Today is all about one of our favorite foods: pizza!

Best-selling cookbook author and one of America’s foremost pizza experts Dan Richer stops by the show to share his tips on baking your best pizza at home. Learn about his ideal home oven set up and his tips for nailing your bake. Then listen to David and Jessica answer your biggest pizza questions, from the best way to get a crispy crust to Jessica’s preferred method for reheating pizza. (Spoiler alert: It leaves David shocked.) Finally, they finish up with dueling Jess-opinions about pizza sauces and the recipes they’re baking this week.

Recipes and other links from this episode:

Find Dan’s book here: The Joy of Pizza
Follow Dan on Instagram and visit his James Beard-nominated restaurant Razza in New Jersey
Visit our Pizza Perfection shop page for our favorite tools and ingredients
Our favorite baking steel: Brod & Taylor Bread Steel
King Arthur’s 2020 Recipe of the Year: Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza
What David’s baking this week: Giant Hostess Cupcake Cake recipe
What Jessica’s baking this week: Peanut Butter Brownies recipe
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

We’re kicking off our first season by talking about one of the most quintessential American bakes: chocolate chip cookies!

Hosts Jessica and David are joined by best-selling cookbook author Zoë François, who talks about the extensive chocolate chip cookie testing she did for her latest book, Zoë Bakes Cookies, as well as the surprising role cookies played in her family history. Then, Jessica and David answer your burning cookie questions in Ask the Bakers, including tips on the best chocolate to use and the necessary tool you need for consistent cookie baking. They close out the episode with a detour into space, Jessica’s soapbox on why warm chocolate chip cookies are actually bad (!), and the recipes they’re baking this week.

Recipes and other links from this episode:

Find Zoë’s book here: Zoë Bakes Cookies
Follow Zoë on Instagram and Substack
Zoë’s Smash Cookies recipe (the cover star of her book!)
Oatmeal-Date Smash Cookies recipe
King Arthur’s 2024 Recipe of the Year: Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
What David’s baking this week: Sesame Wheat recipe
What Jessica’s baking this week: Roti Canai recipe
Our favorite baking scale: Essential Digital Scale
Shop all our chocolate, from chunks to chips
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

Introducing the official new podcast from King Arthur Baking Company, dropping April 28th! Join King Arthur’s Jessica Battilana and David Tamarkin as they explore every corner of the baking world. Each episode dives deep into a different baked good — its history and lore, tips and tricks, trends and takes — and they'll always leave time to answer baking questions from listeners. Along the way they chat with the best bakers in America to get their expert advice.