Pizza: it's an incredibly popular food, and panini (rustic grilled sandwiches) aren't far behind. These are fabulously versatile foods that allow you to combine a wide array of bread products with virtually limitless toppings. You might not be sure where to start, however, if you want to make them at home; many people think they're limited to takeout, restaurants, and frozen pizzas. Instead, you could pick up Erik Sherman's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pizza & Panini. It's part how-to guide and part recipe book.

Sherman's book walks you through from start to finish: equipment, tools, doughs, breads, sauces, and finally, the complete recipes. This isn't an exhaustive cookbook; it's meant to give you the how-to and provide a handful of samples in different areas, such as meat pizzas, vegetable pizzas, breakfast and dessert pizzas, and then a similar array of panini.

The directions are quite thorough, and include many little tips along the way. Unfortunately, there are also a few missing bits of information.

The good news is, the recipes are delicious and easy. I enjoyed the various pizza doughs we made from Sherman's recipes, as well as the homemade pizza sauce. The Artichoke & Brie Pizza was a nice change of pace, and the homemade version of a Quattro Formaggio (four cheese) Pizza was definitely better than the commercial equivalent. There's a 'Tuna Meltdown Panino' in here that combined such ingredients as tuna salad, gouda, and avocado to wonderful effect.

Make sure you read the informational/how-to parts of the book before you dive into the recipes. After that, however, I think you'll find it so surprisingly easy to make your own pizzas that you'll be tempted to do it every week!

View a longer version of this review (with photos!) at Errant Dreams. ( )