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Perfect Homemade Pizza

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Home Made Pizza, Tastier and Healthier Than Retail

New commercials seem to be playing daily with all the new pizza varieties; deep dish, thin crust, stuffed crust, no crust...
There is something that the big name pizza stores can't match and that is the taste and price of going the home made way and making your pizza yourself.
A home made pizza is healthy, fresh and can be a lot of fun to make.

Though the idea may sound daunting there is not much to it.
The best part is the speed, a pizza only takes 10 min. to bake!

In need of a dessert? Try my chocolate peanut butter bars recipe.
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Dough Ingredients

What you will need

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Toppings

Some suggestions

The sky is the limit when it comes to toppings on your pizza.
Less is more when it comes to a home made pizza.

Adding too many toppings to the pizza can cause problems when it comes time for baking. You want your pizza to cook quickly and evenly so I would not go with more than 3 toppings (not counting cheese and tomato sauce).

  • Sauce
    • Tomato
    • Pesto
    • Alfredo
  • Cheese
    • Mozzarella
    • Provolone
    • Feta
    • Cheddar
  • Vegetables
    • Diced tomatoes
    • Onions
    • Olives
    • Peppers
  • Meat
    • Pepperoni
    • Sausage
    • Bacon
    • Ground beef

Step 1 - Proof your yeast

Getting your yeast to proof is the most important element to making your pizza.
If your yeast doesn't proof then your dough will not rise and you are going to have to call Pizza Hut :p

The crucial element to having the yeast proof is getting the right temperature for your water. Your yeast container should list the correct water temperature along the side, (mine says 100f). I use my digital thermometer to get the right temperature for my yeast.

Add your water, sugar and yeast to your bowl.
Let the mixture sit for 10-15 min. which will allow the yeast to proof.

Careful: If your water temperature is too hot your yeast will die. The consensus temperature seems to be between 90f-100f.

Step 2 - Add other ingredients

Now is the time to add your salt, olive oil and your first cup of flour to your bowl.
Mix the ingredients until you have eliminated all or most of the clumps.

Pictured is my dough mixture after mixing.

Step 3 - Add more flour

Now you will add 1 cup of flour, mix it thoroughly and then add your next cup.
Repeat this process until all 4 cups of flour have been added to the bowl.
Mixing the 4th cup of flour into the dough should be fairly difficult so if you have a mixer you can use that but I like doing it by hand.

Notice the dough that was once very runny is now incredibly sticky and has clung to my mixing spoon :p

Step 4 - You need to knead

Yes, terrible pun I agree.
We have our sticky dough mixture in our bowl and we now need to knead the dough.

Add small amounts of flour to your bowl while you mix around the dough with your hands. The texture you are looking for is not too wet to be sticking to your hands but not too dry as to be cracking. Add flour/water as necessary to get your texture to what I have in the picture.

Kneading just involves folding the dough onto itself continuously while smashing it with your palm between folds. The more you knead the dough the better but 5-10 min. is what I would recommend.

Step 5 - Let your dough rise

Now that you have your dough kneaded and the proper texture it's time to let the yeast do its thing.
Use your hands to roll your dough into a ball and place it back into your bowl with a small amount of olive oil. Now by grabbing the edges of the bowl, roll your dough ball around in the bowl to allow it to be covered by the oil and to also cause the oil to coat the inside of the bowl.

After this is done, cover the bowl with seran wrap or a wet towel and place the dough in a warm dry place for 1 hr.

In need of a warm dry place? Try turning your oven to 250f for 3 minutes and then shutting it off and popping your bowl of dough inside with the oven door left open.

Step 6 - Prepare your toppings

Use this time while you are waiting for your dough to rise to prepare your toppings.

You can dice your vegetables, grate your cheese or cook up any toppings that would be unsafe to eat raw (beef, sausage, chicken and pork).

Step 7 - Punch and divide

Now that your dough has risen it's time to beat it down.
Punch the dough down to get all the air trapped in the dough out of it. Punching the dough is fun but 3 or 4 good shots is plenty :p

Toss a bit of flour on your counter top to keep your dough from sticking.

Now you need to make a decision on the type of pizza you are going for.
The dough you have created will be enough for 2-3 large pizzas.
If you want a traditional style pizza then divide your dough in 2 pieces, if you are like me and want to go with thin crust then go with 3 pieces.

Any dough you don't plan to use in the next 24 hrs. you can cover with saran wrap, pop into a Ziploc bag and put in your freezer for future use.

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Flour will soon fly, may be a good idea to grab your apron

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Step 8 - Rolling your dough

PREHEAT YOUR OVEN: Your oven may take a while to get up to temperature so use this time to let it heat up. Set the temperature to 500f which in many cases is the max oven temperature.

Add some more flour to your counter top and place your dough ball on top.
I use my hands at first to push down the ball and gently stretch it out into a rough pizza shape. I then grab my rolling pin and rub it down with flour and then put it to work on the dough. I start in the middle and push to the edges to stretch out the dough to the desired size. The only things you need to be careful of are not to rip the dough and to make sure you don't leave any air bubbles.

Note: Make sure when you have your dough rolled out you place it onto your pizza pan. If you put toppings onto your pizza beforehand then it sure will be difficult to get it onto the pan :p

Pizza Pan Importance

You basically have two options when it comes to baking your pizza which is a pizza stone or a pan.
The pizza stones can be a real pain to deal with and the jury is out as to whether they really cook the crust the best.
I've been using a perforated pizza pan and this thing turns out perfect crust every time.

I'd ask anyone who uses a stone to give one of these perforated pizza pans a try and put your results in the feedback, I think you are going to be impressed by how your pizza turns out and how much easier it is to deal with the pan over the stone.

If you are going to be trying homemade pizza for the first time then grab one of these pans! You won't regret it I assure you.
Here is an article I found talking about pizza pans.
The best pizza pan ever
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Step 9 - Add your toppings

Spread on your sauce of choice followed by your toppings and your cheese.
Try and spread our your toppings evenly so the pizza will be able to cook evenly.
I like to put all my toppings below my cheese to protect them from burning or drying out in the case of vegetables.

My pizza here has tomato sauce, oregano and pepperoni covered with mozzarella cheese and then a few more pepperoni on top for good measure.

Step 10 - Fast baking

Hopefully your oven is up to temperature at this point, if so go ahead and add your pizza to the middle oven rack and set your watch for 10 mins.
Yes that is not a typo, your pizza should only take 10 mins. to bake.
The key to baking pizza is to do it at an extreme temperature for a short period of time.

Keep a close eye on your pizza during the baking process, when we are dealing with this very high temperatures it doesn't take long for your pizza to start burning.

You will know your pizza is done when the cheese has melted and the crust is browned and firm.

Here is my finished product.

Step 11 - Cool, cut and serve

It's hard to resist grabbing your fresh pizza right from the pan and taking a giant bite but resist you must!
Let your pizza cool down on your counter top for at least 5 minutes which will make cutting it much easier to manage.

Cut your pizza into your desired sized slices and enjoy!

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