10 paths to painless pizza-making
As you may have noticed, we’re kind of into pizza in the smitten kitchen. I mean, just a little. I can’t help it–in my mind, it combines the best things on earth: homemade bread, charred-edged ingredients, pairing well with a green salad and wine, and–the way I make it, at least–it never feels like a heavy meal.
Every time I post about pizza, I answer at least five or seven of the same ten questions in the comments, so I thought that it was time to create a FAQ on the topic that will hopefully answer all of your questions (feel free to ask additional ones in the comments) in one tidy URL. Consider this a primer for the new pizza recipe I will tell you about next.
Like the bread-making tips I shared way back in the newborn days of this site, my point of these are not to fill your head with reminders and cautionary tales that will cause you more worry when you get into the kitchen–there are enough sites that do that, I know that for many people, anything yeast-based is scary enough. Instead, I want to impart to you how easy it can be, and how strongly I feel that anyone on earth can succeed in making impressive pizza at home. I hope this helps.
1. You don’t need a bread machine, a dough hook or a food processor to get it right.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: people having been making bread a lot longer than these fancy machines have been around. Sure, they can knock a few minutes off your prep time (and that dough hook sure creates a smooth and supple dough), but a simple pizza dough takes so little time to make by hand, in our dishwasher-free kitchen at least, it’s rarely worth the extra dishes it will create to bust out the machines. I mix my dough ingredients with a wooden spoon in a large bowl, knead it for a few minutes on a counter, then oil that bowl and use it to let the dough rise. Dish- and drama-minimizing, it’s my favorite way to cook.
2. It needn’t take all day.
That process I described above–stir then knead–takes no more than ten minutes. If your kitchen is on the warm side, the dough takes just an hour to double. It’s certainly not the fastest weekday night meal out there, but it might just be the simplest. Nevertheless, if you’re in a hurry, you can speed up the dough rising time with a stellar tip I borrowed from Simply Recipes: heat your oven to 150 degrees, then turn it off. Place your dough in an oiled bowl in this warmed oven to rise.
3. It can be ready for you when you get home.
I’ve been promising you this refrigerator tip for ages, but, sadly, that’s how long it took me to test it out. If you’d like, you can mix and knead your dough ingredients in the morning, plop them in an oiled bowl, cover it with oiled plastic wrap and leave it in your refrigerator while you go to work. The dough will slowly rise–truly developing the best flavor–while you’re away. By the time you come home, it should be doubled. Take it out, let it get back to room temperature, deflate it on a floured counter and you’re on your way.
4. You don’t need a pizza paddle.
This is another one of those tools that are fun if you have them, but are in no way a prerequisite for making pizza at home. A tiny kitchen demands that I don’t even consider such extras. Instead, I slide the pizza dough, prepped with toppings, onto a piece of cornmeal-dusted parchment paper that’s been placed on the back of a baking sheet. With a little shove-and-yank, I slide the parchment paper with the pizza right onto the pizza stone in the oven. It bakes right on the parchment paper, which I use to yank the pizza out to the oven when it’s done.
5. You don’t need a pizza stone.
Pizza stones improve the crust of pizza and breads, no question about it. But it doesn’t mean you can’t make delicious pizza without them. I have more than once baked pizza on the back of a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with cornmeal, just as I described above, and been thrilled with the results.
6. You don’t need a professional pizza oven, but high heat is your friend.
One of the most salient differences between the brick-oven beast at your favorite pizza shop and, say, the smitten kitchen’s diminutive, apartment-standard white-painted oven is that the former gets much hotter than the latter–by even 500 degrees. Your best bet to get the brick-oven effect at home is to turn your oven all the way up to broil for a good ten minutes before you pop your pizza in, and step back from the inferno as you open its mighty jaws, lest you want a high-heat facial!
7. Pizza cooked under the broiler is amazing.
Speaking of broilers, there are a few in-the-know pizza types out there that swear by the broiler for making perfect, Patsys-like pizza (say that three times fast!). The technique, described in full, with a colorful story on SeriousEats.com, involves getting a cast iron skillet hotter than the fires of Babylon and cooking a pizza on the back of it for about 1.62 minutes, and is totally worth checking out.
