How to Make Pizza at Home + Video

Making pizza at home might seem like a daunting task, but fear not: it’s much easier than you think! Here is How to Make Pizza at Home!

How to Make Pizza at Home

If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember a little request I put in the day I hit 14,000 followers. Here’s a refresher:

 

Basically, I asked you to challenge me and give me four random ingredients to make a recipe with. Boy, did you guys deliver! So here I am, sharing what I made with your requests! I chose two requests, in particular, and these are the ingredients in each:

Request 1 from Hello to Fit:

  • Eggplant
  • Tomato
  • Honey
  • Basil

Request 2 from Everyday Eating with Alex

  • Pistachios
  • Basil
  • Ricotta
  • Balsamic vinegar

I’ve been wanting to make pizza, and these requests stuck out to me as the perfect pizza toppings! So, I figured this would be the best time to put those ingredients to work.

[Tweet “Ever wanted to make your own pizza?”]

How to Make Pizza at Home

You guys… seriously. These came out SO wonderfully. We had a giant pizza party at my house, and these two were the talk of the town. The sweet honey and eggplant combined with fresh basil and salty tomato sauce – this was an epic fusion of flavors. And don’t get me started on my new favorite pizza topping – pistachios! You ladies killed it with these recommendations!

Oh, and I’m so excited because I was able to finally use my Baking Steel to make these pizzas! The Baking Steel is essentially a slab of steel that you place your pizza on top of to bake in the oven. Here’s how Andris, the creator, explains how it works:

…steel is a more conductive cooking surface than a brick oven’s stone.  It can cook faster and more evenly at a lower temperature, resulting in a beautiful, thin, crispy crust.

The crusts of each pizza we created using the Steel came out so incredibly crispy and crunchy – just the way we like it. I’ve never been a fan of doughy pizza crust, so this was absolutely perfect.

Andris and I have followed each other on Instagram for a while (he’s even shared a guest recipe on here), and per the nature of Instagram, have become foodie friends! So, to give you guys the best preparation for your at-home pizza adventures, I asked Andris if he could give me his top five pizza-making tips. Here’s what he had to say:

  1. Equipment
    A. In order to create a brick oven style pizza at home, you need a Baking Steel.  The thermal capacity of the Baking Steel makes this possible…Simply pre-heat your oven for 1 hour with the Baking Steel on the top rack and you are ready to create killer pizza at home…A Baking Steel stores up to 20% the energy of a stone, creating a light and airy crust in just 4-5 minutes or half the time of a pizza stone.
    B. Pizza Peel – You need a peel to help launch onto your Baking Steel.  Wood is my favorite.

    C. Digital Scale – measuring ingredients in cups can vary as much as 20%. Thus a digital scale is a must when measuring ingredients.  A scale will calculate precisely the amount the recipe states.

  2. Dough – This is the single most important component of pizza at home.  You must make the dough yourself.  Making dough may seem intimidating, but it’s simple, and all it requires is time and patience.  You can make your dough at least an hour before you start baking, but here’s my rule-of-thumb for making the most of your pizza dough — for Friday night pizza, your dough should be made on Tuesday. We bulk ferment for 24 hours, ball it up and place in the fridge for an additional 48 hours.  The active time to produce this dough is maybe 15 minutes. This process is called a cold fermentation. Longer fermentation times results in more complex flavors.
  3. Topping your pies – Less is more, this one is simple.  You want your dough to cook thoroughly so you need to give it a chance.  If you think you have too much on top, likely you do. Less is more…
  4. Stretch your dough by hand – We just spent 72 hours fermenting our dough.  Now, we need to preserve all those beautiful air bubbles.  A rolling pin will destroy everything we just created.  Learn to stretch by hand. Start on the counter and lightly press your dough into a 5 or 6 inch cylinder. Then place on the back of your knuckles and lightly pull and rotate. Let gravity be your friend.
  5. Ingredients – Pizza dough has 4 ingredients, flour, salt, water, and yeast.  Choose your ingredients wisely. I like to buy local and organic.  For best results in a home oven, I love organic bread flour…My favorite flour is high mountain hi gluten wheat flour from Centralmilling.com.

[Tweet “5 tips for making pizza at home “]

How to Make Pizza at Home

Look at that sweet, roasted eggplant. To die for!

Let’s get into how to make these puppies! To assist you in your at-home pizza makin’, I created my first ever recipe video! This video shows you the basics – how to make the dough, how to form it, store it, bake it. Watching this will give you a better understanding of the process as a whole!

https://youtu.be/gWxQRkbOZc4

Now, let’s get into the flavors!

