Good pizza is magic.

Something indescribably wonderful happens when you combine crust, tomato, and cheese and bake them to melted perfection. In this highly anticipated cookbook, Ken Forkish—owner of the beloved restaurant Ken’s Artisan Pizza in Portland, Oregon; the James Beard and IACP Award–winning author of Flour Water Salt Yeast; and one of the most trusted baking authorities in the country—proves that amazing pizza is within reach of any home cook.

The Elements of Pizza breaks down each step of the pizza-making process, from choosing a dough to shaping your pie to selecting cheeses and toppings that will work for your home kitchen setup. Forkish offers more than a dozen different dough recipes—same-day “Saturday doughs” that you can make in the morning to bake pizza that night, levain doughs made from a naturally fermented yeast starter, and even gluten-free dough—each of which results in the best, most texturally sublime crust you’ve ever made at home.

His clear, expert instructions will have you shaping pies and loading a pizza peel with the confidence of a professional pizzaiolo. And his innovative, seasonal topping ideas will surprise and delight any pizza lover—and inspire you to create your own signature pies, just the way you like them.

KEN FORKISH is the author of the James Beard and IACP Award–winning book Flour Water Salt Yeast, and the owner of the popular Portland, Oregon, restaurants Ken’s Artisan Bakery, Ken’s Artisan Pizza, and Trifecta Tavern & Bakery.