8. You can cook it on the grill, but only if you invite me over.
I absolutely love grilled pizza, and it’s a fun way to use the grill at the point in the summer when you’re so sick of steaks-n-burgers-n-skewers. Here’s my highly-refined (ha) method: Brush your heated grill with oil. Have your pizza dough rolled out, and your toppings at arm’s length. Throw the dough over the grill for a minute or two, until you get a bit of coloring underneath (shouldn’t take long). With tongs and a deep breath, flip it out onto a platter, uncooked side down. Top it as you wish, slide it back onto the grill and cover the lid. It should be ready in about five minutes.
9. You can cook it on the stove.
At Mario Batali’s Otto Pizzaria in the Village, the astoundingly good pizza is cooked on the stove, not in an oven. His product line’s stove-top (or oven-friendly) pizza pan mentions this only casually in the description, but I’ve been captivated ever since. Sadly, I haven’t tried it out [See above: Tiny kitchen, filled to capacity, etc.] but I hope to, soon.
10. You can buy pizza dough from your local pizza shop.
Yes, I know I have spent a terrific amount of time preaching the virtues of homemade, dead-easy pizza dough but you know what? Sometimes, even I get tired of eating dinner at 10:30 p.m. in the name of purist cooking pursuits. [I hope you were sitting down for that one.] Go to your local pizza shop and ask to buy a dough. In NYC, this is a cinch, of course, and the doughs run about $3 each. Once you get it home, it’s ready to go. Heck, that’s even faster than ordering one from that Shmomino’s racket!
Pizza Dough Recipes:
- Simplest Pizza Dough
- Wine-and-Honey Pizza Dough (only slightly more complicated)
Pizza Recipes Here:
Pizza Recipes I’m Stalking Elsewhere:
- Sausage, Radicchio and Burrata Pizza at TheWednesdayChef.com
- Ultra-Thin Crust Pizza with Onions, Mushrooms and Ricotta at SimplyRecipes.com
- Eggplant Pizza with Fresh Pesto and Pine Nuts at LaTartineGourmande.com
- No-Knead Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza at SteamyKitchen.com
One year ago: Gateau de Crepes
Gah, I LOVE making homemade pizza. I wish it would cool off outside so I could take some of these tips and put them to good use! If only we had a grill :(
Thank you for responding to my question a few days ago about how the new dough measured up to the one with wine and honey. I also wanted to add that I went home that day and made pizza – because we do seriously have it once a week – and now I have a new favoirte topping combo! – First I used a mandoline to slice zucchini the long way and tossed it in a bowl with 4 minced garlic cloves and olive oil. I placed the thin slices on the pizza dough and then used the mandoline to shred some fresh brussel sprouts on top – a big ol’ mound some fresh ground pepper and salt and more olive oil a little bit of cheese (under the veggies – but probably not neccesary) – It was fantastic!!!!
Back to a doug question – or quest on my part…please come out to LA and eat pizza at Pizzeria Mozza and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE figure out how to make that wonderful crispy bubbly sourdough pizza dough. Please.
I’ve been buy pizza crusts to make it at home, but I must try making my own dough. It sounds so good. I remember my grandmother adding like a cup of sugar (if memory serves me) to her dough.
Those are great tips! I think pizza can be intimidating for those of us with tiny kitchens – I definitely experiment with the broiler and directly cooking on the oven rack.
thanks a lot for this very precious recap ! All these advices are great and can help a lot for home made pizas :)
Can you tell me why I’d like to eat a pizza right now ? ;)
I always think of pizza as something that’s maybe better left to those with coal-fired ovens, but you make DIY pizza seem very achievable to the home cook. And that’s a lovely gift. Thanks!
This is great! I have bought pizza dough at my local italian market and it turned out great. My only problem is that I can’t roll out the dough so it looks like a circle – it usually looks oblong. Not that big of a deal but if you have any tips on how to roll it out, I’d love to hear them!
Thanks!
Kelsi
Wow. You’re doing some amazing experimentation. Check out my ‘year of pizzas’ post at http://scholarlypublishing.org/jpwilkin/archives/8 and the link to the 52 pictures of pizzas we made, some just gorgeous (owing to my partner in crime). What I wish, though, is that we had community wood-fired ovens!
My husband has been making homemade pizza for years. He used to swear by the honey/white wine Mario Batali recipe, but now he’s started using this one:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html
It’s spectacular. Perfect crust every time (thus far), however, with traditional methods, you know within an hour if the crust will work or not, and with this one, you don’t know its feasibility until after an overnight rest in the fridge. You should try it, though, we’ve been so happy with it.
