pizza basics, one variable per page
Twenty-four lessons on what a pizza is, wheat into flour, the 00 grade and strong flour, hydration and what a dough is, the cold ferment, focaccia the wet cousin, yeast, salt, olive oil, kneading, the tomato and its sauce, mozzarella and pizza cheese, stretching by hand, toppings, the home oven with a stone, pizza by the numbers, and the Neapolitan, New York, Detroit and Sicilian styles.
One dial, one diagram, and one honest pie. That's a page.
pizza basics, one variable per page
Twenty-four lessons on what a pizza is, wheat into flour, the 00 grade and strong flour, hydration and what a dough is, the cold ferment, focaccia the wet cousin, yeast, salt, olive oil, kneading, the tomato and its sauce, mozzarella and pizza cheese, stretching by hand, toppings, the home oven with a stone, pizza by the numbers, and the Neapolitan, New York, Detroit and Sicilian styles.
Set in Space Grotesk, Inter and JetBrains Mono (SIL Open Font License).
Every fact in this book is as the primary source states it, fetched and read during this build: the Wikipedia articles Pizza, Neapolitan pizza, New York-style pizza, Detroit-style pizza, Sicilian pizza, Focaccia, Mozzarella, Pizza cheese, Tomato sauce, Tomato, Bread, Flour, Dough, Yeast, Olive oil, Salt and Wheat, all cached at build time and cited in each lesson's source line. One honest fold: the cached article Chicago-style pizza was read but its facts are folded into the Pizza article's crust spectrum and cited as Pizza. The book's text uses US spellings though its sources are titled New York-style pizza and Neapolitan pizza. Where two sources state different numbers, each is stated as its source states it. Practical rituals this book states as its own plan (the order of the variables, the practice asks) are labeled as this book's plan and rest on mechanics from those sources. This is a book of beginner pizza literacy, not a buying guide: no brand recommendations, the dough, the sauce, the cheese and the oven only. An independent guide; not affiliated with or endorsed by Wikipedia. No facts are sourced from Reddit, YouTube, forums or search engines.
Your purchase is for personal use only. You do not have redistribution rights: please do not share, resell, or republish this book or its pages.
© 2026 Steve Hodgkiss. All rights reserved. Personal use only; no redistribution rights.
Edition 1.0 · stevehodgkiss.net
Contents
Per the Wikipedia article Pizza, pizza is an Italian dish typically consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven; the term pizza was first recorded in AD 997, in a Latin manuscript from the southern Italian town of Gaeta, in Lazio, on the border of Campania; Raffaele Esposito is often credited with creating the modern version of pizza in Naples at the end of the 19th century, and modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century; the bottom of the pizza, called the crust, may vary widely according to style, thin as in a typical hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza or thick as in a deep-dish Chicago-style; the outer edge of the pizza is sometimes referred to as the cornicione; in Italy, pizza served in a restaurant is presented unsliced, and is eaten with the use of a knife and fork, while in casual settings it is typically cut into slices to be eaten while held in the hand.
What pizza is
Pizza is a flat base of leavened wheat dough topped with tomato, cheese and more, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.
The word was first recorded in AD 997, at Gaeta near Naples, and the modern pie grew from Naples flatbreads in the 18th or early 19th century.
Crusts run thin, hand-tossed, to thick deep-dish, and the puffy outer edge has its own name, the cornicione. In Italy a restaurant pie arrives unsliced, for knife and fork.
Order one plain pie this week and name its parts before the first slice.
The water dial
Per the Wikipedia articles Dough, Bread, Detroit-style pizza, Pizza and Focaccia, dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste most commonly made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid, with no formal definition, most doughs showing viscoelastic properties, gluten giving them structure, and an autolyse rest of flour and water before final mixing reducing mixing time and increasing extensibility; a ratio of three parts liquid to five parts flour is common for yeast breads, while high-hydration doughs like ciabatta and focaccia may be folded to develop gluten or not kneaded at all, and Detroit-style dough typically runs a hydration level of 70 percent or higher for an open, porous, chewy crust with a crisp exterior; a starter mixed a day or so ahead and allowed to ferment overnight produces a more flavorful bread with better texture; and focaccia is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread similar to pizza bianca, its dimples brushed with olive oil and coarse salt before the final rise, with the pizza article calling Sicilian pizza essentially a focaccia topped with tomato sauce.
- 01Hydration
- 02The cold ferment
Per the Wikipedia articles Bread, Dough and Detroit-style pizza, a ratio of three parts liquid to five parts flour is common for yeast breads; not all yeast doughs require kneading, and high-hydration doughs like ciabatta and focaccia may be folded to develop gluten or not kneaded at all; and the dough of a Detroit-style pizza typically has a hydration level of 70 percent or higher, which creates an open, porous, chewy crust with a crisp exterior.
Hydration
Bakers count water against flour weight; a common yeast-bread dough runs three parts liquid to five parts flour, about 60 percent.
High-hydration doughs like ciabatta and focaccia may be folded, not kneaded; the water does part of the work.
