A spread of the different styles of pizza.

“Engineering and cooking have a lot more in common than you’d think,” said Mumford, full-time regional engineering and maintenance manager at the chemical company Allnex. “I ended up relying on my engineering background a lot while creating this cookbook.”

His newly released cookbook, PizzaPedia, Favorite Recipes from Across America, covers four main styles — Neapolitan, pan, Sicilian, and thin. It features recipes from 20 U.S. regions and unique variations of fan favorites. Each section includes a dough recipe, explains the style, and lays out ingredients, equipment, and instructions. At the beginning of the book, Mumford prepares readers to become pizza experts, with tips, techniques, and an in-depth look at specific ingredients and tools.

A longtime cooking enthusiast, Mumford began experimenting with pizza during the pandemic, after a multi-day road trip from Michigan to Connecticut.

“There was a freak snowstorm and my trip ended up taking a lot longer than it should have,” said Mumford. “I ended up stopping in a bunch of a pizzerias along the way and quickly realized how drastically the style of pizza can change even just 30, 40, 50 miles away.”

Jim Mumford shaping pizza dough.

He had dabbled in writing cookbooks and even ran a recipe blog, but when the pandemic hit, he decided to fully commit to his own pizza book. But before he began writing, he needed to do some investigating. He visited different pizzerias, interviewing chefs to learn their processes. He investigated water-to-yeast ratios, pizza stones, topping methods, and even pizza-cutting techniques, noting how each decision made a difference.

Once he had a solid understanding of the styles, Mumford began experimenting. He tracked every detail like a lab experiment. 

“I have books and books of notes. I’d change one variable at a time and measure the results,” he said. “This sort of scientific method allowed me to explain why some things work better than others. The process is not much different than what I do at work, one is just large scale chemicals, and the other is pizza.”

However, Mumford went a step further and applied his engineering background to investigate the chemical makeup of different waters, and the thermal conductivity of cooking vessels. 

“I started pulling chemical reports of water in various cities,” he said. “I wanted to see how different water affects the pizza. New York water is better because it’s not chemically treated, so there’s not as much chlorine. Chlorine levels affect how the dough forms.” 

Using heat and mass transfer principles, he analyzed the k-values of pizza stones to determine when to use cast iron versus steel, or when a wood-fired oven is preferable over a standard oven. He even teaches readers how to emulate a wood-fired oven at home.

A toasted ravioli pizza, inspired by St.Louis pizza and toasted ravioli.

Mumford found a way to take his mechanical engineering degree and apply it far beyond the field. The problem-solving, investigative and forward-driven skills he learned at Purdue shaped not just his career, but also his passion project. By blending technical expertise with creativity, he was able to develop a cookbook that stands out for its innovation and depth.

“The way my Purdue degree prepared me for all aspects of life was kind of unrivaled,” said Mumford. “I mean, who knew I would end up using it to help me make a pizza cookbook?”

When asked to give advice to current students Mumford said this: “Try everything right now. Every club, group, class, and experience. Do it while you have endless opportunities at your fingertips.” 

Buy the PizzaPedia book today!

Writer: Julia Davis, juliadavis@purdue.edu