Pizza Practice: Doughs, Techniques, And Toppings

Ten doughs! Not just same-day dough, but builds with 10% rye flour, 20% spelt, 100% whole wheat, a sponge, and a poolish. Tara Jensen, who runs her own pizzeria, Dough Baby, in Loudon County, Virginia, has written a 415-page immersion for the home baker who wants to understand pizza from the foundation up.

Jensen uses both commercial and instant yeast, alone and in combination, without the sourdough dogmatism that makes some bread and pizza books feel limiting. Step-by-step photography covers all phases of dough-making, folding, shaping, and baking, and the instructions are detailed enough to serve bakers who are genuinely learning alongside those refining technique they already have.

The toppings range from the disarmingly simple (red sauce only) to the deliberately provocative (American cheese; pancetta and brown butter pineapple). The book's real strength, though, lies in the less obvious combinations: caramelized onion, sausage, and maple; nettles and cream. A separate section covers flatbreads, including pita and focaccia, where Jensen's appetite for experiment resurfaces in a grits-laden dough and a topping of grape, gruyère, and toasted walnut.

Readers looking to replicate commonly available classics may find more here than they need. Those who want to go somewhere interesting will have plenty to work with.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.