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Keys to the Perfect Homemade Pizza

It has taken a lot of trial and error, but I think I have finally perfected the my pizza dough recipe. I find that a good pizza is all about the crust. It can make or breaks a good pizza. Toppings are easy – you just throw on some of your favorite ingredients and bake. But the crust can be temperamental.

So through lots of experimentation, I have come up with a few keys to making the perfect homemade pizza.

1. “Fresh” yeast.

Yeast, if you are not familiar, is what makes the dough rise. And since it is technically “alive” it is important to keep the yeast fresh. I store mine in the freezer and replace it every 3-4 months if I haven’t used it all by then. Also, yeast feeds off of sugar. I always add a bit of sugar or honey to the water so that the yeast can work it’s magic. [Side note: if you get the individuals packets of yeast, they do not need to be stored in the freezer.]

2. Bread flour

Bread flour is a recent addition to my pizza dough recipe. I was watching Diners Drive-ins and Dives and learned that one famous pizzeria uses a high gluten flour, which makes the dough crunchier and a bit more elastic. Bread flour gives me that extra gluten I am looking for since it has more protein to help the gluten development. I typically also use whole wheat flour for a 50/50 flour combo.
3. Time and warmth
Yeast needs time and loves being warm. If you are short on time, add a bit more warmth. When I decide to make pizza at the last minute, I typically warm up the oven to about 150 degrees while I prep everything. Then when the dough is ready, I turn off the oven and let to dough rise in the warm oven. If I have tons of time, I skip the oven step and just leave it out on the counter. For instance, this is what that bowl of dough looked like before it spent 3 hours in a warm oven:
 4. Pre-bake the crust

Unfortunately I do not have a pizza oven. If I could, I would install one in my tiny apartment. A real pizza oven gets extremely hot, which is why a good pizza has that blistered crust underneath. Chances are, your oven at home can’t get that hot. I like to pre-bake my crust on a preheated pizza stone (or baking sheet). I bake it for about 5 minutes until the underside has crisped.

5. The broiler

An extremely hot pizza oven will not only crisp up the crust but also melt and caramelize the toppings. Again, your home oven probably won’t do that. So once the cheese has melted, I turn on the broiler and let the crust and cheese brown on the top. The pizza above isn’t a terribly good indication of that because there isn’t a lot of cheese, but the broiler helped to crisp the prosciutto and caramelize the figs.

And last but not least…

6. Creativity

One of the reasons B and I like making pizzas so much is because we can really be creative with it. If we try something we like at a restaurant, we find it can be easily translated to a pizza. This fig and prosciutto pizza was inspired by a fig, goat cheese, and prosciutto appetizer we had at a restaurant here in Charlotte. This pizza has fig jam on the bottom, topped with mozzarella, goat cheese, caramelized red onion, sliced figs, and arugula. 

I hope I have inspired you to make your own pizza at home? If so, what kind are you going to make?

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) dry active yeast
1 tablespoon honey

1 3/4 cups bread flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
1. Mix honey into water. Sprinkle yeast on top of the water. Let stand for 10 minutes or until the yeast has completely foamed up.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer with a bread hook attachment mix together flours and salt.
3. Add yeast mixture into flour and turn on stand mixer to begin kneading. Slowly drizzle in oil.
4. Let the dough knead for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl then continue mixing for another 2-3 minutes.
5. In the end, the dough should form a ball that is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is too dry, add more water 1 tsp at a time. If it too sticky, add more flour.
6. Transfer dough to a glass or ceramic bowl and rub 1 tsp of oil over the surface of the dough to prevent it from drying out while rising. Cover with dish towel or plastic wrap and let stand for at least 2 hours, but ideally 10+ hours. (You can also place in a warm oven to speed up the process)
7. Once dough has risen, punch down dough. Form into two equal sized balls, and knead each ball, folding it into itself. Let sit and rise for another 20 minutes. If only making 1 pizza, wrap one dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate it of freeze it to use in the future.
8. If making pizza immediately, press out the dough using your fingers to the desired thickness.
9. Top with the toppings of your choice. Bake at 450 degrees for 5-7 minutes, or until cheese has melted. Broil the pizza for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

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Comments

  1. We usually follow a recipe with all-purpose flour and no yeast, but I’ll admit that it’s probably better for those who don’t want a thick crust. We might try it this way, with the yeast and bread flour, sometime 🙂

  2. Yum, that looks delish! Pizza is hands down my favorite food, but when I make it at home I buy the pre-made dough at Trader Joes and I feel like I am missing out on a lot of fun. I need to try your recipe, and the fig, proscuitto, and arugula looks amazing!

  6. Ok, your pizza looks perfect. Mine always comes out mushy because I never knew to pre-bake the dough!! My pizza dough never rolls out well and it scrunches all together. I’m trying your way next time!
    Karen @ Karen’s Soiree

  7. this looks delish! maybe one day I can find some time and give it a try. its amazing what the specific ingredients or brands can make a difference with baking. I only use swans down for certain cakes. ps is that a pampered chef baking stone?

  8. You make this sound SO easy, yet I am still terrified to use yeast. I need to just let go of my fears and try it! Pizza is my absolute favorite food in the world, so that should be enough of a reason to try it! Thanks for linking up!

  10. I love homemade pizza, but I’ve always cheated and bought the crust. It always sounded so intimidating to make the dough! These are really good tips and instructions, though… I might just be brave enough to try it now 🙂 Stopping by from the Taste of Tuesday link up!

  12. I just tweaked my recipe, I think I have it where I want it.

    When I first started making pizza, I was not pre-baking the crust and was using too much dough. I like a thinner crust so I halve each one pound ball of dough and freeze half.

  13. This…is my kind of recipe! I have been wanting to try and make our pizza dough and I think I am going to take your recipe and try it finally! Thanks 🙂

  17. OMG, first off your toppings look amazing, that’s my kinda pizza! Also, bread flour changed my life! It makes all my bread-type recipes so much better!
    The pre-cooking is good important too! I’ve neglected that before and it comes out too soggy!
    <3
    Pinned this! I’m stopping by from the pin it party! Oh, and followed your blog too!
    Kallie, http://www.butfirstcoffeeblog.com

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