Eat Budget-Friendly Pizza Whenever
Making Pizza at Home
It Really is Shockingly Easy
Pizza is great stuff. I know, not exactly a controversial opinion, but there it is. Like probably most Americans, I have been eating pizza most of my life. Some of my earliest memories of eating out with my family and friends are of trips to Shakey’s Pizza¹ and Pizza Hut².
I loved the party atmosphere inside Shakey’s. That was the first time I ever saw a player piano in real life, up close. I thought it was about the coolest thing ever. While researching this article, I stumbled across a bit of Shakey’s trivia I had never known. The name Shakey was the nickname of one of the founders, Sherwood Johnson who, together with Ed Plummer, founded their first restaurant in Sacramento, CA on 30 April 1954. The nickname referred to a tremor that Johnson was left with, following a bout of malaria while serving in WWII³.
Shakey’s is great fun for kids, and also included some of the first live jazz and ragtime music I ever experienced. We had some good times at Shakey’s, and to this day, I have a strong association between ragtime music and pizza. It is a strange cultural crossover, but as an experience, it worked well.
With the pandemic, in-house dining took a beating for a lot of restaurants, pizza places included. Shakey’s has all but disappeared, with only 51 locations remaining in the United States and another 6 in Mexico City³. Pizza Hut has fared far better, and despite closing hundreds of restaurants, partially due to the pandemic, is still open for in-house dining and delivery⁴.
One standout memory of Pizza Hut’s in-house dining is how good sodas always tasted in those signature red plastic cups filled with pebble ice. I loved those cups enough that the last time I bought drink-ware, I got a set for home. I even have some ice trays that make really small ice cubes. Not quite the pebble ice you’d see in the restaurants, but close enough.
Fond childhood memories aside, pizza from those mass market chains cannot compare to the fun and flavor of making your own pizza at home. As with many cuisines, the results belie the ease and cost of producing a truly delicious food. It may be a learning curve at first, but with practice, pizza becomes quick and easy to prepare.
I started making my own pizza at home about the time I got married. My wife is Italian, and herself learned to make pizza from her grandmother, who immigrated from Italy, and she passed that on to me. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences in pizza, but I just go on faith that if I can make a pizza that an Italian will not throw in my face, I must be doing something right.
I start with about 3 cups of flour, with about a quarter-cup or so reserved for keeping the work surface dusted. Place the flour in a mixing bowl and mix in a teaspoonful of salt. I prefer good-quality sea salt, but it probably does not matter that much. Mix 1 packet of quick-rising yeast in a cup of very warm water, and mix it. Let the mixture sit until a light foam appears on the surface. That lets you know the yeast is active. Pour the water into the flour and stir together with a fork. I have found that warmer water yields quicker yeast activation and reduces dough rise time.
The mixture will combine and separate to a soft, flaky consistency. At this point, dump the contents onto a generously floured surface. I use a silicone baking sheet for ease of clean-up. Knead as you would any other dough, until a smooth consistency is reached. That takes anywhere from 8–15 minutes. This counts as exercise, by the way. If the yeast is really active, you will start to see the dough rise while you are still working it.
When the dough ball is mixed, place it in a medium-sized mixing bowl that has been coated with olive oil. A thin coat of oil is enough. This is just to prevent sticking. Cover with a dish towel and leave at room temperature until it has doubled in size. This will take anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the yeast.
Yeast can be temperamental. I have had varying results from the same batch of yeast. You just learn to roll with it. The nice thing is, once the dough has risen, it will not hurt it to sit a while longer. If in doubt, start early. If the dough is done early, great. If it needs extra time to rise, at least your dinner will not be late due to lazy yeast.
When the dough is done rising, start the oven preheating. It is important to get the oven fully heated before cooking. I preheat to 500°F (260°C). Make sure your pizza stone is in the oven, on the middle rack. I prefer large, heavy pizza stones. You can get small, thin, round pizza stones. I had one and hated it for several reasons. I came to like the large, heavy, rectangular stones that almost fill your oven rack. I just leave the stone in the oven all the time unless I have a reason to remove it.