Only found your site on Monday, but have been checking back or updates, and today’s is a glory. Love the refrigerator pizza dough tip – makes it work for my family’s out-all-day-arrive-home-starving schedule. Thanks smitten kitchen!
Wow, the dough rising in the refrigerator is priceless knowledge! I just may have to try that before work one of these days!
My friends had my husband and I over for this pizza about a year ago http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_34471,00.html we have made it a gazillion times since. I swear it’s the best I’ve ever had and it’s at my own home!
Mmmm…I love homemade pizza. I’ve only started making it but always get disappointed with the dough-y crust. I used to avoid making dough because the recipes that I see talk of using a stand mixer for dough kneading and I didn’t have it. But you’re right, I don’t need it. I’ve actually had good results manually kneading. It’s good exercise if you’re going to be eating the dough goodies, too. Heh. For rising the dough, I just warm up the oven and turn it off.
Thanks for testing the refrigerator tip. I’ve always read about it, but never tried it because I was scared it won’t rise at all!
I can’t thank you enough for this post, if only because one of the links provided led me to this link where they actually discuss how to make that Patsy’s like pizza.
And as Patsy’s is my favorite pizzeria everywhere, this is just fabulous information.
So thanks!
Ah, I have just found myself at that point of which you speak where I am sick of all the standard grill fare, but nowhere near sick of grill flavor. And I was just thinking that I’d love homemade pizza, but I just can’t deal with the kitchen after heating the oven to the screamin’ high heat needed for a truly crisp pizza crust.
After reading this post, I must now pursue the perfection of pizza-on-the-grill technique. Mmm. Smoky, charred, perfectly crisp pizza. Yum-my! Great idea.
I make my own pizza every Friday night! I have a gas stove and I set my bowl on top of the (off) oven to rise and it’s doubles in about 30 minutes. I have no fancy tools, just my hands, a bowl and a cookie sheet! My favorite is Tostada pizza, where I mash up black beans into a paste and top with sauce and cheese, bake and then top with shredded lettuce and tortilla chip pieces. YUM!
Have you tried the artichoke pizza on East 14th St.? I went yesterday, no line at first but then out the door, a slice (for $3.00) that was the size of my son’s head (he is in the 99+%ile) and it taste like a spinach artichoke dip pizza, crusty and thick. It could have been lunch and dinner.
I make a pizza from the old Food Network, with potatos, rosemary, asiago and fontina cheese. OMG it’s fabulous. Pizza dough, boiled potatoes sliced thin, asiago and fontina grated on top, sprinkle with rosemary and olive oil and bake.Deelish
We’ve been making the Alton Brown dough (substituting 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for the bread flour) for a month or so now – fabulous. And we’ve also been making it on paving stones in our (gas) oven. They can totally live in there, they’re super cheaper than a stone and I think they make better pizza. If you go that way, make sure you get actual stone and not some fancy looking concrete. My husband has declared it much better than anything we can buy around here.
Have been making my own in a gas oven on a stone for about 5-6 years. I use a no fail dough from Wolfgang Puck – rolled out super thin.
Would like to recommend our favorite – have tried many and keep going back to this one – Pizza Marguerita.
Coat crust with ev olive oil, (wanted to use the debateable abbreviation but then chose not to) sliced fresh “good” tomatoes with salt and fresh ground pepper – flip flop in the olive oil and make a full layer, top with sliced or grated part skim Mozzarella, top with lots of fresh basil in thin strips, Parmesan Reggiano grated on top and if desired, red pepper flakes. Enjoy!! Be careful, the tomatoes stay HOT!!
I made the potato pizza the other night — it was just like being in Rome! (Except that it wasn’t square and wasn’t sold by the gram and there weren’t Italian men telling me that I am blonde even though my hair is brown). And we grilled it on a pizza stone in our Big Green Egg, so it was extra yummy.
Thanks for the great tips …
did you know that Trader Joe’s sells great pizza dough for $1???? Always my fall-back.
Such great tips! My pizzas never turn out quite as good as I would like.
Can’t buy ready made pizza dough anywhere in my neck of the woods (small town mid-west)- but would love to be able to do so.
Thanks for the tips- might have to try it out soon!
I never have any luck making my own pizza dough. I’m never happy with it. Maybe I’m dough-challenge. :) I’m going to try your Wine-and-Honey Pizza Dough. Wish me luck!
