How to Make Homemade Pizza
Once you know how to make homemade pizza from scratch, pizza night won't be the same. You won't go back to ordering delivery thanks to these tips.
Does your family have any traditions? It seems like a lot of our family traditions revolve around food — it's the centerpiece of our home, really!
One of those traditions is pizza night.
When I started making my own pizza dough, I quickly realized how easy it is to make pizza at home. All you need is your perfect pizza crust, your favorite pizza sauce, and the right toppings.
We love making at least two varieties of pizzas, so we can mix and match our slices. It is also so fun to make individually-sized pizza crusts for the kids to make their own creations.
Then you can pop on a fun movie for the family or play a board game, depending on your family's interests.
What You Need for Homemade Pizza
Here's what you'll need to make homemade pizza:
Pizza Crust: Our go-to pizza crust is this thin-crust pizza. It's not paper thin, but thin enough that it doesn't feel like your pizza is all crust and no toppings. You can roll it as thick or thin as you'd like or leave it to sit longer if you want thicker crust.
But feel free to stock up on store-bought dough if that saves you a step. You can also make pizzas on bagels, flatbreads or a loaf of focaccia bread.
Pizza sauces: Pizza sauce can be anything from traditional tomato pizza sauce to pesto to just drizzling olive oil on top of the crust before adding your ingredients.
Toppings: Stock up on your favorite toppings. Cheeses, meats, veggies and even a sprinkle of pizza seasoning. We usually love making one pepperoni and one barbecue chicken pizza, but there are sooo many toppings you can use!
Toppings for a Pizza Bar
What toppings do you need for a pizza bar? We counted over 100 pizza toppings but you really only need a smattering of options for your crew to build their custom pizzas.
Cheeses: Shredded mozzarella and parmesan are classic. If you want to level things up, use fresh buffalo mozzarella. Other cheese can work too, such as blue cheese for a buffalo chicken pizza. You'll need about ¾ cup shredded for one regular 10-inch pizza.
Cured meats: Pepperoni, prosciutto and sausage are all great on pizzas. Make a meat lover's pizza or mix and match toppings with other flavors.
Chicken: A rotisserie chicken with the meat pulled off the bones comes in handy when making pizza because you can use it as the base ingredient. Toss it in barbecue sauce or buffalo sauce to make different kinds of pizza.
Veggies: Think roasted bell peppers, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, artichoke, olives and more. Use your faves!
Other toppings: Herbs like fresh basil leaves and chopped rosemary and fruits like sliced pineapple, figs and apples can be delicious additions to pizza.
How to Cook Pizza
Cooking methods for homemade pizza can vary! Try any that are available to you and see what your favorite is.
Oven pizza is most common of course. Heat it as high as it will go, say 500°F (260°C). Place the pizza on a baking sheet or pizza stone and cook it for 8-12 minutes.
Grilled pizza: Yes, you can cook pizza on your grill! It's easy to do and you will love the flavor you get from the fire.
Smoked pizza: We love to bake our pizza right on our Traeger grill. It works so well and the smoky taste adds so much flavor to every bite of pizza.
Side Dishes for Pizza
Pizza by itself is totally acceptable but if you want to jazz up the meal, add a side dish or dipping sauce!
This ranch dip or jalapeño dip is perfect with spicy pepperoni pizza. We also love adding a side salad or fruit salad.
And you can't go wrong with breadsticks or garlic knots and marinara sauce.
Homemade Pizza
Equipment
Ingredients
Homemade Pizza Crust
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water 110ºF
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Pizza Toppings
- 1 cup pizza sauce
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon pizza seasoning
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- other toppings as desired
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add active dry yeast, warm water and honey. Mix together with dough hook attachment. Let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.
- Once the yeast is active, add salt, olive oil and all-purpose flour to stand mixer bowl and mix dough together for 3-5 minutes. Dough should be tacky but doesn’t stick to your hands. Add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it is easy to work with.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Let dough rest in a bowl covered for at least 10 minutes (up to 30 minutes) before rolling it out.
- Split the dough into two equal sized pieces, then roll dough to about ½ inch thickness, trying to keep the shape rounded and about 12 inches. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper.
Pizza
- Spread pizza sauce evenly on pizza crust, leaving about ½ inch around the outside.
- Sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese on crust.
- Lay toppings on top of cheese and then sprinkle the remaining cheese on the pepperoni.
- Sprinkle pizza seasoning over pizza toppings.
- Using a brush, brush melted butter on the outside of the crust that is not covered with sauce. Then sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder on top of butter.
- If desired, trim edges of parchment paper around pizza crust to prevent paper burning.
- Cook the pizza — see notes for cook times and cooking methods.
- Cool for at least 5 minutes then use a pizza cutter to slice into pieces and serve.
