The suspense has been killing me. It’s finally time to to tell you about the cookbook chef Craig Priebe and I co-wrote, The United States of Pizza. It comes out September 22, 2015, and today it’s Number 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Baking list.
Chef Craig and I had so much fun writing Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas that we wanted to write another pizza book. This time we focused on iconic pizzas served at pizzerias and fine dining restaurants around the US.
Craig chose pizzas emblematic of a particular place. There’s a Sicilian bacon cheeseburger pizza from a Wyoming restaurant, for example, a steak stromboli (like a big turnover) from Pennsylvania, a blue cornmeal pizza from Santa Fe, and a crawfish Étoufée pizza from New Orleans.
The chapters are organized by doughs, because so often, it’s all about the crust. Craig excels at creating easy recipes that turn out excellent crusts:
- Naples, the thin crust pizza
- New York style, the most popular in the US
- Sicilian, thick like focaccia
- sourdough, chewy and a little tangy
- stuffed pizzas, loaded with cheeses and meats
- corn flour, which produces tender yellow crusts
- a whole wheat dough that makes a tender crust, and
- gluten-free dough, which makes a pre-baked crust with just the right texture.
Spinning pizza dough is pretty easy with a good elastic crust. See that screen in the bottom left of the photo? It’s what Craig and I used to bake. It produces a crispy crust every time. (Photo by Kris Montgomery)
As a team, Craig and I were in a groove. Craig came up with the concept and did all the recipe development. He hired me to edit his first drafts, test the recipes and to write the front matter and final drafts of headnotes.
Did I mention that we each made more than 100 pizzas over several months? Then Craig made them all over again for the photo shoot, with the help of a food stylist.
And wow, they were good. Chicago magazine once called Craig a “pizza miracle worker” and he has won national pizza-making contests. His ability to translate restaurant-quality pizzas into easy recipes for home cooks is enviable.
And lastly, isn’t the cover gorgeous? We tried several shots and we loved the colors and textures of this one best. Our photographer is the talented Jeff Kauck.
If you’d like to win a copy of our book, please leave a comment below. I’ll pick a winner at random (US and Canada only, sorry!) by July 15, 2015.
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Update: Comments are closed. Random.org chose the winner of the cookbook, commenter No. 60, Carol Lustenader. Congratulations!
Looks amazing!
I loved your last book and I’m looking forward to reading this one. I’m curious to see how you rated the restaurants, and to hear how you rated Chris Bianco’s pizza in the book.
Look at you flipping pizza dough (does one flip pizza dough?)!! The book looks fantastic – the cover is gorgeous! Congratulations to both of you!
I cannot wait for this book! What a stunning, grabbing cover. Pizza! All across the United States!
Nice to have a book out detailing the different styles. Can’t wait t get a copy.
love pizza and would love this book!
Nice, the book includes different crust types from different areas. I’m a fan of thinner crusts (oh baby, that thin crust style from Naples!). Can’t wait to check it out.
I want Pizza!
Congrats Dianne. I can’t wait to get my hands on this new book.
So excited to read this book after reading Dianne’s extremely informative Will Write for Food with so many helpful tidbits which ultimately gave me the confidence to branch out into the freelance world!
Great to see that the book is finally out, Dianne. Thanks for testing a couple of the recipes on me, especially the lobster pizza and the gluten-free crust topped with caramelized onions. Both sensational!
Love your pizza-spinning photo! Congratulations on this book. Great concept, great title and I especially like the unique way you’ve organized the recipes by crusts.
I’ve cooked a lot of foods but have had little success making great pizza. I’m sure this book will help. Looking forward to reading it!
Can’t wait to see what looks like a wonderful addition to cookbooks about pizza. I love to teach pizza making in my classes. So I look forward to reading what you and Chef have come up with. Congrats on all your hard work.
Congrats on the new book! Adding it to my Wish List :). Yum!
Looks great! Congrats on the book!!
You’re right! The cover photo is a show stopper; makes me want to start figuring out a pizza for this evening’s dinner!
I can vouch for the restaurant-quality-at-home – I was a lucky taste taster of some tests. The best homemade pizzas I’ve ever had! Fantastic crusts just as you say.
I want that cover pizza right now! Can’t wait to see the book!
Hooray for a new Pizza book and congratulations! Pizza is a weekly staple in our home… even in the summer! I make big batches of dough and throw them in the freezer so I am always on the ready for pizza. But one can never have enough pizza recipes, so I am thrilled about your new book, Dianne! Looking forward to it!
I NEED to learn the crust thing. Congratulations to you both on what sounds like a terrific book.
I’ve given up buying pizza on Friday’s and now make my own. I’m always looking forward to new techniques and crusts! Looking forward to your book.
I seriously need to master the perfect homemade pizza crust! This book looks incredible!
Congrats, Dianne! Looks like another great book!
OMG. That cover! Nice. Congrats to you both!