Roasted Eggplant Pizza
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 pizza
Ingredients
  • For the dough:
  • 4-5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 packet active rise yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
  • 2 tsp salt
  • For the pizza/toppings:
  • 1-2 cups of jarred pizza sauce
  • 1/2 cup buffalo mozzarella
  • 1 eggplant, cubed and roasted
  • 1 handful fresh basil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp honey
Instructions
  1. Place Baking Steel in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.
  2. In a stand mixer, add in flour, yeast, and salt. Mix together until well-combined.
  3. Add water to dry mixture in batches while mixing. Continue mixing until a ball of dough is formed. If your mixture is still to wet, continue adding flour until firm ball is formed.
  4. Place ball of dough in a large bowl and set aside to let rise for at least one hour. Be sure to grease the bowl with olive oil or canola spray before placing dough in.
  5. Once dough has risen, flour a working surface, the dough, and your hands. Cut dough into a fist-sized ball and place onto the working surface. Kneed dough and shape into however large you prefer your pizza.
  6. Once pizza is shaped, ladle pizza sauce and spread evenly.
  7. Place slices of buffalo mozzarella and eggplant over the pizza sauce.
  8. Place pizza atop a pizza peel or wooden cutting board. Open the oven, and slide pizza onto the baking steel.
  9. Bake for 5-6 minutes.
  10. When pizza is finished baking, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, honey, and fresh basil leaves.
Notes
To roast the eggplant: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Chop up eggplant into cubes and place onto a baking sheet, evenly spread out. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, over the eggplant. Mix with your hands so each cube is evenly coated. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until soft.

[Tweet “TWO mouthwatering pizza recipes!”]

How to Make Pizza at Home

Now, for the pistachio pizza!

How to Make Pizza at Home
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 pizza
Ingredients
  • For the dough:
  • 4-5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 packet active rise yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
  • 2 tsp salt
  • For the pizza/toppings:
  • 1-2 cups of jarred pizza sauce
  • 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled and chopped
  • 1 cup skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • Fresh basil leaves, about a handful
Instructions
  1. Place Baking Steel in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.
  2. In a stand mixer, add in flour, yeast, and salt. Mix together until well-combined.
  3. Add water to dry mixture in batches while mixing. Continue mixing until a ball of dough is formed. If your mixture is still to wet, continue adding flour until firm ball is formed.
  4. Place ball of dough in a large bowl and set aside to let rise for at least one hour. Be sure to grease the bowl with olive oil or canola spray before placing dough in.
  5. Once dough has risen, flour a working surface, the dough, and your hands. Cut dough into a fist-sized ball and place onto the working surface. Kneed dough and shape into however large you prefer your pizza.
  6. Once pizza is shaped, ladle pizza sauce and spread evenly.
  7. Add ricotta cheese by the spoonful and spread.
  8. Sprinkle with pistachios.
  9. Place pizza atop a wooden cutting board or pizza peel. Bake for 5-6 minutes.
  10. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top with fresh basil leaves.

How to Make Pizza at Home

Join the conversation:
Have you ever made pizza at home?
What is your biggest challenge or obstacle stopping you from making your own pizza?

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How to Make Pizza at Home

Comments

  1. says

    Yay for videos!! They’re always so much fun! I love all of the different pizza flavors. As an Italian, I feel like knowing how to make a pizza is something you learn before you turn 10, which is basically when I learned! Haha thank you for sharing Christina! <3

  2. says

    First of all, love the video. I need to take the plunge……soon. “soon”. Second of all, you’ve just given me a date night idea for Miguel and I. The only time I’ve ever made my own pizza I still used store bought pizza dough–this is legit though!

  3. says

    Ooh wow, those are some really creative ingredients. I can’t wait to watch the video. :) Those pizzas looks SO beautiful Christina. You are a true chef!

  4. says

    HI. Ahhh when I saw this on Snapchat I was like hm….those ingreds sound familiar, tehehe. Thanks for using my basket of ingredients!! This Chopped-style recipe thing is a good idea….
    XOXO

  5. says

    eeeps these look so good! and i remember that insta 😉
    my favorite pizza toppings are roasted eggplant and arulgula (with tons of marinara lol, i get extra on the side!) and thanks for sharing the pizza tips, super helpful 😀 except, i loooad on veggie toppings. love the vid!!

  6. says

    I still remember when I made pizza at home. Well, I try something different to make it spicy and tasty and it works. I like your video because it gives me more idea to prepare pizza differently. So, thanks again

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