GREAT POST. What? You don’t want to answer the same questions over and over and over? You’d rather be onto the next beautiful concoction? Okay, then. Really, this is good bc homemade pizza can be rather intimidating and this clears it all right up.
It’s 5:18pm right now and last picture made me groan a little. Embarrassing. At work.
I just don’t know HOW to get the pizza crust to roll out thin! It’s frustrates me so much! I’ve gone as far as to get my kids in the kitchen and we each pull a side of the dough! Are there any secrets? The best pizza dough EVER is from WEGMANS! But I’m craving the THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN crust pies! Any advise/hints would be appreciated!
I will have to tell you I just started making my own pizza dough not too long ago and it is so true, it is soooo easy to do. I find myself making it a lot these days, but since it is so hot, I have a hard time wanting to heat my oven to 500F to do it. I must say I had never tried anything with yeast before and I was pleasantly surprised on how easy it was to do!
Although now I have found myself to be quite the pizza snob…I go somewhere that has pizza that is uninteresting and I find myself saying, “Wow I could have made better at home…”
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have made my own pizza dough in the past, but wasn’t entirely happy with the results. With your little tips and tidbits in this post, I’m sure I’ll get it perfect next time!
Thanks for these great tips! I have what might be a very dumb question. I have a cast iron griddle and so am interested in trying the cast iron/broiler idea you linked above; I’m dubious, though, about their method of sliding the pizza from cardboard onto the cast iron. Will your Simplest Pizza Dough recipe above really slide that easily? I’m assuming I cannot use your parchment-paper idea as it would probably burn to ash against the cast iron? Any thoughts?
This pizza looks absolutely delicious! Your photo’s are beautiful and you have great tips! Thanks!
I love homemade pizza, especially since we only have one good pizza place close by and they close somewhat early (9pm even on Friday and Saturday) and don’t deliver. The problem is that my husband is one of those more, more people, and loves the big chain delivery places that have soggy greasy pizza so loaded with cheese and toppings it’s disgusting. The way I figure it is a properly dressed pizza isn’t too unhealthy of a meal, you have tomato sauce a little bit of carb because the crust is thin, a bit of cheese. As long as you steer clear of too fatty meat it isn’t that bad, and I tend to do veggies.
Oh, and I made the Jim Lahey dough. I was SURE the dough smelled my fear but it turned out GREAT!
My homemade dough is okay, I usually make an herb variety but it seems to be lacking something. And I don’t make it enough now that I’m at altitude (which really doesn’t seem to change much) but I can’t bring myself to buy it at WF either. I need to get back in practice.
I noticed TasteSpotting a minute ago too, it was up a few hours ago (but not updated). So sad.
I have never made my own pizza dough but I may have to try it now. Your pizza looks mouth watering good.
Great pizza info. Here’s my question: Can you recommend a recipe for whole wheat pizza dough? When I make my first foray into pizza land I’d like to make a whole wheat crust.
A great post! I love making pizza and I find it quite an easy process! I make my dough by hand and I’m always satisfied by the end result…
Your pizza looks fabulous!
cheers,
Rosa
Thanks for another fantastic and informative post! I love making pizza dough. Your wine and honey one is my very favourite :)
Great post! You’re right, you don’t need fancy equipment to make a great pizza. I mix my ingredients on the counter with a fork and knead by hand for 10 minutes. And I get a crisp base by heating a baking sheet while the oven is warming up to its highest setting. Then I use a rolling pin to transfer the pizza base to the hot sheet and assemble the topping there.
I do like your suggestion of letting the dough rise in the refrigerator. Another thing to try out! Thanks.
I’ve been making pizza like a madwoman lately, but not as like, pizza pizza, but as like, bread pizza, if that makes sense. Or, you know what? It may be more like focaccia… I make the dough and then top it with herbs and olive oil and garlic and bake as an accompaniment to salads and soups and stuff. I love making pizza. It’s so versatile and delicious. Thanks for the tips, Deb! I’ve never broiled mine, but I can’t wait to try it out now :-)
I have had to learn how to make pizza after moving to Cayman. There are no good pizza’s (or dough) here to be bought. After reading all the comments for this and for the “simplest pizza dough” post I had to throw my 2 cents in. I don’t let my dough rise. We like thin crust. I make the dough and let it rest while I chop up the toppings and make the sauce. Then I punch it down (it has only risen a tiny bit at that point) roll it out and put it in the oven for 2-3 minutes. I find that using peel is much easier after the dough has been in the oven. Spread the sauce and ingredients on and there you go.
