We’ve all been there, your homemade pizza is plain, boring or just missing something. Have I painted your culinary nightmare yet? If so then you’re in the right place. A few years ago I was in your shoes.
I rarely made homemade pizza because it was nothing special. I could take it or leave it. Scott introduced me to cooking with a pizza stone and now I’m hooked. Total game changer. Now we make pizza 2 or 3 times a month and it’s worlds above a frozen pizza or delivery. So at the risk of sounding like a cheap infomercial, here are 7 easy tips on how to make better homemade pizza.
1. Use a Pizza Stone
This is the most important tip and it’s why I’m putting it first. Why use a pizza stone? A pizza stone gives you perfectly cooked crust with brick oven like qualities. The secret is getting the stone HOT. Preheat your stone for 45 minutes to 1 hour in the oven at 500° F before baking. This will cook the crust FAST, about 10-15 minutes, giving it a crispy outside and soft (but not soggy) center. It’s hard to describe, but when you bite into the perfect crust you just know it.
For this method, you will also need a pizza peel to transfer your pizza on and off the stone. Pizza peels come in all shapes and sizes and are made of wood or metal. Here are a few good tips from chow.com on using a pizza peel.
2. Thinner Crust
If your dough is too thick it will take away from your toppings and make the pizza too heavy or soggy (shoot for about 18 ounces). If I buy pre-packaged dough I end up removing a little so the crust can be slightly thinner. Use a rolling pin to start and then use your hands to really stretch the dough out.
Work your way around the dough by rolling from the center out to form the perfect circle. Full disclosure, I typically buy pre-made pizza dough because you can store in the freezer and thaw during the week (I know, I know…how could I possibly do that…but it’s convenient if you’re in a pinch). Look for flavored dough such as basil or beer, or make your own.
3. Use Plenty of Flour
This is another big one. Add a handful of flour to your pizza peel so the pizza can easily slide off the peel when transferring to the oven. It also contributes to the crust’s flavor. This goes hand and hand with well-floured pizza dough. You want the pizza to easily slide across the peel when shaking. Sliding the pizza onto the stone can take a little practice. If you quickly jiggle the peel back and forth you can slowly slide it right off the peel.
4. Cooking with Fire
Most of us don’t have access to a 1,000 °F brick oven and if anything or anyone is on fire in your kitchen then likely things have taken a turn for the worse. Anyway, it’s really important to bake at 500 °F. This bakes the crust very fast and will crisp up the dough on the outside while leaving it soft on the inside.
At around the 10 minute mark, or when the crust starts to turn golden brown, turn the broiler on high and let the pizza further crisp the crust for about 1 minute. This will give you that much desired wood fired pizza crust with slightly charred cheese and edges. This is the stuff I dream about at night. Keep a close eye on the oven because your pizza is only going to cook very quickly. Once it starts to burn it will burn FAST.
5. Use Olive Oil
Brush olive oil over the entire top of the crust and season with a little salt or garlic before adding any toppings. And I mean the entire crust—from the center out to the edges. The olive oil and salt will give your crust lots of flavor and also contribute to the golden crispiness.
6. Choose Your Toppings Wisely
Simple always tastes better. Choose 2 or 3 complimentary flavors and use them sparingly or your pizza dough will be too soft and heavy. For crisper crust keep toppings light, especially the sauce.
Also, fresh sliced mozzarella makes for more authentic, Italian-style pizza. Speaking of toppings, a pizza wheel keeps your toppings where they should be. It’s also easier to cut the perfect slice. Nothing is worse than dragging your cheese across the pie with a knife as you divvy it up.
7. Get a Good Pizza Recipe
When in doubt, find a killer recipe. Try one of my simple pizza recipes below.
Classic Margherita Pizza
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Fig Pizza
Skillet BBQ Chicken Pizza
Grilled Pizza
Thanks for these tips for making pizza. I actually didn’t know that you should try to bake pizza at 500 degrees. I’m interested to know if this is what restaurants do as well when making their own pizza.
Thank you for the advice about using cornmeal so that the pizza doesn’t stick and burn. I always wondered what restaurants put under the pizza. My kids have been talking about making some this weekend, but we don’t have any cornmeal in the house. Maybe this weekend we’ll go out to a nice restaurant, but we’ll try to make some the next weekend.
I love the tip about brushing olive oil over the top of the crust before adding toppings. I want to learn how to make the best homemade pizza but I have a tendency to overcook things. Maybe I should stick to pizza made by professionals.
Thanks for these tips for making a home pizza. I hadn’t considered adding cornmeal to it, allowing it to slide easier while also adding flavor. I wouldn’t mind knowing if there are other ingredients that could do this or if cornmeal is the best option.
I totally agree that one of the things that you need to consider when making great quality pizza is its toppings. You Talked about choosing 2-3 flavors which should be more than enough to meet the requirements for your flavoring. Also, you mentioned using olive oil which would actually add to the crispiness of the crust. I’m a pizza lover myself, and I’m salivating right this very moment. I’ll make sure to keep this in mind but I’ll prefer to go to any available pizza place for now to save some time. Thanks.
This pizza looks to die for!! I can never say no to good homemade pizza!
Get a pizza stone if you don’t already have one, Ami. You won’t regret it!
Thank you for the help. Recently my wife and I have been experimenting with different kinds of pizza. However, we have not made pizza with a pizza stone yet. It sounds like we are really missing out. Does it make the crust more crispy?
Hi Justin,
It will definitely help. A pizza stone in combination with lighter toppings, less sauce, and thinner crust will give you crispier crust. You can also play with cook times. Hope this helps!