Learn to COOK - Pizza: From Its Italian Origins to the Modern Table

Although it will always be identified with Italy, pizza is now eaten and enjoyed around the world. Pizza is a book for pizza lovers everywhere. It traces the history of this popular food, from its earliest form over 2000 years ago to the present. And, despite all the frozen, home delivered and microwave varieties available today, Buonassisi still argues for the simple integrity of the classic Italian style pizza. The roots of pizza go back before the Roman Empire when this nutritious 'one pan meal' was a favorite way to feed the legions who had neither knives, forks, plates or, in many cases, a table at which to sit down. A simple slice of dough covered with toppings provided the ideal meal to be eaten with the hands with a minimum of preparations or washing up.

Pizza concentrates on the great pizza cooking regions of Italy - Naples, of course, but the regions of Liguria and Sicily, among many others, have made great contributions to the development of pizza. After this fascinating tour through gastronomic history, Buonassisi offers wonderful, authentic recipes that allow you to create one of these authentic pizzas for yourself.

Along with the history and the local lore that surrounds each pizza in the area of its origin, Buonassisi also gives us some personal reminiscences about each pizza - how he discovered it and his impressions of the great regions of Italy. There is also a section on how to select the appropriate wines to accompany each variety and recipe.

Chapters on the correct way to make your own pizza oven, predictions about the future of pizza, and even what beer and wine to drink with which pizzas, complete this fully illustrated history of Italian pizza-making and its spread around the world. Pizza is not to be missed by pizza lovers and anyone interested in food, wine and cooking.

Rosario Buonassisi shows you how easy it is to make this simple but superb treat, and there's every reason to believe that once you taste the real thing you'll never go back to the pizza from take-out shops, which seldom tastes as good as the box it comes in.

This book gives clear directions and is beautifully (and encouragingly) photographed. It's as good as Charles and Michele Scicolone's book "Pizza Any Way You Slice It (also available from Amazon), and it is similarly packed with recipes, tips and advice. There are a couple of differences worth noting. Buonassisi is a scholar (in archeology) and a writer on many other subjects, and he naturally takes something of a scholarly approach here, providing a wealth of detail on pizza's origins and development. Gastronomically he goes further, providing an excellent chapter on what to drink with pizza: You can easily do better than just beer or wine, and his advice will improve your meal.

Finally, Buonassisi's recipe for basic dough uses bread flour only, rather than the Scicolones' blend of hard bread flour andsoft cake flour). Having put both recipes to the test--with excellent results--I'd advise buying books and spending some adventurous hours in the kitchen.

It's important to realize, by the way, that once you get the basics down, home-made pizza is a snap. The sauce and dough freeze beautifully, so you can easily make enough at one time to provide for maybe half a dozen home pizza nights--until your neighbors find out how good yours is.--Bill Marsano