Detroit's dough runs 70 percent or higher, and the reward is an open, porous, chewy crust with a crisp shell. Wet dough, airy bite.
Mix one dough at 60 percent and one at 70 this week; feel the second fight back, then reward you.
Per the Wikipedia articles Bread, Pizza and Detroit-style pizza, a pre-ferment is a leavening agent combined with some of the flour and water a day or so ahead of baking and allowed to ferment overnight, and this produces a more flavorful bread with better texture; bakers see the starter method as a compromise between the reliable results of baker's yeast and the flavor and complexity of a longer fermentation; per Pizza, the dough is kneaded before being left undisturbed and allowed time to proof; and per Detroit-style pizza, the fresh dough is double-proofed and stretched by hand to the pan corners. This book's plan is the cold version of the same idea: mix today, rest cold overnight, bake tomorrow.
The cold ferment
A starter mixed a day or so ahead and left to ferment overnight bakes into a more flavorful bread with better texture.
Long fermentation is the flavor dial: the dough is kneaded, then left undisturbed to proof; Detroit's fresh dough is even double-proofed.
This book's plan is the cold version: mix today, rest slow in the fridge, shape and bake tomorrow.
Split one dough this week: bake half after an hour, half after a night in the fridge.
Per the Wikipedia article Mozzarella, mozzarella is a semi-soft non-aged cheese prepared using the pasta filata, stretched-curd, method, with a long history in southern Italy; the term is first mentioned in 1570, cited in a cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi; fresh mozzarella makes a distinct squeaky sound when chewed or rubbed; due to its high moisture content, it is traditionally served the day after it is made, but can be kept in brine for up to a week or longer when sold in vacuum-sealed packages; low-moisture mozzarella can be kept refrigerated for up to a month, and some shredded low-moisture mozzarella is sold with a shelf life of up to six months; mozzarella is used for most types of pizza and several pasta dishes; and varieties are distinguished by the milk: fior di latte from cow's milk, and buffalo mozzarella from the milk of the Italian buffalo.
Mozzarella
Mozzarella is a semi-soft, non-aged cheese made by the pasta filata stretched-curd method; the name appears in print by 1570.
It rides most types of pizza on earth; fresh is fior di latte from cow's milk, or buffalo mozzarella.
Fresh is squeaky and wet, served the day after it is made, a week in brine; low-moisture keeps a month refrigerated.
Buy one fresh ball and one dry block this week; melt both on toast and compare.
Per the Wikipedia article Pizza, in restaurants pizza can be baked in an oven with fire bricks above the heat source, an electric deck oven, a conveyor belt oven, or in traditional style in a wood or coal-fired brick oven; the pizza is slid into the oven on a long paddle called a peel, and before use a peel is typically sprinkled with cornmeal to allow the pizza to easily slide on and off it; when made at home, a pizza can be baked on a pizza stone in a regular oven to reproduce some of the heating effect of a brick oven; cooking directly on a metal surface results in too rapid heat transfer to the crust, burning it; some home chefs use a wood-fired pizza oven, usually installed outdoors and often dome-shaped to achieve even heat distribution; and another variation is grilled pizza, baked directly on a barbecue grill.
The home oven
Restaurant pies bake on fire bricks above the heat source, in deck ovens, conveyors, or wood or coal-fired brick ovens, slid in on a long peel.
At home, a pizza stone in a regular oven reproduces some of the brick oven's heating effect.
Beware bare metal: it transfers heat too fast and burns the crust. Dust the peel with cornmeal so the pie slides; outdoors, some cooks even use the grill.
Set your oven to its highest heat this week with the stone in for a full hour before the pie goes in.
Per the Wikipedia articles Neapolitan pizza and Pizza, Neapolitan pizza originated in the Italian city of Naples and is characterised by a soft, thin dough with high edges; in the strictest tradition of Neapolitan cuisine there are only two variations, pizza Margherita and pizza marinara; the tomatoes are traditionally either San Marzano tomatoes or pomodorini del Piennolo del Vesuvio, which grow on the volcanic plains to the south of Mount Vesuvius, and the cheese is traditionally mozzarella di bufala campana or fior di latte di Agerola; the pizza must be baked for 60 to 90 seconds in a 485 degree C wood-fired oven; the European Union has recognised pizza napoletana as a traditional speciality guaranteed since 5 February 2010, and the art of its making is included on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage; and per Pizza, a popular legend holds that pizza Margherita was invented in 1889 for Queen Margherita as a pizza in the colors of the Italian flag, red tomato, white mozzarella, green basil.
Neapolitan
The original: a soft, thin dough with high edges from Naples; in the strictest tradition, only two pizzas, Margherita and marinara.
The tomatoes are San Marzano or Piennolo del Vesuvio, grown on volcanic plains south of the mountain; the cheese is bufala or fior di latte.
Bake: 60 to 90 seconds at 485 degrees C, wood-fired. A TSG product since 5 February 2010, its craft UNESCO-listed; the Margherita legend crowns Queen Margherita, 1889, in the colors of the flag.
Count ninety seconds at your next pizzeria visit; that is the whole Neapolitan bake.