How to Make Good Pizza From Scratch
By Cloverleaf
Isn't making homemade pizza hard work?
Making homemade pizza from scratch is certainly worth the effort. To successfully make a great homemade pizza, it is especially important to use good quality ingredients, and to take your time in the preparation.
The following recipes: "The Best Pizza Sauce Recipe" and "The Best Pizza Crust Recipes" have been tried, tested and adapted in my kitchen at home. They go hand in hand to create the absolute very best pizza that I have ever tasted.
Experiment with different toppings to create your own perfect pizza. My favorites are:-
- Grilled Chicken, Red Onion and Yellow Pepper, sprinkled with Fresh Cilantro
- Ham and Fresh Pineapple
Ingredients for 2 Pizzas
1 (6 ounce) Can Tomato Paste
1 1/2 Cups Water
1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
Salt to Taste
Ground Black Pepper to Taste
1/2 Tbsp Dried Oregano
1/4 Tbsp Dried Basil
The Best Pizza Sauce Recipe
Make the Pizza Sauce ahead of time to allow all the flavors to blend; allow at least 2 hours or make the day before if possible.
- Whisk together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil.
- Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, and basil.
- Mix well and let stand in the fridge until needed.
- No cooking necessary, just spread on the dough!
Ingredients For 2 Pizzas
For The Yeast Mixture
1 Package of Dry Yeast
¼ Cup Warm Water (100 Degrees F)
1 Tsp Sugar
Dry Ingredients
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Cornmeal
Wet Ingredients
1 Cup Warm Milk (100 degrees F)
¼ Cup Warm Water (100 degrees F)
1 Tbsp Melted Butter
The Best Pizza Crust Recipe
- Activate the yeast by adding ¼ Cup Warm Water (100 Degrees F) and stirring in 1 teaspoon of sugar.
- Set aside and leave for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients, together with the activated yeast mixture.
- Stir until well mixed, incorporating all the dry ingredients.
- Cover the bowl with a clean towel and set aside for about 1 hour, allowing the dough to rise.
- Empty dough out onto a clean, floured surface.
- Knead by hand 6-8 times; it may be necessary to add additional flour (less is better) to the surface to keep dough from sticking.
- Divide the dough in half; this recipe will make enough dough for 2 thin crust pizza bases. Store any unused dough in the fridge or freezer.
 | Amazon Price: $54.95 List Price: $57.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $26.59 |
Assembling Your Pizza
- Sit a pizza stone in the center of the oven and preheat to 420 degrees F.
- Roll out the required dough very thinly, sprinkle some flour and cornmeal onto a pizza paddle to prevent the dough from sticking, and then carefully transfer it onto the pizza paddle.
- Gently fold in the edges of the dough, about ½ inch. (This will create a nice puffy edge and help prevent the toppings from falling off when you put it in the oven!)
- Lightly spread on some of "The Best Pizza Sauce", followed by chopped fresh basil, sliced mozzarella cheese and fresh toppings of your choice. Try chopped ham with fresh pineapple, or grilled chicken with red onion and yellow peppers.
- An great way to make the edges more interesting and flavorful is to brush with olive oil and then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Give the paddle a gentle shake to make sure that the dough is not sticking to the board. When ready, open the oven door and quickly (and carefully) slide it onto the pizza stone.
- Bake for approximately 13-14 minutes.
- When the pizza is ready, transfer it to a wire rack to help cool it down. This will also keep the base of the pizza nice and crispy.
- Drizzle with a little olive oil, or sprinkle over some fresh cilantro for a great finishing touch.
- Enjoy!
Comments
Hi tsmog, thanks for your comment! We made 2 of these last night and I'm thinking about the cold pizza leftovers in the fridge...
Hi Cloverleaf, great hub! Delicious - I really feel like pizza now! Cheers- Mel
Thanks Mel Jay. My mouth was watering while I was writing this hub; I really enjoyed sharing it!
My gosh the pizzas in the pictures look delectable! I am going to try these recipes. Thanks! The pictures are awesome!
Thanks, Dexter, yes they are certainly quite delicious! I hope you get to try the recipes out, let me know how they turn out for you :-)
I like this pizza and I'm sure starch will make a meracle. The daugh recipe sounds very good I think I will switch to your recipe for dinner pizza. Thanks for sharing this amazing secret :)this hub should be rated up ans awsome!
Yum, yum! These look great and now I know what is for dinner tomorrow. Thanks for the inspiration.
Your sauce recipe sounds so simple, I'll have to try it sometime. It sounds more liquid-y than it looks in the picture - for mine I use a 30 oz can of tomato sauce but it lasts for several pizzas. I'd like to share these recipes on my website, OpenSourcePizza.com!
Hi Heather, I generally add up to 1.5 cups of water to the sauce, depending on what kind of toppings I intend to use, for example if I am using chicken then it can definitely take on a liquidy sauce. I find that ham and pineapple toppings don't need quite as much liquid in the sauce because there is juice in the pineapple. You are very welcome to copy my recipe into your website; I have just been looking at your site and there are sooooo many yummy recipes on there! Would you mind including a link back to this hub? Thanks for your great comments.
Awesome pizza. Your recipe for the crust and sauce look terrific. Rated up, useful and bookmarked.
Thanks KKG! Glad you found the recipe useful :-)
I have just eaten my breakfast and I am hungry again. You have a great pizza recipe here.
I learned something new today: prepare the pizza sauce ahead of time to allow the flavors to blend.
Thanks Cloverleaf!
