The Joy of Pizza

"[T]he perfect reference for home cooks and professionals alike."—Food52

"He's got what it takes to make the best pizza on planet Earth."—Adam Platt, New York magazine

"Dan Richer, chef of Jersey City institution Razza, and Rome-based writer Katie Parla team up on this exuberant celebration of one of the world’s favorite hand-held meals, replete with tips and recipes for how to achieve airy yet crispy crusts and masterful flavor combinations."—Saveur

"The definitive pizza book for the home cook. Not even close. And [Richer and Parla] are as smart as it comes on all matters culinary. Huge winner."—Andrew Zimmern

"Home cooks interested in learning how to make pizza from scratch will appreciate this cookbook by rising culinary star Richer... The recipes for different kinds of pizza dough (including sourdough) are worth the price of admission alone, but the book also helpfully includes rubrics for evaluating tomatoes, olive oil, and mozzarella."—Library Journal

“Dan Richer is the mastermind behind culinary destination Razza… one of the most talked about pizza places in the country.”—Good Morning America

"Dan knows what he’s doing at every step of the process so he can say, I want a little bit more crunch, or I want a little bit more acid in my dough.... [He] is a great teacher."—chef Wylie Dufresne

"For Dan Richer, the best pizza is not in New Jersey, or New York, or even Italy—but wherever you happen to be. As long as you get your hands on the finest local ingredients and master the art of dough-making, you can produce a truly exceptional pie from just about anywhere. The Razza chef/owner explains this, along with everything else he’s learned in his 20 years of making pizza, in The Joy of Pizza."—Thrillist

"Dan’s pizza has a nostalgic, reminiscent quality while at the same time being very local to his part of New Jersey and also very progressive, which is extremely difficult to do.... You get hints of Naples; you get a hint of John's coal oven in New York; you get a hint of all of these ancient flavors. But when you look down at the pie, you’re looking at this completely modern thing that he’s created."—chef Frank Falcinelli

"I could eat these pizzas for every meal."—Kelsey Lynch, Glamour

"What makes this book so compelling and perfect for beginners is that Richer starts with the basics. Perfect your own pizza dough, sauce, and cheese selection before combining them all into creative concoctions... You’ll learn how to assess your cheese, measure your cooking temperatures, make your own sourdough, and much more. The Joy of Pizza is beautifully photographed and offers useful tips for beginners and advanced skills for pizza pros."—Cool Material

"It's difficult to manifest subjective feelings like 'joy' into tangible objects. But, if joy were a food, we can all agree that it would be pizza. Now there's a new treatise on the subject, and it takes the form of a 288-page book that looks good enough to eat."

"You love it because it’s perfect but do you know how to make it? You will after reading this. Written by the chef of Razza, the New Jersey pizzeria that makes food critics cry and the NYTimes betray its own city, The Joy of Pizza covers every step in the pizza-making process. Using simple ingredients, you’ll make 2022 the Year of the Pie, using just your regular old oven."—GearMoose