Genuine Pizza by Michael Schwartz – Hardback Cookbook

Genuine Pizza is James Beard Award-winning Miami chef Michael Schwartz's hardback guide to making better pizza at home, starting with step-by-step doughs and building to classic and creative pies. It's written with Olga Massov, has a foreword by Wolfgang Puck, and is packed with 200 colour photographs.

Learn the dough, then make it your own

Michael Schwartz made his name defining fresh, local food in Miami, and the wood oven is the focal point of the open kitchen at Michael's Genuine. Pizza became a big part of his restaurants, and this book hands that experience to home cooks. Rather than a list of fixed recipes, it teaches the fundamentals, then gives you the confidence to improvise.

What's inside

The book opens with clear, detailed methods for making great pizza dough, the part most home cooks struggle with. From there it shows how to build a pie and balance it.

Once the base is sorted, Schwartz encourages you to mix and match sauces, cheeses, meats and vegetables to create both classic and new combinations, and to treat pizza as the start of a colourful, balanced meal. Sidney Bensimon's 200 colour photographs make it as good to flick through as it is to cook from.

Who it's for

Anyone with a pizza oven, and anyone using a home oven who wants a better crust. It suits beginners who want to learn properly, and more experienced cooks after fresh topping ideas.

About Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz is a James Beard Award-winning chef, cookbook author and co-owner of the Genuine Hospitality Group in Miami, whose restaurants have included Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, Amara at Paraiso, Genuine Pizza and Harry's Pizzeria. His first book was Michael's Genuine Food. Co-writer Olga Massov is a food writer and editor.

The Rub Smuggler's Verdict

This is the one that teaches you dough properly, then hands you the keys. Schwartz is a James Beard winner who runs wood ovens for a living, and his step-by-step dough methods are the real treasure here. Get it and your pizza nights will never look back. Stack it with Pizza Czar for a deep dive into styles, and SLICE for punchy topping ideas. A few drops of Foo Chilli Ma Foo Chilli Oil on a white pie is a cheeky upgrade. Tip from the docks: weigh your flour and water, don't scoop.

Questions answered

Who wrote Genuine Pizza?

Genuine Pizza was written by Michael Schwartz, a James Beard Award-winning chef and co-owner of Miami's Genuine Hospitality Group, with food writer Olga Massov. Wolfgang Puck wrote the foreword.

What's inside Genuine Pizza?

It starts with detailed, step-by-step pizza dough methods, then shows how to mix and match sauces, cheeses, meats and vegetables to build classic and creative pies.

Is Genuine Pizza good for beginners?

Yes. It focuses on fundamentals first, which makes it a great book for learning dough properly.

Is Genuine Pizza a hardback, and how many pages?

Yes. It's a 240-page hardback with 200 colour photographs, published by Abrams in 2019.

Does Genuine Pizza work with a pizza oven?

Yes. Schwartz cooks with wood ovens in his restaurants, and the methods suit pizza ovens as well as home ovens.