Hello blessingsforlife,
Great to see you again! My apologies for making you hungry again :-)
I think you will enjoy this recipe, sometimes I make both the dough and the sauce the day before and just let them sit in the fridge overnight.
Enjoy!
Cloverleaf.
That homemade pizza looks so amazing. Awesome recipe to make it from scratch. I look forward to printing this out and giving it a try!
Hi felicitylovespari, I think you will like this one. It looks tricky but but it's actually quite simple if you follow it through...and oh so rewarding! Enjoy :-)
Cloverleaf.
I loved your recipe. Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing. Could you please tell me what is a pizza stone
Hi thumbi7,
Thank you for your comment and great question! A pizza stone is an absolute must when baking pizza in the oven. A pizza stone helps to evenly distribute the heat so that your pizza comes out cooked through evenly every time. Also it absorbs the moisture so that the crust is nice and crispy. Hope that answers your question!
Cloverleaf
This looks absolutely terrific. I am definitely going to make this pizza this weekend. It looks better than anything I can buy. One question, how do you check the temperature of the water and milk? Is there a special thermometer for liquids? I think I always mess this part up. I am going to put some tomatoes and basil on mine.
Hi ktrapp,
I usually check the temperature by "feel", 100 degrees is just lukewarm, but you can also use a regular meat thermometer to check the temperature. The easiest way to heat it is to pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds or so. Fresh tomato and basil sounds just yummy - can I come over to your house this weekend? LOL. Enjoy!
Cloverleaf.
Thanks for the help. You're more than welcome to come. How far is Calgary from Chicago :)
Hi ktrapp,
Just a plane ride away....I'm off to by my ticket now :-)
Cloverleaf.
Thanks, will give this one a try :)
Hi DIY Backlinks,
I hope you enjoy, thanks for your comment!
Cloverleaf
Cloverleaf I would like to come and visit you for about a week. You have so many great recipes! I couldn't stay more than a weak though. I would gain too much weight!!
Excellent hub, wonderful looking pizzas, and great layout.
Wow, looks very delicious...I'm hungry now :)
Hi Maralexa, you're very welcome any time! Pizza first or BBQ Ribs?
Cloverleaf.
Hey ayliss08, I always watch the pizza cook through the oven door and it makes me soooo hungry :-) thanks for your comment!
Cloverleaf
Sounds like a great recipe....if there is one item that we eat a ton of in this house...it is pizza. I will try your recipe and let you know how it was received in the Cogerson household.
And finally congrats on your awesome interview on the HubPage newsletter...great answers to some great questions.
Hi Cogerson, it pleases me so much to think that you will try out my pizza recipe! I think you'll enjoy it. Thanks so much for reading my interview, too :-)
Cloverleaf.
Great stuff Cloverleaf. You have made some great hubs about your recipes. The pizza looks to die for. You know you always have my votes. Where is this interview Clover? I would like to see this. Take care of my friend. I have been working a lot lately so I am not on the computer as much. :)
Hi thelyricwriter, you are so good to come and read my hubs even though you're so busy :-) My hubber interview you were asking about was featured in this weeks newsletter. You can access it from here http://hubpages.com/about/interview/Cloverleaf. I hope you had a great weekend.
Cloverleaf.
What toppings do you recommend just in case for a seafood themed pizza? I'll experiment it out later and I really need some ideas. :)
Hi cepheid, great question! I would try garlic shrimp with mozzarella and fresh basil. Really simple but oh so tasty. Makes me hungry just thinking about it! All the best,
Cloverleaf
My experiment was a mess, we ended up calling a pizza delivery. How sad. Haha
Uh oh cepheid! What went wrong?
It not with the ingredients though, the oven just ran out of juice. I've rebaked the pizza a while ago along with your suggestions and it was really good. Thanks for that and I'll try more of your recipes next time.
Wow that looks good, and this coming from a Chicago pizza guy with high standards! Will have to try this out soon!
That's good to know, cepheid! Keep on cookin'!
Hi Midwest Man, I'm very humbled by your nice comment - thanks so much!
Oh this looks sooooo good!
Thanks, Susan!
this is look really yummy, even tho i didn't really like pizza that much hehe :D
I thought I had read this before, but perhaps not, or I just didn't leave a comment. This looks delish!! Bookmarking, for sure. I LOVE pizza! Voted up and delicious. haha--that should be a choice! Sharing with others!
Certainly looks Yummy! Good recipe, looks sumptuous!
Thanks, Vicki. We just love making this pizza! We ruined many in the process of getting the recipe "just right" (I can laugh about it now) but thankfully our hard work has paid off and it now comes out great each time. I can't help but sit down in front of the oven and watch the crust rise...don't tell anyone I told you that, though.
Cheers, Zubyre!
Okay, Cloverleaf, I won't tell anyone you told me that about watching the crust rise, although you did just tell whoever cares to read it. hahaha! :-)
That is a great endorsement for the pizza, though! I will try it!
This looks like a delicious recipe! I will try it! Thank you for writing it! I am going to bookmark it and try the recipe soon!
VOTED UP!
I usually just use my bread recipe but I'm going to give this a try, thanks for posting it, I'm bookmarking it for sure!
mmmm, I really feel like pizza. I am going to try these recipes. Grate Hub.. Very Interesting! thanks for sharing this! Voted up
Prasanna
Thanks for all the votes up! I hope you all get to try out this recipe. I'll never have take-out again :)
Coming from an Italian family I definitely have to give your recipe a try. Thank you for sharing.
tsmog 13 months ago
My mouth is watering , , and I didn't know you could get a pizza stone for home oven , , ,mmmmmmmmm