Do you make pizza at home?

Irwin

Irwin

Well-known Member
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
I've watched a few YouTube videos about how to make pizza at home. I was wondering if you can make pizza at home and have it taste as good as what you get in a restaurant. If so, what's your technique? What kind of pan did you use? Did you use a food processor?

I've seen premade pizza crust for sale in the grocery store. One brand is Boboli, but I'm skeptical that it tastes good. And Papa Murphy's tastes like cheap frozen pizza. That's a bigger scam than the tinnitus medical facility where they treat you with mental health therapy. Or Krispy Kreme donuts. Or In-and-out burgers.
 

I make pizza at home several times/month.
Pizza dough is easy to make, but you can't make it, and eat it on the spur of the moment.
Good dough takes time to develop good flavor.
PS: how hot can you get your oven ? If you can get it up to 450 F or higher then you can make great pizza at home.
I use a stainless steel pan. Food processor is NOT needed. In fact it hampers.
 
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We have on this forum, a member who is an excellent home pizza maker.

I could never make a real pizza at home. My oven doesn't get hot enough to bake the dough properly. Really good pizza has to be in a blast furnace and it's done in less than 10-15 minutes..... that's how the real pizzerias make them.

I can make a little 10 inch pizza out of a flour tortilla and in a frying pan, watch it real close, pop it under the broiler for two minutes and that's it.

No special sauce... just canned tomatoes squished, mozzarella cheese, a little parmigiana, and Italian sausage. Less is more, I don't make pizzas with tons of stuff on them.
 
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Several more things.
I like to eat the pizza crust EDGE , BUT I don't like a hard dried out crust EDGE. I like a softer EDGE.
Choice of which cheese to use is quite important. Best to use a low moisture cheese. It melts better than some harder cheeses. My main cheese is a low moisture mozzarella. And sometimes I add gruyere. BUT NEVER parmesan.
If you like pepperoni, my advice is to NEVER use Hormel brand. Gallo brand pepperoni is very good.
My personal favorite is a sausage, mushroom, and pepperoni pizza.
 
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Shero said:
I make this style of pizza and always successful, will make one for tonight.

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I'm going to try that technique. It looks doable, although they make everything look easy in these videos. I may screw it up. :ROFLMAO:

I've watched other videos where they use a food processor so you don't need to kneed it by hand, but I kind of like the idea of doing it manually without the grinding sound of the machine to disrupt my equanimity. Cooking is a peaceful process.

I don't have a pizza stone, so for the first attempt, I'll have to just use a baking pan. I wonder if I stack two together, it would retain the heat better. :unsure: Do you use a pizza stone? In one video I watched, the cook used a cast iron frying pan, which seemed to work.

Next weekend, it's homemade pizza for the game!

Thanks for the video! :)
 
Irwin said:
I'm going to try that technique. It looks doable, although they make everything look easy in these videos. I may screw it up. :ROFLMAO:

I've watched other videos where they use a food processor so you don't need to kneed it by hand, but I kind of like the idea of doing it manually without the grinding sound of the machine to disrupt my equanimity. Cooking is a peaceful process.

I don't have a pizza stone, so for the first attempt, I'll have to just use a baking pan. I wonder if I stack two together, it would retain the heat better. :unsure: Do you use a pizza stone? In one video I watched, the cook used a cast iron frying pan, which seemed to work.

Next weekend, it's homemade pizza for the game!

Thanks for the video! :)
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Don't worry about a pizza stone. it takes forever to get super hot and THEN you must use a pizza peel to load the stone. Forget about using a cast iron fry pan. Again, it takes forever to get hot.
A simple stainless steel pizza pan is best for beginners. Use one pan only NOT two stacked together.
 
You are welcome Irwin, you will see, once you get good at the dough, you will not want to buy ready made. Do not worry if it is not great 1st or 2nd time, by the third, you will be a masterchef, and, as RadishRose says, a few toppings are better than a big load, keep it simple. Later when you are familiar with the heat then you can increase the load and do fancy things!

