Pizza Quest: “The Perfect Loaf.” Interview with Author Maurizio Leo

Welcome back to Pizza Quest, where we celebrate artisanship wherever we find it (or, as we often say, “It’s more about the Quest than it is about the Pizza”). This episode features Maurizio Leo, the author of the hottest new bread book on the market, The Perfect Loaf. Maurizio, like many bread bakers of this era (myself included), was not formally trained as an apprentice or at a culinary school before he fell under the spell of sourdough. He simply dove down the rabbit hole as a home baker and hasn’t yet come up for air, absorbing everything he could find about the process and teaching himself, through trial and error, how to do it well. His passion for bread led him to jobs in high profile test kitchens and websites such as Food52, and now to a gorgeous new 400-page book that is gaining him international attention. In this conversation, Maurizio tells us about his personal journey in search of the perfect loaf, and shares some of the secrets of making great bread that he discovered along the way. If you, too, have fallen under the spell of sourdough (and who hasn’t?), you will love this conversation with its newest superstar.