Hi,
I just linked to your past pizza post a few days ago! http://blogs1.marthastewart.com/dinnertonight/2008/06/barbecued-chick.html
I’ll have to update the link to go to this post instead. Thanks for the great tips!
Alison
I’m dying now to make some homemade pizza! It would eliminate the “but I’m in the mood for pizza!” excuse for ordering in.
Thank you for this post for pizza … um… proselytes. (Okay, okay, so I went to the thesaurus for an appropriate word. I just had to keep up the alliterative trend!)
These are great tips. Letting the dough rise in the fridge has made homemade dough so much easier on weeknights – I throw it together the night before and let it rise in the fridge overnight (using a bit less yeast than my recipe, which is adapted from the updated Joy of Cooking, calls for).
I have the same request as Jane M…I can’t figure out how to get my pizza dough stretched out thin enough.
What I have been doing is making a very soft dough with lots of oil and sugar in it, spreading it in a dry pan, freezing it…and then popping the dough off the pan and spreading oil on the pan, replacing the crust, topping the pizza and then baking it.
But this makes a thick, goopy, “pan style” pizza which is what my husband really likes. I would really like to do some thinner pizzas on the grill or on a pizza stone, but I’m not sure what sort of rolling/stretching technique would work.
My fiance is from New Zealand and loves pizza with chicken, camembert and apricot jam. I think I am going to try that cooked on the grill this week-end.
This is a wonderful post. I too love grilled pizza, but have not made any yet this grilling season. Thanks for the helpful reminder of what I am missing out on!!
Yayy! Okay, I havent’ even read the full post yet, but I’m looking forward to reducing my own pizza-making trials. Thanks!
We grill pizza all the time and we did it *slightly* differently. Once the dough is ready for cooking, I brush oil on one side of the dough and sprinkle with cornmeal. The grill is preheating on HIGH. Once the dough is ready to be placed, I turn the grill down to medium and flip the dough, oiled side down onto the grill. While it is cooking, I coat the other side of the dough with oil and cornmeal. Then I flip it over. TURN THE GRILL OFF! Quickly add all my pizza ingredients, close the cover. Within 5-8 minutes, the toppings are perfect and the crust is perfect! You have to turn the grill off or you will burn the crust – just do indirect heating/cooking!
And, for a great pizza recipe: carmelized onions, prosciutto, and a lemon cream sauce rather than the traditional red sauce, topped with an Italian blend of cheeses! The best!
You just made me SO happy! I love how every step is reassuring us all to make our own pizzas. Yay, now you’ve given me the confidence. But do I neeed….
just kidding. You’ve answered all my questions!
This entry inspired me to post some of the advice I’ve shared with others about pizza making, but never thought to blog about until now. Thanks for the push.
Ooo, our pizza paddle broke, so that tip about the parchment is inspired!
Also, the pizza dept. at Whole Foods will always sell you pizza dough with no hassle. It’s also about $3 and makes a nice crust.
OMG. You totally read my mind- or oops I guess I read yours since this post is from a few days ago. I just made pizza last night. may i recommend this neopolitan pizza dough from 101 Cookbooks? http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html
It takes a bit more time(to wait) but is truly awesome!
i was perusing your older entries and i am fascinated by your spice tins! where did you buy them? they are pretty much the epitome of decorative and functional
*delurking* Lovely! I wonder if we’re on the same brainwave. I’ve been contemplating on making pizza for dinner lately; it’s one of those things that I crave most frequently.
I love your stories and pictures :)
Thanks for the tips.
I just made pizza for the kids last night. I usually make three or four differnt types each time I make it (about twice a month). One from last night was a cheese and spinach with fresh spinach from our garden, so good.
I am a longtime fan of making my own pizza. And the husband and I are gearing up for another fun summer season of pizza making. Summer’s veg bounty somehow always inspires me to make interesting pizza toppings. Fresh spinach? zucchini? crazy little mushrooms from the farmers market? yes please.
But I have to admit that when I got to “broil” I went “ruh?!” and a smile hit my face. I rubbed my eager little hands together and thought “Awesome. A whole new technique to experiment with”
Great FAQ
I ALWAYS BUY MY DOUGH AT THE MARKET.IT’.S GOOD AND SAVES SO MUCH TIME.TO GET A THIN CRUST PUT THE DOUGH OVER YOUR FIST TURNING AND STRETCHING FOR DESIRED THINNESS.OUR FAVORITE IS PESTO,BABY SPINACH,RED ONION AND MUSHROOMS–TOPPED WITH EVOO AND GRATED PARM.SOOOO GOOD. BAKE AT 475 ON A PIZZA STONE.
