The Pizza Bible

Tony Gemignani has won 11 world pizza championships. When we heard that, we were impressed. But here’s what made us want to do a book with him: he was first and only American ever to win the World Pizza Cup in Naples. In the Pizza Margherita category. Well, that and eating pizza after incredible pizza at his San Francisco restaurant.

Early on in the nearly two years we spent working on The Pizza Bible, we had a revelation. We had been making pizza from what would be the book’s master recipe, and we weren’t completely loving it. The texture was a little chewy, and the crust didn’t taste right. We told Tony this, and he asked us to make a 2-ball batch and bring it with us to our next working session. Tony took one ball, pushed it out, stretched it, topped it and baked. I did the same with the other one. His turned out fluffy, chewy, and pizzeria-perfect. Ours was tough and the crust was actually less tasty, even though it was made from the same dough.

That was the revelation. Tony’s hands have made hundreds of thousands of pizzas. Watching him handle dough is like seeing a master potter turn a lump of clay into a vase. We wanted to write a book that would give people the tools to create great pizzeria pizza in a home kitchen. And in that moment, we realized it wasn’t just about the recipes. It’s about teaching hands and minds.

That’s what led to the 40-page, photo-illustrated three-day master class that starts the book. We wanted to take people as close as we could to attending one of Tony’s fantastic pizza classes—to recreate his reassuring tone and generous way of sharing his endless pizza wisdom. Nothing can substitute for years of practice. You can’t learn to play the violin from a book. But we think The Pizza Bible gets closer than any book on the subject to giving people the tools, recipes and motivation to master the craft of pizza making.

Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Role: Writing

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