Learn how to make pizza

-- It's Fun & Easy!

It's easy to learn how to make pizza ... it all begins with the dough. If you can make yeast bread, then making pizza crust will be a snap. Actually, making pizza is a snap even if you don't know how to make yeast bread.

Making Pizza

Helpful tips and resources for making pizza:

Choose a recipe from our collection of homemade pizza recipes or share your favorite recipe.
Check out the pizza ingredients section for some special products to make your pizza taste even better.
Browse the homemade pizza section for pizza peels, pizza stones, and other pizza pans and tools.
Check out our selection of pizza cookbooks.
View our selection of pizza mixes.
Refer to the tips in the how to make pizza section.
For more recipes and instructions, don't forget to check out the September 2008 series on making pizza in the bread baking blog.

Topping the Pizza

Once you learn how to make a pizza crust you really like, then it's time to perfect the toppings. Pizza tastes so much better when you use the freshest ingredients. If you have the time (or inclination) to make your own sauce, we highly recommend it. Not only does it make the pizza taste better, your friends and family will be so impressed.

Freezing the Pizza Crust

After you've baked the pizza crust, it can easily be frozen and kept for as long as six months. Just be sure it is completely cooled before freezing. Wrap it in plastic first, then in foil. When you want pizza, take the crust from the freezer, cover it with topping, and place it in a preheated 400°F oven for 10 minutes. You don't even need to thaw the crust.

Types of Pizza

Pizza can be made in many forms. Listed below are some of the common types of pizza.

Neapolitan pizza is thin and round.
Sicilian pizza is rectangular and thick.
In a Chicago-style pizza, layers of toppings fill a high-edged crust in a deep pan.
New York style pizza has a thin crust with a thick, puffy outer edge.
A calzone is folded pizza dough baked with the toppings inside.

Pizza History

People of ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures made an early form of pizza by baking bread, with simple toppings, on stones in a wood-fired oven. Pizza as we know it today originated in Naples, Italy in 1889. Raffaele Esposito, a baker, created a special dish to honor the visiting king and queen of Italy, Umberto and Margherita. Esposito topped Neapolitan flat bread with green basil, white mozzarella cheese, and red tomato sauce to reflect the colors of the Italian flag. Of course, many bakers soon copied the dish.

Share your tips on how to make pizza

Do you enjoy making a special pizza crust? Please share your tips on how to make pizza so that other bakers can learn something new.

Sources:
Reilly, John G. "Pizza." World Book Online Reference Center. 2008. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wts/Article?id=ar750160>
Oppenneer, Betsy. The Bread Book. Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. 1994.