America’s artisan-pizza movement might not have happened if it weren’t for Chris Bianco. In the beginning, he was just a kid from an Italian-American family in New York. He started crafting his thin-crust wonders in a Phoenix grocery store in 1988. Eventually, his Pizzeria Bianco became a pie mecca, and in 2003, he won a James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest. All this from a salty-talking guy who listens to his heart, uses the best ingredients he can get his hands on, and keeps it simple. Really simple.

With this book, the pizza master tells you how to make a perfect dough, then use that  as the foundation for a classic Pizza Margherita, for focaccia, and for his original Pizza Rosa, “a pizza of restraint that delivers tenfold on its first bite.”  (It’s made with Parmigiano-Reggiano, thin slices of red onion, a touch of rosemary and a small handful of crushed Arizona pistachios.)