Pizza Modo Mio by John Lanzafame.

Pizza Modo Mio by John Lanzafame.  Paperback book published by Murdoch Books 2008, 192 pages with colour photographs.

“From traditional toppings and extraordinary bases, calzone and foot-longs, kids’ pizzas and even desserts, John Lanzafame has the pizza world covered. With instructions for all the pizza techniques you need to know, plus a variety of bases, sauces and delicious, sometimes unusual, toppings, Pizza modo mio — ‘my style’ — is the perfect cook’s companion for pizza lovers.”

I love Pizza.  This heartfelt and passionate passion of mine is a recent acquisition.  Before I moved to Clunes, Pizza was not something that I felt strongly about.  I liked Pizza.  It was even something that I enjoyed on a casual infrequent basis, but now that I’m living in a town without Pizza* (takeaway or restaurants), I love it.  Is this because I can’t get it that easily, or is it because I’ve started making my own Pizzas on a more regular basis?

I’m not the world’s greatest cook, but I do enjoy eating things that I’ve managed to slap together and when the taste is vaguely the way it should be, I love it even more.  I’ve have been known to cheat when cooking various dishes by using premixed ingredients such as pastes or ready made pastry, but I think most of us do this to varying degrees.  A good example is Indian food.  As nice as home made curry paste is, I find that many of the ready made, Indian made pastes, are more than up to standard.  Pizza on the other hand is something that I make from scratch.  Yes, I’m a dough man and recently I’ve become a reduced Tomato man as apposed to tomato paste, which is something I’ve used for as long as I can remember.  My dough recipe is something I picked up from some well known cookbooks and is something that works well for me… even when it doesn’t work exactly to plan, it still works.  Toppings vary depending on my mood and tastes… and what’s in the fridge.  Because I eat what I make, I think I’m entitled to add that my Pizza making skills have improved over the last year or two.  I love it.

My spiel here has very little to do with Pizza Modo Mio.  I figured that what I want to convey to you, the reader, is how lovely it is to make your own pizza from scratch which is exactly what this book will show any budding Pizza Chef how to do.  I find it extremely satisfying to put down a large tray of gourmet Pizza in front of unsuspecting guests and watch their surprise when they realise that yours truly has made what’s on offer and Pizza Modo Mio will demonstrate how to achieve this.

* Clunes Population = 1656