and The Pizza Bible doesn't overlook that fact.4. The Pizza Bible covers many regional styles. There's dozens of styles of pizza that exist. While not everyone is included in the book, most of the notable styles are. Having grown up on the East coast and been fortunate enough to travel to many parts of the country, I've tried many styles of pizza in the US. The Pizza Bible does nails it when it comes to covering each style. My favorites are the Detroit, Jersey, and New Haven style.Ok... so far I've been very bullish about the Pizza Bible and have only covered the pros. No review would be complete without a counterpoint. If I were to play devil's advocate, here's what I'd say:1. Some of the ingredients aren't going to be readily available on the shelf at your Supermarket. That said, the book is very thorough about offering sources and accessible alternatives.2. I've read through all of the Amazon reviews (as of the time of writing this) and have noticed some gripes about this not being suitable for a home cook / quick pizza night. To me, this is a matter of setting expectations properly. Good pizza takes time. There's no way around it.Disclaimer: While I've purchased this book with my very own money (It should show as a verified Amazon purchase), I am affiliated with The Pizza Bible companion site. That said, I have no financial stake in this book and truly believe 100% of everything I've written.