9 Rules for the Best Homemade Pizza Ever

Why spend your hard-earned money on a greasy pizza pie down the street when you could have five-star quality slices made right in your regular oven at home? With some practice and following of rules, you can make incredible pizza from scratch. Here are the most important guidelines to follow.

1. Do this with store-bought pizza dough

Making dough can be a time-consuming hassle, so using dough from the store is fine. But there are a couple of rules — for instance, try not to get it from a big-box grocery store and instead go to a local pizzeria or small Italian specialty shop. Next, you’ll want to let it get to room temperature, so it’s stretchier. Lastly, be sure to flour surfaces your dough touches to avoid sticking — including your hands and your counter. You can even coat the bottom of your pie with cornmeal for added crispness.

2. Get two kinds of mozzarella

This will add flavor and texture to your pie, and remember you’ll need enough to cover the entire pizza. Always get whole milk mozzarella for that desired pizzeria quality — this is not the time to cut calories. After all, you’re making pizza! Use thumb-size pieces of fresh mozzarella like Bufala or Fior di Latte to do the surface, and layer shredded mozzarella with lower moisture, often marketed at stores as “pizza mozzarella.”

3. Don’t use too many toppings, and know when to add them

Overloading your pizza with toppings will result in a soggy crust, but if you do want to add more than cheese and sauce, here are some tips. Hearty leafy greens, root vegetables, and mushrooms should be added to the pizza before cooking, while chives, cured meats and anchovies should be added after the pizza is cooked. Try to add no more than 2-3 additional toppings (ideally low moisture ones) and spread them evenly.

4. Invest in a pizza stone

The dough needs a hot surface to cook, or it’ll dry out and not taste great. A fancy and expensive oven isn’t necessary, but using a pizza stone does help make a pie taste crispier and more delicious. It mimics the effect of a pizzeria’s brick oven in the way that it raises the temperature and provides an extra hot cooking surface.

5. Dress it like pasta

Once your pizza comes out of the oven, it just needs a couple of final touches to make it perfect. Always finish your pies with a good quality olive oil and an aged cheese such as Parmesan or Grana Padano. You usually top your spaghetti with some grated parm, so why should your pizza be any different? It adds a richness and fresh flavor that you won’t get from cooking it with the mozzarella in the oven.

6. With meat, less is more

While some carnivores adore loading the meats on the pizza, it kind of defeats the purpose. Rather than adding sausage, which can make a pie too heavy, layer paper-thin cured meats such as prosciutto, mortadella, or speck. Always add these meats after the pizza has cooked, which will allow them to melt just the right amount, infusing a pie with flavor and smokiness.

7. Add pickled chiles

Take things up a notch beyond your standard crushed red pepper flakes and add pickled chiles to your pizza. Pickled onions can also be a great addition, but there’s just something about chiles that adds the right amount of crunch, flavor, and freshness. Sadly, they lose all those qualities in the oven, so you should add them after your pie has cooked and come out of the oven.

8. Pair with wine, not beer

Although you commonly see people drinking a beer with a slice, it’s quite heavy and doesn’t even complement the flavors. Rather than going with carbs on top of carbs, lighten things up with some wine, which pairs beautifully with tomato sauce and cleanses your palate. We recommend a crisp sparkling wine or a light red wine, which balances the flavors of pizza and will transport you to Italy.

9. The simpler the sauce, the better

Although some of the same rules apply to pasta, ultimately pizza is not pasta, so you shouldn’t dress the sauce up with too many ingredients. While you can still make a fabulous pizza pie with store-bought sauce, a good homemade red sauce starts with high-quality tomatoes and salt. When shopping at the store, make sure these are the only ingredients in your sauce. For a white sauce, blend butter, flour, cream or milk, and herbs in a food processor.