Pizza Making 101
Photo by Kristina Bratko on Unsplash
Welcome to the Storey house! We like pizza, like a lot. I talked a little about my husband's pizza obsession in this blog post, and we seriously eat it more than I'm comfortable admitting publicly. It's such an easy dinner, what can I say? Since it's such a big part of our weekly routine, I figured I'd share our pizza making must-have's + tips. This could also be used as a gift guide for that impossible-to-buy-for person in your life - pizza is always a win. Below are my top three tips for making epic pizza, plus a few of our favorite pizza making products.
- Get yourself a pizza maker. Pizza stones are great too, but the pizza maker is so much easier to deal with since it's smaller and self-contained. It took us some time to master it, and every crust is going to be different. We put the dough on parchment paper, sauce it, cheese it, top it, and place the pizza on the stone with the parchment paper. After 4.5 min, we slide the paper out and let the crust get a little more crispy (around 2 min longer). Also, for the health nuts that have made it this far: I've been successful with a homemade cauliflower crust in our pizza maker as well. I let it cook a little longer, including pre-cooking before adding sauce, cheese, and toppings. It was WAY easier than the time I tried it in an oven.
- Invest in the good cheese. You know... the kind in the fancy part of the grocery store. I've actually lucked out and found fresh mozzarella at ALDI many times, and you don't have to get the most expensive kind. The key is fresh mozzarella - it adds a creamy/nutty level of flavor that will take your pizza to a new level. You'll also want a blend of Italian shredded cheese, and you can totally go cheap on that part, I won't tell.
- Crust is everything. We have failed SO hard with dough, so learn from our mistakes. Do NOT get the canned Pillsbury pizza dough - it's horrible for actual pizza making. I have not yet mastered the art of making dough, so we usually pick up pre-rolled out dough from a local artisan pizza place. It's not as cheap as making your own (JIFFY has a great little mix in the baking aisle I keep on hand for late-night pizzamergencies) but OMAGGERRD it takes an average pizza to a 10/10. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods also have pizza dough in their refrigerated sections, and they're awesome in a pinch as well.
