Italian Pizzas and Hearth Breads

Shares recipes for pizza doughs, pizzas, savory pies, and breads, and discusses Italian cuisine

Romer (The Tuscan Year) uses her subject as a focus, producing "a personal view of a small part of the great Italian culinary heritage." That engaging view ranges from the Eleusian Mysteries of classical Greece to "apizza" in 1950s Brooklyn. It encompasses practical information on cheese as easily as a quote from Goethe's Italian Journey. Although limited to Italian pizza and hearth breads, Romer's repertoire is varied and abundant. Pizza is made with eggplant and mozzarella, onion and egg, hot spiced salami and provolone, seafood and even white truffles. Hearth bread can be sampled plain, seasoned with tomato, or flavored with fresh grapes. There are calzones, fried dough, chicken liver tart and a rustic pie called schiacciata. Romer's lovely color illustrations are included. A drawback to this otherwise splendid volume: ingredients appear in a continuous, cluttered paragraph rather than as a list.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is not the typical single-subject cookbook; Romer, author of The Tuscan Year , has written a fascinating guide to a staple of Italian cuisine. The pizzas, savory pies, and hearth breads range from rustic to elegant, but there are no off-the-wall designer pizzas herethese tempting recipes are based on authentic, flavorful combinations of ingredients. Most cooks, however, are likely to find themselves sidetracked by Romer's commentary on food history, ingredients, techniques, and Italian culture. To cook from and to read. Recommended. JS
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.