Does anybody actually need this?

That’s the question my colleagues and I ask ourselves whenever we embark on a new cookbook . We know we can make the book. But to make sure it’s the right book, we first interrogate why anybody would want it.

When it came to our new pizza book, the question was easy to answer.

The public’s general interest in pizza was never in question. We’re in the midst of a pizza renaissance in both professional and home kitchens. On the professional side, regional styles are finally getting the exposure they deserve, higher-quality ingredients are making their way into pragmatic slice shops, and chefs are pushing genres forward with new techniques (see: Wylie Dufresne putting cheese down first [ mon dieu! ] on his otherwise New York-style pies). At home, the revolution is happening in the oven — bakers are investing in high-heat pizza ovens , which instantly turn any backyard into a Neapolitan pizzeria.

Could a book meet this moment? We thought it could. So we wrote a pizza book.…