Roll out the pizza dough to the desired thickness. I usually get it to about one-eighth to one-quarter inch (0.32–0.64 cm). Some prefer to stretch pizza dough, but I roll it first for uniformity of thickness, and stretch it from there. Never toss it. That kind of showboating is strictly for the tourists. I had dinner once at the home of one of my wife’s co-workers, where the host made a big show of tossing the pizza dough. She tore it and almost dropped it on the floor. I prefer my pizza without floor lint. Call me fussy.
When you have achieved the desired shape for your pizza dough, crimp the edges so the sauce will stay in place when cooking. Transfer the dough to the pizza peel. I use a traditional wooden paddle-type peel. This next piece of information is critical. Before placing the raw dough on the peel, make sure the peel is covered with a generous layer of corn meal. Yes, that same stuff you use to make polenta.
The corn meal serves as a dry lubricant, sitting between the peel and the dough, preventing the dough from sticking to the peel. Forget the corn meal, and it will stick like glue. If your dough is especially soft, it will start to stretch as soon as you lift it. It can help to use the rolling pin like a spindle to pick up the dough, then unspool it onto the peel. Once the dough has been transferred to the peel, cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rise for another 20 minutes or so.
While the dough is on its second rise, grate the cheese. I use a half-ball of mozzarella. If you are using any other toppings, get them ready now. When the pizza dough is done rising, check that the edges are still crimped and put a couple of generous spoonfuls of sauce in the center of the dough, and spread it around to uniform thickness.
Place the non-cheese toppings on the pizza. The order is important. Unlike frozen pizzas and most pizzerias, who are going for photogenic food, home cooking is functional. It just works better to put the non-cheese toppings on first. They will not scorch in the oven, and when you eat the pizza, the cheese will hold the toppings in place, so you don’t have spillage.
Once all the toppings are arranged to your liking, cover the whole thing with a uniform layer of cheese. It is almost time to put the pizza in the oven. Two things remain. You will want to make sure the oven has reached full baking temperature of 500°F (260°C), and you will need to put a layer of corn meal on the pizza stone. As with the peel, the corn meal is necessary for the pizza stone, and doubly so, because without the corn meal, the cooked pizza will fuse to the stone.
Do not put the corn meal on the stone until you are about to start cooking the pizza. Burnt corn meal generates lots of smoke. When the oven has reached its preset temperature, open the oven and pull out the shelf with the pizza stone. Leave the pizza stone where it is, and scatter a handful of corn meal over the stone where the pizza will sit. You will want to work quickly. The corn meal will start to smoke as soon as it hits the hot stone. You will get smoke in your eyes. Eye drops will help with that.
When the stone is covered with corn meal, take the peel and slide the pizza onto the stone. Push the shelf back into the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes. When that timer sounds, use the peel to remove the pizza from the stone. Leave the stone in the oven to cool down. If you try to remove it, it may crack due to the much cooler room temperature cooling the surface faster than the core. Turn off the oven and close the door. You can clean the corn meal off the stone the next day, when it has had plenty of time to cool.
Set the pizza aside and let it cool. The cheese will be much too hot to eat at this stage. I usually let it sit for another ten minutes or so. Do not cut the stone on the peel. Pizza peels are usually made of a very soft, light wood, and will get scored if you cut the pizza on them. I just remove the pizza to a cutting board and cut it there.
For cutting the pizza, I use a chef’s knife. I can’t stand those circular “pizza cutters,” as they tend to not be very sharp, and drag the pizza toppings all over the place. You end up with mangled pizza using those. A good, broad-bladed chef’s knife is perfect, and doubles as a spatula to assist serving slices.
Pizza is more a method of preparation than a recipe. Find what works for you as far as toppings, and enjoy. Pizza made at home is far cheaper than store-bought, and the only problem I have ever had with it is that I tend to overeat when making it.
Happy cooking!
