Make homemade pizza from scratch
Stretch your own dough, choose your toppings, and beat takeout at its own game.
- Time:
- 60 min
- Cost:
- low
- Difficulty:
- moderate
- Where:
- Indoors
- Best:
- Solo
The main obstacle when you make homemade pizza from scratch is that your oven is roughly a third as hot as a pizza oven. Everything else follows from compensating for that: a thoroughly preheated steel or stone, a dough given time to develop flavor, and far fewer toppings than instinct suggests.
Why make homemade pizza from scratch is worth an hour
A preheated steel stores and transfers heat quickly into the base, which is what produces a crisp bottom rather than a pale soggy one. Cold fermentation solves a different problem: a slow rise in the fridge develops flavor that a fast warm rise cannot, which matters because a two-ingredient dough has nowhere else to get flavor from.
How to make homemade pizza from scratch step by step
- 1
Make the dough a day ahead
A slow cold rise in the fridge develops considerably more flavor than a two-hour warm prove.
- 2
Preheat the steel for a full hour
At maximum temperature. The stone or steel needs to be saturated with heat, not merely hot on top.
- 3
Stretch by hand, never roll
A rolling pin crushes the gas out of the rim. Press from the centre and leave the edge alone.
- 4
Use far fewer toppings
Wet toppings are why bases go soggy. Restraint here does more for the result than any equipment.
- 5
Bake short and hot
Maximum temperature, a few minutes only. Use the grill at the end if the top needs color.
Tips to get more out of it
- Use semolina rather than flour on the peel. Flour burns and tastes bitter at these temperatures.
- Drain fresh mozzarella and tear rather than slice. Excess moisture is the main enemy of a crisp base.
- Cook the sauce lightly or not at all. It cooks on the pizza, and pre-cooked sauce often ends up over-reduced.
Ways to mix it up
If you have no steel or stone, an upturned heavy baking tray preheated for an hour is a reasonable substitute. If you want a different style entirely, a pan pizza cooked in a heavy skillet suits domestic ovens far better than trying to imitate Neapolitan.
Make homemade pizza from scratch: frequently asked questions
Why is my pizza base soggy?
Usually too many wet toppings or insufficient bottom heat. A fully preheated steel and restraint with toppings fixes most cases.
Do I need a pizza stone or steel?
It helps considerably. Steel transfers heat faster than stone, and an upturned heavy baking tray is a workable substitute.
How long should pizza dough ferment?
Overnight in the fridge, or up to two days. The slow cold rise is where the flavor of a simple dough comes from.
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