I have a pizza stone because we have a portable pizza oven, not the huge furnace. But you can use what you may have in your kitchen already. Do you have a large pan you use for baking Christmas turkey for eg? Okay, if so, all you do is place it upside down ( that is important) on the lowest shelf of your oven before preheating oven,this will allow the sheet to reach temperature, and will ensure a crispy crust on your pizza! Bon appetit!
 
other than frozen type, never tried to make a pizza at home. But I do remember my mother trying to make pizza out of a yellow box back in the late 50s. It was just nasty,

Sorry Mom.
 
I used to make pizza quite often in the winter.

I never had a stone or pizza pan. I made sheet pizzas on a cookie sheet with sides. Use what you have. A couple of layer cake pans, a cast iron frying pan, a 9x13 pan, etc...

I made my dough using a basic bread recipe consisting of water, sugar, yeast, salt, AP flour. Make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it in a plastic bag after the first rise for up to three days. When it’s time to make pizza let the dough come to room temperature, shape, top, and bake. You can also use a pound of dough from the market or bakery with good results.

For me, excess moisture was the biggest problem when making pizza. I use this dry pizza sauce, limit the amount of toppings and bake in a preheated 450F oven for 18-20 minutes. When I remove the pizza from the oven I immediately transfer it to a cooling rack so the crust doesn’t start to steam in the pan and lose the crisp texture.

Pizza Sauce
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
¼ - ½ cup water
2 cloves minced garlic
1T dry Oregano
1T dry Basil
Mix well. If you use fresh basil omit the dried from the sauce and add the fresh basil as a pizza topping. This makes enough for 2 sheet pizzas. The leftovers can be frozen with good results.

Practice, practice, practice!🐷
 
Here is my little snack pizza on a 10" flour tortilla

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this one had too much cheese
 
We have a pizza stone and a peel. They take up very little room. We buy refrigerated pizza dough at our local market. At first we did not put it out at room temperature to let it rise, but we do that now.
We have granite countertops, so we roll the dough out on the counter. We use Trader Joe's Pizza sauce and then add our toppings.
 
bowmore said:
We have a pizza stone and a peel. They take up very little room. We buy refrigerated pizza dough at our local market. At first we did not put it out at room temperature to let it rise, but we do that now.
We have granite countertops, so we roll the dough out on the counter. We use Trader Joe's Pizza sauce and then add our toppings.
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Just out of curiosity , how long does it take you to get your pizza stone blazing hot ?
 
Toaster oven @ 450 for 15 minutes using a 10" flour tortilla sprinkled with flour to avoid a soggy crusts and store bought pizza sauce with a touch of dark brown sugar. So far I am still experimenting with the mozzarella. I hate soupy cheese so I put whole milk, low moisture shredded cheese on an open plate for 8 hours or so to dry it out. I posted a piece on choosing the best cheese and whole milk block cheese was the pick and shredded was rated as poor because of the added starches.
 
A couple times a year, my wife and I host a "make your own pizza and sundae" party for the kids, grandkids and a few friends. It's a good day for everyone when we do this. We have all the fixings for both, so we use two, four foot tables to hold everything.
 
bowmore said:
Between a half hour and 45 minutes. During that time, the dough is doing uits second rising.
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I can't recall the name of the instrument , but there is one that can be pointed at an object and it tells you how hot the object is. I'd love to know how hot your pizza stone gets in 30-45 minutes.
 
senior chef said:
I can't recall the name of the instrument , but there is one that can be pointed at an object and it tells you how hot the object is. I'd love to know how hot your pizza stone gets in 30-45 minutes.
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Klein Tools IR1 Infrared Thermometer, Digital Laser Gun is Non-Contact Thermometer with a Temperature Range -4 to 752-Degree Fahrenheit​

$31 at amazon
 
I make pizza at home. I use Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee pizza mix. If the sauce recipe hasn't changed (yet again), I make the sauce. The only thing that goes on it is Parmesan Cheese. This is a throwback to my childhood, and I still love it (except for sauce recipe changes).

The first time Son #2 cooked anything it was a pizza. He used Julia Child's cookbook for the recipes. I was amazed that he did that. Over the years he has developed his own dough and sauce recipes, and it is delicious. Too bad he moved to California.
 
I can't be bothered with pizza dough (I get that when I order a take-out pizza). Each of of here has his own flatbread to make whatever they want. I like sliced tomatoes, olive oil, olives, peppers (sweet), feta cheese, mozzarella cheese and any veggies or other ingredients you like.
 

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