Pizza--the tender-crisp crust, savory tomato topping, and bubbling, toothsome cheese. And the trip to the pizzeria--until now. With unprecedented clarity, Charles and Michele Scicolone's Pizza: Any Way You Slice It provides the step-by-step basics and 100 recipes to make authentic pizza, focaccia, and calzones at home. The Scicolones' explicit instructions, tips, and shortcuts--plus precise illustrations--make mixing, kneading, and shaping the dough--as well as preparing toppings--remarkably easy. Even timid cooks will find themselves achieving toasty crusts that balance crispness and chewiness perfectly (hint: a little flour sprinkled on the baking stone adds smoky flavor) and toppings that far surpass the pizzeria's in freshness and taste.

The recipes are international. Traveling from Palermo to Chicago, from Naples to Brooklyn, the Scicolones have gathered recipes for such classics as Pizza Margherita (made with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil) and Spicy Pizza Marinara; new Italian favorites including Eggplant Parmesan Pizza and Pizza with Prosciutto and Arugula; and American pies such as Garlic and Cheese Pizza Bianca and Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza with Sausage and Cheese. Among the focaccia and other flatbread recipes is a must-make focaccia studded with pancetta and rosemary. Included also are suggestions for starters, salads, and side dishes, as well as wine and beer suggestions. Color photos present the pies in all their glory (and profile the all-important crusts), and there's a glossary of necessary equipment and ingredients. In Pizza: Any Way You Slice It, the Scicolones have included everything a pizza-lover needs to start baking beautiful homemade pies. --Arthur Boehm


Review
"I have long admired Michele's work, because her passion for Italian cooking leaps from the pages.  Now Michele and Charles have written a gem of a little book, Pizza, which should keep pizza lovers happily in the kitchen for weeks."
--Biba Caggiano, Biba Restaurant, author of Italy al Dente


From the Hardcover edition.


Review
"I have long admired Michele's work, because her passion for Italian cooking leaps from the pages.  Now Michele and Charles have written a gem of a little book, Pizza, which should keep pizza lovers happily in the kitchen for weeks."
--Biba Caggiano, Biba Restaurant, author of Italy al Dente


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Now in paperback, the complete pizza-making guide, written by the husband-and-wife team of cookbook author Michele Scicolone and pizza expert and wine merchant Charles Scicolone. In the Scicolone home, both spouses clearly have their responsibilities. Michele's domain was always the kitchen; schoolteacher and wine merchant Charles' was the wine cellar. In twenty-five years of marriage, he hadn't made so much as a sandwich or a pot of coffee. But on a trip to Naples, they both fell in love with the pizza, and Charles came home determined to learn how to make pizza. In no time, he became an expert as well as a "pizza maker to the stars, " culminating in his making pizza at Vanity Fair's party in honor of Colin Powell.