Start the New Year Off with Some Great - And Quick - Recipes for Artisan Pizza and Flatbreads!

Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois have done it again! Their third book in the "Five Minutes a Day" series, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes A Day, offers more delicious and easy to make recipes!

Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois's cookbooks have become popular with seasoned chefs and novices alike!  Like their other books, their latest, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, features delicious meals that can be made in just a few minutes!

CommitmentNow.com:  Congratulations!  Your two previous books, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day have been best sellers!  What inspired you  to follow the success of these two books with Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day?

Jeff Hertzberg, M.D.:  The pizza and flatbread recipes are the fastest things in all of our previous books, and we know from our website that people use them more often than anything else we’ve published  Plus there’s a national trend toward high-end pizza restaurants that specialize in $20 pies that you can make at home for $1.50!  So we saw a terrific opportunity to expand out into one of our favorite foods. 

CommitmentNow.com:  What is the secret to making artisan pizza and flatbread in five minutes a day?

Jeff:  You have to mix once, and bake many, that’s the real secret.  So as in our other books, you mix up a large batch of dough and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks.  Whenever you want pizza or flatbread, you just tear off a piece.  That accounts for the time savings.

CommitmentNow.com:  The recipes in this book cover a wide range of tastes – from Individual Breakfast Pizzas to Scandinavian Rye Crisps, from Rainbow Beet Pizza to Barbecued Chicken Pizza.  What inspires your and Zoe’s unique recipes?

Jeff:  For both of us, travel has been a primary inspiration.  I’ve spent time all over Europe, some of it on bicycle, and usually I had some bread, pizza, or flatbread in my mouth. The other inspiration for me is childhood memories, of neighborhood foods in New York City that have been gradually disappearing over the last 40 years. 

CommitmentNow.com:  Do you have favorite Artisan Pizza or Flat Bread recipes?

Jeff:  I love the Brussels Sprout, Smoked Pancetta, and Pecorino Pizza. 

CommitmentNow.com:  You and co-author Zoe Francois met in your children’s music class in 2003.  How did that lead to the Five Minutes a Day series?

Jeff:  I’d had a book offer in 2000 based on a radio call-in appearance I’d had on Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s The Splendid Table.  The phone call was done on a lark, and I didn’t imagine I’d ever have time, energy, or inclination to put together the formal proposal that the publisher needed to give the go-ahead.  When I met Zoe in 2003, we decided to develop the book together.  The rest is history!

CommitmentNow.com:  With nearly five hundred thousand books in print, your books have made bread-making accessible for so many people who had never baked bread before.  Are you planning on writing another book?

Jeff:  We are!  The ideas are all percolating at the moment, but it will probably look at foods from around the world, and maybe pull in the rest of the meal—not just breads. 

CommitmentNow.com:  Where can we learn more about Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day?

Jeff:  Although we have nearly 500,000 books in print, all of those readers don’t have a question the same day, so we’re able to continue to personally answer every query we get on our website, www.PizzaIn5.com.  We have a virtual library of recipes there and there are photo instructionals and links to videos on our YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/Breadin5).  People can also connect on Twitter (@ArtisanBreadIn5), and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BreadIn5).