Press & Media

Bios, headshots, book covers, and facts for writers, producers, and bookers covering Maurizio Leo or The Perfect Loaf. Everything here is cleared for editorial use. Questions or deadlines: [email protected].

Fast Facts

Name	Maurizio Leo (mau-REET-zee-oh LEE-oh)
Title	Founder and baker, The Perfect Loaf; cookbook author; New York Times Cooking contributor
Based in	Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
The Perfect Loaf	Founded 2012. Independent site for sourdough bread and pizza, with recipes, guides, a weekly newsletter, and the Baker’s Corner membership
Audience	200K+ newsletter subscribers; 380K+ on Instagram (@maurizio)
Cookbook	The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More (Clarkson Potter, November 8, 2022). ISBN 978-0-593-13841-0. 432 pages
Cookbook	The Perfect Pizza (Clarkson Potter, November 10, 2026). ISBN 978-0-593-80076-8. 432 pages
Awards	James Beard Foundation Book Award, 2023; IACP Cookbook Award, 2023; New York Times bestseller. Site: Saveur Blog Awards 2016 and 2018; Webby nominee 2019
Training	Self-taught; courses at École Internationale de Boulangerie (France), San Francisco Baking Institute, and the WSU Bread Lab
Travel	Hosts small-group bread trips and workshops; next: western Sicily, 2027
Background	Master’s in computer science; software engineer before baking
Links	theperfectloaf.com · Cookbooks · Wikidata

Bios

Short bio (62 words)

Maurizio Leo is the creator of The Perfect Loaf, the sourdough baking website he has run since 2012, and a New York Times Cooking contributor. His first cookbook, The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More, won the James Beard Award and was a New York Times bestseller. He published his second, The Perfect Pizza, on November 10, 2026. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife and two sons.

Medium bio (128 words)

Maurizio Leo is the creator of The Perfect Loaf, the leading independent resource for baking sourdough bread and pizza at home, and a New York Times Cooking contributor. His first cookbook, The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More, won the 2023 James Beard Foundation Book Award and the 2023 IACP Cookbook Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His second, The Perfect Pizza, covers sourdough pizza, focaccia, and more than forty regional styles, every dough built on a sourdough starter and tested in home ovens. He has baked and written about naturally leavened bread daily since founding The Perfect Loaf in 2012; the site won Saveur Blog Awards in 2016 and 2018. His work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Food & Wine, Food52, and TASTE. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife and two sons.

Long bio (238 words)

Maurizio Leo is the creator of The Perfect Loaf, the leading independent resource for baking sourdough bread and pizza at home, and the James Beard Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Loaf and The Perfect Pizza. He contributes to New York Times Cooking.

He grew up in his family’s Italian restaurant in Albuquerque, where his father’s pizza dough was his first education in fermentation. He took the long way back to dough: a master’s degree in computer science and years as a software engineer before founding The Perfect Loaf in 2012. The engineering never left, though. Every recipe on the site is tested over many iterations in his home kitchen, with dough temperatures, fermentation times, and results logged before anything is published.

His first cookbook, The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More (Clarkson Potter, 2022), won the 2023 James Beard Foundation Book Award and the 2023 IACP Cookbook Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His second, The Perfect Pizza (Clarkson Potter, 2026), covers sourdough pizza, focaccia, and more than forty regional styles, from New York to tavern to al taglio to Sicilian.

The Perfect Loaf won Saveur Blog Awards in 2016 and 2018 and was a 2019 Webby nominee. His work has been featured by The New York Times, Good Morning America, WIRED, Food & Wine, Food52, and TASTE. He hosts small-group bread travel and workshops, most recently in western Sicily, and has been called “Bob Ross, but for bread.” He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife and two sons.

Photos

Photos are free for editorial use in coverage of Maurizio Leo or The Perfect Loaf. Credit: Courtesy of The Perfect Loaf. Please don’t crop into logos or use commercially without permission.
Download full-resolution headshots and book covers (ZIP, 39 MB)

Books

Review copies and book publicity: Allison Renzulli, Clarkson Potter. Media coverage of the books can link to theperfectloaf.com/cookbooks.

Selected Press

Features and reviews

• Good Morning America — New fall cookbooks you’ll want in the kitchen year-round, 2022 — link
• WIRED — The Best Cookbooks of Fall 2022, 2022 — link
• Epicurious — Use This Bread Baker’s Secret to Take Your Homemade Loaves From Good to Great, 2023 — link
• Eater — Do You Even Bake, Bro?, 2018 — link

Podcasts and interviews

• This Is TASTE — Episode 313, with Matt Rodbard, 2023 — link
• Pizza Quest — with Peter Reinhart, 2022 — link
• Creator Science — Episode 140, with Jay Clouse — link
• Pastry Arts Magazine — Finding Joy in the Quest for the Perfect Sourdough Loaf — link
• Kit Creator Stories — From sourdough enthusiast to NYT bestselling author — link

Contributions

• NYT Cooking — contributor, 2026 — link
• King Arthur Baking — contributor — link
• Food52 — former resident bread baker — link
• The Joy of Cooking, 1931 facsimile edition — contributing essay, bread section (forthcoming)

Contact

For interviews, podcast appearances, speaking, recipe or excerpt requests, and partnerships: [email protected]. I reply within two business days.

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