Last week on a trip to NYC I spent 3 hours tracking down a slice of Di Fara’s pizza after reading about it in “Delancey” (there was a subway error followed by 2.5 mile walk involved) so I think I’m obligated to be a pizza aficionado from now on.
There’s not a pizza I’ve met I haven’t liked. Thick, thin, Red, white. Matters not. My husband, on the other hand, likes only pepperoni pizza. Maybe this book would help me bring him out of his pizza shell!
Wow! What an accomplishment! Congratulations to you both.
What a beautiful cover shot!
Congratulations, Diane – this new book looks gorgeous! I love your grilled pizza book, but have to eat gluten-free now so I’m eager to see what you’ve come up with this time.
Recipe testing for this book must have been very exciting and the perfect excuse to eat pizza every day! I wonder though, did you get bored of pizza after awhile?
Congrats on the new book!
Who doesn’t like pizza?
Pizza- as American as apple pie! Would have enjoyed being a taste tester/tester
Congratulations on reaching no. 1 on Hot New Releases, Diane! Looking forward to learning how to make all those fabulous pizzas!
Congratulations on your new book, Dianne! That pizza on the cover looks aaa-mazing! (See, it’s got me using all these exclamation marks!!)
Love the tip about making pizza on a screen. Despite the fact that I have a large splatter screen languishing in my cupboard, rarely used, it never occurred to me to use it for pizza, but that’s a brilliant idea. I’m getting it out for my next pizza (which just may be tonight).
Oh, and Happy Canada Day!
The cover is beautiful! Congratulations! Years ago I bought a pizza stone and other utensils and they’re still in the box. I think I’m ready to use them now to reproduce that cover recipe!
The cover is gorgeous Dianne, love it. Once again I am not in the contest since I’m in Europe but I will gladly buy the book. I’m curious about the doughs, in particular how you make a gluten free dough. Congratulations on the immediate success of the book.
I would love to get better at making pizza. I am definitely an expert at eating it!
Sounds so good. I love pizza!
I am both a picky and enthusiastic pizza lover. This book looks awesome.
Saturday Night is Pizza night at our house. Grandpa makes great pizzas for family (adult children and grandchildren) and friends. This will be the perfect book to add some variety and surprises. Thank you for your hard work. It will be appreciated.
I could eat that cover!
Congratulations DJ! Can’t wait to try the GF pizza crust!
Definitely want this book!! And I met your agent in NY at Keste last week. . . totally by accident she sat next to me. We had a lovely chat!!
This book looks awesome! Pizza is like a food group in our house. Congratulations!
Congratulations! It sounds like a lot of fun!
YUMMM the meatball piza on the cover is sensational!!!!!
I do love to make pizza!
Book sounds great! I’m pre-ordering now. But I’m curious what you learned about the importance of using different kinds of flour for different kinds of pizza crust.
Pizza = fun
Congrats Dianne!! Looks fantastic
I would love to win a copy of this new cookbook, since it would be a great addition to my Culinary Library of ver 6,000 Cookbooks!!! 🙂
Cover is a beautiful shot of the pizza. This book is right up my alley since I live pizza, and it looks like you’ve got them all. Yum!
I’ve never been all that interested in cooking. Maybe, a late bloomer ? Recently, I’m finding I have a strong curiosity about learning to cook. The colors, the smells, the tactile feeling of it all. I can’t wait to check out your blog. Good luck with the new book.
Pizza is so very USA!
Yes, the cover is very nice and the book sounds great. I’m a friend of Owen’s and I’ve had a pizza cookbook of my own in the works for 20 years. I’ve collected about 50 pizza cookbooks over the years to compare and will definitely buy if I don’t win.
I make my pizza from scratch..but yours look so much better.
Dianne, this looks like an amazing book!
Looks most intriguing!
What a pro! …and great colors! (especially for pizza)
The book cover photo alone made me terribly hungry. That your a co-author makes me want to own this cookbook. Hope I win. Thanks, Dianne!
So many ways to make pizza! This would be an awesome book to own!
I’ve been making pizza at home for a very long time and am always looking for ways to improve my pies. I look at them as not only an awesome meal but an art form. Recently I made a deep dish stuffed lasagna pizza, my wife was skeptical but loved it as did I. It was about 3 inches thick with a 12 layer lasagna encapsulated inside. Last week I made a pizza called The La Montanara that we had at a local restaurant another great pie that the kids devoured! I’d love to win this book to help me take my pizza making to higher levels.
Good luck on the book! Sounds amazing.. Lobster pizza?! Yum.
We have been making pizza at home for years – sometimes I get on a kick and we have it every Friday. I like the thin crust version, crispy, the rest of the family likes thicker crust. And we have tried both the steel in the oven and a stone on the grill. Would love to have a copy of your new book!
Congrats! I look forward to reading and using this.
Love the cover photo