Yum! So amazing!
By far one of my favorite foods! These photos are making me want to start the dough right now!
I, too, am yeast-challenged. I buy dough at Papa Murphy’s, a take-and-bake chain…they are in our little town in ohio, you might look for one if you are not in a big city with Italian markets.
I have recently made my first successful yeast foccaia, and look forward to grilling pizza on our new grill. Thanks for all you suggestions…
we do dough overnight in the fridge all the time, it’s perfect, and my husband par-bakes the crust with olive oil and garlic, then adds the rest of the toppings. (works well if you have thicker crust) also PASTORELLI canned pizza sauce is fabulous. Nice and thick and spicy.
i get bored with doughs and change every so often. but my favorite toppings are sliced yellow squash, zucchini, onions and mushrooms. browned italian sausage on half, since my husband’s theory is it isn’t a meal if there’s no meat.
also, parchment paper is wonderful stuff, but the finished pizza can slip right off and into the bottom of your oven if you’re not careful when removing it from the stone. and oh, how the house fills with acrid smoke! on the bright side, if you’re making several pizzas, you can use the parchment paper over and over!
we make homemade pizza all the time and i love it! my husband is vegan so he tops his with tons of veggies and pine nuts and i go with the cheese. we do use a breadmaker to make our dough which is very convenient, if you think ahead of time. i swear that you can only get the good crust, though, by using some semolina flour. we go half semolina, half white flour and it’s delicious! huzzah for homemade pizza!
and I second the Pastorelli pizza sauce….perfect!
putting my oven on the self-cleaning cycle totally works. my super-ghetto range lifts up so that i can open the oven despite the safety latch. the only thing is that the third time i did it, my pizza stone cracked in half. it still works, but i haven’t done it again for fear of it breaking into even smaller pieces.
This is the problem I have time and again: I crank my oven up high, throw it in, but the cheesy top always gets too brown before the crust is done. I try making the crust as thin as possible, and have even lowered the temperature to 425 degrees, but I still have the problem. Help???
FYI – A cheapo solution to the pizza stone thing is buying some terra-cotta tiles at the hardware store. I bake bread on them and the results are fab, so I bet they would be great for pizza as well.
I miss grilling pizza with you!
I made Mario’s pizza crust last night and baked the pizza’s tonight. Oh my..this was the best crust. What a wonderful flavor and so light and crispy too. Thanks for recommending this one, I’ll definately use it again. It was just as easy as your original crust recipe..just a couple different ingredients.
I tried it 2 ways. First pizza I spread it out on parchment on my pizza pan and it came out perfect. By the second pizza, we weren’t hungry anymore..so I just hurriedly oiled up the pizza pan and sprinkled it with the cornmeal, smushed out the dough, and threw on the other stuff helter skelter. It was even better! That cornmeal adds such a nice little extra crunch. I didn’t use my stone at all and just baked it on the lowest shelf at 475º. Me thinks this crust is no fail!
Ahh, parchment paper! You have imparted to me the piece of wisdom I have been missing for the past two years! I have terrrrrrible problems with my topping-covered dough sticking to my pizza peel/cutting board/baking sheet, and this has caused some serious temper tantrums. I started to avoid pizza making for that reason alone. But now I see there is a solution. Thank you, smitten kitchen, for letting pizza come back into my life.
When I make pizza dough, I let it rise and then I roll it out (actually I use my hands) onto a silpat or parchment. I get it super thin, and then I freeze it. Later it just peels right off the parchment or silpat. Then I can just throw it on the grill. I wonder if I could throw it on the pizza stone in the oven…. I’m sure you could.
Thank you! Thank you! For ages I have been trying to convince my friends that making your own pizza dough with just a bowl and a spoon and your own two hands is actually REALLY easy and simple! They never believe me. This FAQ is fantastic. What a gem.
Fabulous… Aussie pizzas way overloaded and bases like cardboard. Make my own (but in a breadmaker) and cook ‘em like they do in Italy. Simple good ingredients. yummmm….
