PizzaExpress From Italy With Love: 100 Favourite Recipes to Make at Home

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Using this “master dough”, the book then covers many styles. It’s primarily a US-based pizza book so covers regional American pizzas first like New York, New Jersey, Detroit, and St Louis. Great insights from a genuine pizza expert who grew a restaurant and then consulted around the world. It has a good section on making Neapolitan pizza dough and making pizza in their preferred method – using a frying pan (skillet) and placing it under the broiler to mimic a hot pizza oven. The first few chapters are on the art and science of pizza – mainly ovens, flour, and dough. They follow Marc’s visits to Italian pizza legends like Franco Pepe. You can skip these chapters if you just want to get making pizza and go straight into the recipes.

The second half of the book is just as fulfilling. It has 11 pizza dough recipes for different styles and hydrations. A great thing about this book is that Marc offers different recipes and instructions for cooking in different ovens. There are the usual sections on flour, tomatoes, cheese, and equipment that you find in other pizza books. Very minor, but I find his dough balling technique a little unconventional where he folds it in on itself. I prefer the Pizza Bible method.

Rather than listing every pizza style known, it focuses on the important bits of dough – the flour, fermentation, different ovens, and tools. The author, Marc Vetri, trained as a chef in Italy before returning to the States and opening a number of acclaimed restaurants, and writing a number of books. It shows – the book is well laid out and presents a wealth of information from outstanding research.

We all have special memories that took place at PizzaExpress. Whether a children's birthday party, a formative first date or just a hankering for dough balls, PizzaExpress has always been there for us. Now the magic and versatility of the popular restaurants can be recreated at home with PizzaExpress: From Italy with Love.The book has a strong focus on quality ingredients, mostly of Italian origin, and it’s this route that Jim takes in his recipes for world-class pies. He has taken his methodical approach to bread dough to research the best dough in pizza making. Sometimes almost scientific-like, but very easily digestible for the reader.

Arslan Sharif, digital & loyalty director at PizzaExpress, said: “The PizzaExpress Club was designed to reward our loyal customers and offer them great instant value - with free food or drink items every time they dine with us. To celebrate reaching one million customers joining our generous digital rewards programme, we're giving everyone a free drink to say thanks for being part of - or welcome to, the PizzaExpress Club.I see the “Jim Lahey no-knead” method pop up all the time across internet forums and comments – I think people just love its simplicity. After the American styles (half the book), we have the Italian. Wood-fired Napoletana pizza has a detailed section on dough, sauce, and mozzarella before diving into the other Italian styles like from Rome. Jim has obviously spent a decent amount of time experimenting with flavors and coming up with new recipes for his restaurants, which he shares in the book. Overall this book is a complete mastery of pizza. It leaves no stone unturned for making great pizza either at home or in a wood-fired oven. I would recommend it to anyone – it’s definitely one of the best pizza books ever. Pros A bit opinionated and focused on Neapolitan-style pizza. They dismiss the idea of using a pizza stone or steel to cook pizza which I don’t agree with at all!

The first chapter is a “Masterclass” on making pizza and goes through step by step each part of the pizza-making process.It all blends very well together and is an absolute pleasure to read and eyeball all the images and recipe ideas. Pros If I was to buy one pizza cookbook then this would be it. This book really does look into every element of pizza dough and leaves no stone unturned. Most of them don’t follow normal preparations, so it’s quite refreshing to read all the unusual combinations. Like his spinach-based “Popeye Pie”. Sicilian style has a chapter and covers how to cook the dough in a sheet pan instead of stretching. It has some tasty recipe ideas like the Purple Potato and Pancetta and the Grandma Pie.