Modernist Pizza

Product Information

Modernist Pizza is a 2021 cookbook by Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya. The book is focused on pizza, its history and baking techniques, and a guide to the science behind it. After preshaping , you can also cold-proof this dough at 39°F for 1–2 days for even better baking and texture results. If you cold-proof the dough, remove the dough from refrigeration 1 1/2–2 hours before shaping so it warms up and is easier to stretch out.

And of course we’re going to talk about Italy … but what is there to say that hasn’t been said already? A lot it seems! We’ll hear from modern day masters, a chef in Rome applying modernist techniques to toppings, as well as the making of “mountain pies” in the hills between Venice and the Dolomites. They also dig down into the history of pizza, and it's fairly clear that what today is sold as Real Neapolitan Pizza is a rather new invention, and differs in fundamental ways from what was made in Naples throughout history. A decent case can be made for the view that pizza conquered the world from New York, rather than from Naples. Flip the dough over and flatten the center again, pushing the dough in an outward motion to extend the central part of the dough. It should be 6–8 inches in diameter. We’ve loved making this book. First and foremost because pizza is undeniably delicious. Pizza was a compelling topic for us for a number of reasons. It’s multicultural, found in virtually every country around the world, and yet wherever pizza goes, it mutates and evolves into something local. Pizza is simultaneously the evolution of a 19th-century dish from Naples and a window into the culinary creativity of the people who modified the original pizzas into the many local styles we enjoy today. Michael says: With regular unbleached flour and our old but trusty KitchenAid K5A, it takes almost 30 minutes for the dough to pass the windowpane test.

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However, the authors also took time to look into pizza history, to discover how this Neopolitan street speciality made its way around the world. In a particularly enlightening section, the book traces the earliest pizza recipes. Modernist Pizza will provide you with the tools to evolve your craft, invent, and make sublime creations. There’s never been a better time to make pizza. We have been going through Modernist Pizza for a couple of months, and we love it. As pizza enthusiasts, as we are, we couldn't have found a better book for our passion. We distilled our findings into three volumes. In the first volume, we share the history of pizza, the world of pizza at large, plus fundamentals to making pizza such as the ingredients that go into the dough and the role of heat in the pizza-making process. The chapters in volume 2 provide a comprehensive look at all the components of pizza—dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings—and present foundational recipes upon which the majority of our pizzas are built. The third and final volume is dedicated to both classic and innovative recipes for every pizza style we cover, including al taglio, Argentinean, bar/tavern, Brazilian thin-crust, deep-dish, Detroit, grandma/New York Square/Sicilian, Neapolitan, New York, New Haven, Old Forge, pizza fritta, and pizza gourmet. Volume 3 is also where you’ll find inventive flavor and topping combinations to help inspire your own pizza exploration. Guides to Top Pizza Destinations

Each gorgeously illustrated chapter examines a different aspect of pizza, from its history and top travel destinations to dough, sauce, cheese, toppings, equipment, and more. Housed in a red stainless-steel case, Modernist Pizza contains over 1,000 traditional and avant-garde recipes to make pizza from around the globe, each carefully developed with both professional and home pizzaioli in mind. Volume 2: Techniques and Ingredients ("detailed information about pizza-making techniques and the fundamental components of pizza: dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings.") You'll find innovative sauces, cheeses, and flavor combinations, as well as recipes for a range of styles, including New York, artisan, deep-dish, Brazilian thin-crust, focaccia, al taglio, and Detroit-style doughs, plus gluten-free variations. Adapted from MODERNIST PIZZA by the Modernist Cuisine team, Nathan Myhrvold & head chef Francisco Migoya In 1936 the second American recipe appeared, in an English edition of the Specialita Culinarie Italiane cookbook. It called for raised dough, tomatoes, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and ‘scamozza’ (perhaps a misspelling of scamorza, the southern Italian cow cheese.)They still go rather deep into certain rabbit holes, and end up making their own imitated buffalo mozzarella, with cow's milk and cream (or mascarpone) to make an extra-creamy cows milk mozzarella, that they claim is just as luscious as buffalo mozzarella. I'm not sure I'm prepared to go that far, but it's interesting to read about. In 1927, the Saturday Evening Post published America’s first pizza recipe. Its author, George Rector, included it in his Cook’s Tour column, describing the pizza as “part of a typical Tuscan meal.” Again, the toppings were tomatoes, anchovies, mozzarella and olive oil. I was worried that the oregano would be overwhelming at 1% (which is way more than I put in when I'm just eyeballing it, it turns out), but it wasn't offensive, it was just very present. Spread the sauce evenly over the dough, but leave the outermost 2.5 cm / 1 in of the perimeter dry. This is the La Quercia pepperoni -- it's a very thinly-sliced product, so by weight that's really not much pepperoni.

There's a lot to learn in Modernist Pizza and plenty to excite and stretch real pizza pros, with detail on new insights and techniques thanks to the hundreds of experiments conducted by the Modernit Cuisine Team - like a game-changing flavor-infused fior di latte mozzarella, and turning ordinary canned soup into an extraordinary tomato sauce. Whatever the model and yield, the goal is to achieve a good mix and full gluten development. Consider our suggested times as guidelines only. Use the windowpane test to help determine the dough’s stage of gluten development.If I could fault it for one thing, I guess I’d say that I wish it showed more “failures” of experiments and intermediate results. For example, they tried varying olive oil in the NY style recipe presumably, show us and tell us about 1 vs 2 vs 5 percent, etc. Over 550 step-by-step photos illustrate important details of nearly every technique and fundamental recipe in the book. These visual guides will walk you through the ins and outs of shaping dough, making cheese, applying sauce, and more, plus how to troubleshoot common problems at every stage of the pizza-making process. Michael says: I usually use King Arthur Bread Flour because it’s easy for me to get locally. In Paris, I use regular King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, which Dorie brings over for testing her recipes. It looked to me like it was going to be pretty low on sauce (and it is) but the proportion actually worked great on the finished pizza, so I guess one point to MP. The dough can be shaped a number of ways, I rolled mine: