Homemade pizza newbie-tips and tricks?

Persa

I'm finally going to tackle making pizza at home sometime soon. I bought an awesome pizza stone at WS on a whim and got some frozen dough from our gourmet grocery store.

I have some red onion and cremini mushrooms in the fridge and some different italian sausages in the freezer and some fresh basil but I may have to make another trip to the grocery store this weekend b/c I don't have enough cheese for pizza and the lasagna I'm making tomorrow.

 Anyway, any tips for a pizza first timer? I think I'm most nervous about tossing and shaping the dough. Dough intimidates me for some reason....it's partly why I've never tackled making a pie.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions 

Stretchad

Use cornmeal on your pizza peel so that you can easily slide the pre-cooked pizza directly onto your preheated stone. It'll give it a nice crunch too.

You'll want to pre-heat your stone for about 45 minutes on 450-500 degrees.

Don't over-load the dough with toppings either... 

Jhawks482

The dough shouldn't intimidate you, especially if it's already made! Are there directions on your package for the dough? If not, I'd let it thaw in the fridge overnight and pull it out a few hours before you use it. If it's room temp you'll have an easy time shaping it (though I don't think you need to "toss" it). Once it's shaped and before you top it, brush olive oil or an egg wash around the edge for the crust.

Take the pp's advice and preheat your stone for about 30 minutes in the oven. If you don't have a peel, prepare your pizza on parchment paper so you can slide the paper and pizza right on to the stone. 

Making pizza at home is super easy- we do it every week almost! GL!

sjh's mom

Not to hijack your thread, but can you make pizza without a pizza stone?

Jhawks482

sjh's mom:

Not to hijack your thread, but can you make pizza without a pizza stone?

You definitely can. But I really think the key to a perfect crust is even heating of the dough- so I would take a cookie sheet or whatever you normally would make a pizza on, and heat it up with the oven. Then, slide your pizza on with a peel or parchment paper. The instant you slide it on, the bottom starts baking as well as the top. If you prepare your pizza on the sheet and then slide it in, it takes awhile for the bottom of the crust to start baking and by then, your pizza is done. Does that make sense?

Persa

Thanks y'all. I think this is one of those things, like almost everything in cooking, that I just need to "break the seal" on so that I'm not intimidated by it and do it more often. I've been doing A LOT more cooking in the past few months and it's been fun

CMarie11

Here is a post I did about How To Make Homemade Pizza