• casun on March 31, 2015

  ISBN 0811803236 hardcover 1993

• Foodelf on March 14, 2010

  Both the Tirimsu and the Bread Pudding recipes are outstanding. This is a rather lovely book, very well written

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Starter dough (Biga)

  • kbrooks on May 08, 2026

    This is a fine biga/starter. I find that my ongoing sourdough starter (over 30 years and still going strong) works equally well in the recipes in this book.

• Round country bread (Pagnotta)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    This is a delicious bread. Like most of the bread recipes in the book it takes 3 rises. I maintain a Sourdough starter and find it works fine in place of the biga.

• Olive oil flat bread from Genoa (Foccacia alla Genovese)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    I make this often. It's basically the same dough as that for focaccette alle cipolle on pg.90. Sometimes I add 1 cup of sliced green onions sauteed in olive oil to the dough.

• Italian baguette (Sfilatino)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    OK baguette.

• Bread from Altamura (Pane Altamura)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    Wonderful taste and texture!

• Cigar-shaped bread (Filone)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    Uses the same dough as for the pagnotta on pg.34. Has a nice thin crust. Great as a base for bruschetta.

• Bread from Sicily (Pane Siciliano)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    Absolutely delicious bread! It's basically the recipe for the pane altamura bread on pg. 46,with added sesame seeds and different shaping. I am not great at bread shapes other than the standard boules and loaves. But this dough was so easy to work with. I had no problem shaping the soft crescent and cutting the "toes. " My loaf came out of the oven looking exactly like the photo in the book.

• Walnut bread (Pane alle noci)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    We weren't impressed by this bread. Found it somewhat stodgy.

• Raisin bread (Pane all'uva)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    My husband is a big fan of breads that contain raisins. This bread is fantastic without being sweet. A nice change from the usual cinnamon raisin breads (although we love them too!)

• Nine-grain bread (Pane di nove cereali)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    This was too heavy for our taste. Won't make again.

• Onion rolls (Focaccette alle cipolle)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    This was very good but we felt it needed more onion taste. I've increased the green onions to 1/4 cup and the yellow onions to 3 tablespoons. That gives a much more pronounced onion flavor that we like.

• Fisherman's bread (Pane del pescatore)

  • DKennedy on March 23, 2014

    Really want to try this one. Loved it at the restaurant.

• Basic pizza dough from Naples (Pasta di pizza alla Napoletana)

  • cault on May 22, 2020

    great dough

  • nadiam1000 on August 08, 2021

    Easy quick pizza dough. Tripled recipe for 2 pizzas - will make again.

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    This is a good pizza dough. However I still prefer Mark Bittman's recipe as my go-to pizza dough.

• Pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil (Pizza Margherita)

  • kbrooks on May 02, 2026

    Classic Italian pizza. I use my go to pizza dough (Mark Bittman's) but otherwise follow the recipe.

• Pizza with sausage (Pizza luganega)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    This is a favorite. I use Mark Bittman's pizza dough recipe. These toppings are perfect.

• Tuscan vegetable soup with bread (Ribollita)

  • kbrooks on January 26, 2025

    Lot of prep and ingredients. End result was okay, but not going to make again.

• Anise cookies (Anicini)

  • senzler on May 22, 2022

    In my year of baking biscotti this has to be on the top of my list for a traditional biscotti.

• Butter cookies (Biscotti da tè)

  • DKennedy on May 26, 2013

    Only recipes I have tried from this book are the butter cookies and a chocolate version of these butter cookies. I can't remember how to adapt the recipe to make them chocolate, but Maurizio from Il Fornaio corporate's suggestion is to replace a half of cup of flour with coco powder. So use 2.5 cups of flour and ½ cup of coco powder. I will try it and report back. At the shop, both versions were excellent - I used to buy this all the time for the Il Fornaio on Montana b4 if closed.

• Cornmeal cake (Amor di polenta)

  • smccandless on August 31, 2012

    High altitude @ 5000 ft: Add 1/2T flour, omit 1/4c sugar, Bake 35 min at 350. (Keep B powder at 1t). Delicious toasted. Served with stone fruit and berries baked in sweet wine, honey and lemon verbena. Topped with small scoop of lemon verbena ice cream.