Hang on a sec. No dishwasher? Are you completely serious? I live in the sticks, and I still have a dishwasher… gads. Everything about this blog is amazing, but that’s the most amazing thing of all…
*walks off muttering about laziness in the kitchen being a sin*
BB
DEB! thank you so much. I had been wanting to try pizza start-to-finish and I needed someone to tell me not to be a scaredy cat. I made pizza on Saturday AND Sunday this weekend, and it was delicious both times. What a great post :)
So, it’s not real pizza but if you are really in a rush – some crusty bread slices or rolls split in half make a great pizza base.
I’ve been meaning to try to make this at home – asparagus is plentiful right now in CA and this may be the perfect crust for it, especially if I can do the dough in the am before work and have everything else ready to go by the time I get home at night. Try this combo for something different – Asparagus, smoked mozzarella, goat cheese, whole roasted garlic cloves, thyme, chili flakes. It’s from Cafe Bernardo in Davis, CA. One of their other locations also adds pancetta along with leeks to the pizza, but the folks in Davis tend to be more vegetarian eaters than in other areas.
Definite thanks for your list of pizza recipes with links! We’ve recently discovered the joys of homemade weeknight pizza.. wonderful satisfying, both for the tummy and for the sense of pride!
Thanks for these tips. I’ve always wanted to make pizza at home but have been full of excuses: takes too long, oven not hot enough. . .and so on and so forth. These tips are helpful and will provide me with the posterior-kick that I often require.
The pizza in the picture looks gorgeous. I have been so dissatisfied with the pizza I get around here (national chains) that I haven’t had pizza in quite some time (a year or so). Pizza is one of my favourite foods! I really have to do pizza at home then, so it will be the way I like it.
To Sarah, above, who uses the “cheapy” solution of terracotta tiles: CAUTION! As an ex-potter I can tell you that “cheapy” terracotta (especially that which is not intended for food use) can easily have a high lead content–particularly if made in developing nations like Mexico. I would never do it. Buy a pizza stone for $15.
Great summary-two things to add:
there is a big difference between buying store-bought (re: frozen and thawed) dough vs. local pizza place. Often people who have a hard time rolling out dough are using the former version.
Also, I too have a tiny kitchen sans gadgets, but for a great crispy crust, I recommend cooking the dough in a large saute pan with olive oil, flipping it when its done on one side. Add toppings and by the time you’re done with that, the other side will be done. Slide into the broiler for extra melty cheese and crispness. I think Mark Bittman wrote an article about this for the times, I highly recommend it…
i just started making home pizza earlier this year. my favorite book so far is the California pizza kitchen cookbook. we got it for the Thai chicken pizza recipe but so far we have loved everything in it 9 out of the 10 recipes we have tired.
as for the pizza stones i got mine for $12 at target. it works great and its so cool to see the crust start to cook as soon as you place it on the stone.
I’ve read a tip to those who don’t have a stone but haven’t tried it yet. put the dough in the oven for a bit (only the dough) then remove it and put the sauce and cheese and back to the oven
the extra time at the start SHOULD let the dough get it’s color and crispiness
The key to reallly good pizza is letting the dough rise. dont rush the process. In fact leave the dough covered with with a dish towel and leave it on top of the dryer. Also using high quality olive oil makes a difference in taste.
JANE – The trick to stretching dough is to let it rest. If it’s shrinking back after you roll or stretch it, the glutens are too tight and need to relax. Set it down on the counter for 20 minutes. It should be good to go after that.
This technique is also how you get super thin crusts. The more relaxed the gluten is, the thinner you can get the dough.
For the record, I bake on an inverted baking sheet with just sauce on the dough for 5 minutes at 500 degrees, then I put the toppings on and bake for 2 more. Then I turn the oven to broil for 1.5 minutes to finish. Works great!
Deb~ Thank you so much for your tips. I just made my first ever homemade pizza this evening. While it wasn’t as beautiful as yours, it was really quite good. Of course, I don’t have a pizza stone, peel or any of the other fancy gagetry, but it turned out wonderfully nonetheless. I never would have believed I could make pizza at home that would make me not want to order out again (none of the pizza places in town compare to New York pizza so I suppose this isn’t much of a feat). My husband informed me that my success meant that I was required to make it again, but I’m not complaining. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for posting these great tips You have pretty much debunked every excuse I have for not making my own pizza dough.
I’ve found good luck using a pizza pan on the pizza stone. You get the ease of assembling your pizza in the pan and your pizza stone stays clean and hot in the oven. You get the benefit of the even cooking w/the stone and taking your pizza out of the oven is a breeze because it’s in the pan. Crust cooks evenly and tastes great!!
I made pizza and the everything was fine…sauce, fresh mozerrella, pepperoni. However all the toppings tend to slide of after its cooked. Is this because I put too much sauce ?
Can you cut a pizza directly on the stone?
You can, but it a) is bad for your knife’s blade and b) will make your stone messy, and you really want to avoid getting it wet, if you can. If you do get it wet, definitely don’t soap it and make sure it dries at least overnight before you use it again.
So yes, in short, definitely easier to cut the pizza on a different surface.
I’ve really been enjoying your blog and it has inspired me to cook things that I might not have tried before. Thanks!
I tried out your refrigerator tip with the pizza dough and it unfortunately did not seem to work for me. I’m hoping that if I tell you what modifications I made to the recipe, that you might be able to figure out what happened so that it will work next time. For the dough, I used 1 cup of white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour. I did have to add two tbsp of water to the dough as it seemed pretty dry…would that be because of the white whole wheat flour? I oiled the bowl and plastic wrap with cooking spray and let the dough sit in the refrigerator for at least 11 hours.
Lastly, your directions say that once the dough from the refrigerator has risen, to deflate it. Is it necessary to then let it sit for another 15-20 minutes under plastic wrap?
Since it didn’t rise, I am going to try your tip of putting it in the oven. The lowest temp on my oven is 170 so hopefully, that won’t hurt it.
This is my first time making pizza dough…Thanks in advance for your help.
you have saved our Friday night pizza.
we (my husband and i) started ‘making’ pizza back in college every Friday night, originally with pre-made crust (as in boboli). then my husband stumbled upon your site and we made . since then we have been honing our pizza making skills, experimenting with different recipes and even starter dough. I think i have even mastered making wheat pizza that isn’t too dense and dry. Our ultimate goal is to get BIG bubbles in the crust. My theory is that the more watery the dough (like with the sourdough starter) and hot the oven, the more bubbles. I have yet to make a really bubbly crust, and blame our oven for not topping 550 degrees. Have you had any success at this?
Deb–I have a pizza stone, but no paddle, so i’ve always just cooked the pizza on a cookie sheet (we tried to move it using the cookie sheet several times… but gave up after burning ourselves :) ). I tried your idea of using parchment paper to transfer it from the cookie sheet to the stone, and then baking it on the parchment paper today…. and the parchment paper scorched and burned, and left me with a pizza that was really pretty on top, but scorched and burned on the bottom. I had the oven turned up all the way (to 500)… is there an upper temp limit when using parchment paper? Have you had this happen before? I was so excited about the parchment paper idea!–Kate
Deb, I’m anxious to read your reply to Kate because I’ve had exactly the same problem with parchment. Tomorrow I plan to try someone’s suggestion to put the pan on the stone. I will try 450°F on one shelf up in an electric oven. Do you think lowest shelf is too close to the coils? Thanks for your help and this great tips.
Yes, actually there is an upper limit to parchment paper, which is usually 425 to 450. Which leads me to suspect — and not for the first time — that since I never had the scorching issue that our oven ran way cool and even when set to 500 was probably not anywhere near it!
Hi Deb, I’ve never commented before but absolutely love your site and have tried (successfully!) quite a few of your recipes – I always look forward to seeing new recipes in google reader. One of my favorites is your super simple pizza dough – I was curious to know if you’ve ever added rosemary or any other herbs (or cheese) to it. Thanks!
Hey, your site makes me want to run home and cook every workday! I’m not the greatest chef, but my mom is incredible. She makes pizza about once a month, and her best tip is: it doesn’t need to be a circle. Don’t kill yourself pulling and pinching the douch into a circle: just make it a square or any polygon, really.
And if you’re looking for a mouth watering pizza: cherry tomatoes and arugula, or boiled, sliced potatoes, red onion and rosemary. And about a cup of olive oil for each!
I’ve been making pizza for years and everyone loves it. My problem repeatedly is that I cook in 500 degree oven on metal pizza pans with holes in them. I always have to cover the top of my pizza & put it back in because the bottom has not cooked enough! What am I doing wrong?
Deb, I’ve never left a comment here before, but I have to say, you’re just amazing!
I am visiting here first time and i found it awesome.Keep it up.I will be regularly updating my knowledge about cooking by visiting your website.