The Art of Making Pizza at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to making pizza at home, there are many different techniques and ingredients that can be used to create a delicious and authentic-tasting pie. In this article, we will explore three different methods for making pizza at home, including the use of a food processor, cast iron, and pre-made dough from Blue Apron.

To start, let's take a look at how to make pizza using a food processor. This method is quick and easy, and can be completed in just a few minutes. First, we need to gather our ingredients. We will need 28-ounce can of peeled San Marzano tomatoes, 2 or 3 roughly chopped cloves of garlic, a nice little shake of oregano, a nice little shake of dried basil, some salt and freshly ground pepper, and a lid for the processor. Now that we have all of our ingredients, let's get started.

To begin, we will add the tomatoes to the food processor and pulse it a few times until it is well broken down. Then, we will add in the garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper, and give it another quick pulse. The key here is to not overprocess the sauce, as this can make it too smooth and lose its texture. We want to leave a bit of chunkiness to the sauce to give it some depth and character.

Now that we have our tomato sauce, let's move on to the crust. To start, we need to gather our ingredients for the crust. This will include flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil. Next, we need to combine these ingredients in a bowl and mix them together until they form a sticky dough. Now that we have our dough, let's knead it for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.

Next, we will divide the dough into two equal parts and shape each one into a ball. Then, we will flatten each ball out into a disk using our hands or a rolling pin. Finally, we will place the disks onto a baking sheet or pizza stone that has been sprinkled with cornmeal to prevent them from sticking.

Now that we have our crust, let's add some toppings to it. We will start by adding a layer of tomato sauce on top of each disk, followed by a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese. Then, we will add any other toppings we like, such as pepperoni or fresh basil. Finally, we will place the pizzas in the oven and bake them at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

As our pizzas cook, let's take a look at how to make pizza using a cast iron skillet. This method is similar to the food processor method, but it requires a bit more effort and patience. To start, we need to gather our ingredients, which will include flour, yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, oregano, basil, garlic, and red pepper flakes.

Next, we will combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together until they form a sticky dough. Then, we will add in the wet ingredients, including olive oil, tomato sauce, and egg, and mix everything together until it forms a smooth batter. Now that we have our batter, let's shape it into a disk using our hands or a rolling pin.

Next, we will place the batter onto a cast iron skillet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal to prevent it from sticking. Then, we will add some toppings to the pizza, such as tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, oregano, basil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Finally, we will place the pizza in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

As our pizzas cook, let's take a look at how to make pizza using pre-made dough from Blue Apron. This method is quick and easy, and can be completed in just a few minutes. To start, we need to gather our ingredients, which will include tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, oregano, basil, garlic, and red pepper flakes.

Next, we will open up the package that Blue Apron has sent us and pull out the pre-made dough. We will then shape it into a disk using our hands or a rolling pin. Next, we will place the dough onto a baking sheet or pizza stone that has been sprinkled with cornmeal to prevent it from sticking.

Now that we have our crust, let's add some toppings to it. We will start by adding a layer of tomato sauce on top of each disk, followed by a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese. Then, we will add any other toppings we like, such as pepperoni or fresh basil. Finally, we will place the pizzas in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Blue Apron's pre-made dough is a great option for those who are short on time or not feeling confident in their baking skills. It allows us to focus on adding toppings and enjoying the process of making pizza, rather than worrying about the intricacies of making the crust from scratch.

Now that we have our pizzas, let's talk about how to store them and keep them fresh for as long as possible. We will need to store the pizzas in an airtight container or bag to prevent moisture from entering and causing the crust to become soggy.

In conclusion, making pizza at home is a fun and rewarding process that can be completed with just a few ingredients and some basic cooking skills. Whether you use a food processor, cast iron, or pre-made dough, there are countless ways to customize your pizzas and make them truly unique. So next time you're craving a delicious homemade pizza, give one of these methods a try and see what delicious results you can achieve!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey folks this week's episode of basics with babish is sponsored by blue apron the first hundred people to sign up using the link in this video's description will get 60 dollars off their first three weeks I'm gonna make a super easy weeknight pizza with blue apron later on but for now we're doing some seriously perfect pan pizza let's get down to basics all right so first things first we got to make us some proper pizza dough into a nice big ol bowl goes about 16 ounces of flour that we're gonna whisk together with two teaspoons of kosher salt and two and a quarter teaspoons of active dry yeast to this we are adding roughly 11 ounces of room-temperature water and mixing together with a wooden spoon until a nice shaggy dough forms a no dry clumped up jiminy crickets add back a little splash of flour to make up for that incident and stir or knead with your hands until no dry flour remains this is almost like no need bread dough and that we are just trying to hydrate the flour and then we're gonna let time and science do the kneading for us so once that all just comes together we're going to generously oil a medium bowl with olive oil make sure that is good and lubed deposit the pizza dough inside cover and let rest at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours you can do whatever you want during this time I'm gonna go watch Frasier all right 50 episodes later it's about two seasons you can see that our dough is nice and risen and bubbly we're going to turn it out onto a well floured worktop and since this is just enough dough to make to 10-inch pizzas we're going to divide this in half using a bench scraper and start to fit these guys into their respective containers first up I'm gonna go with cast iron this is not only going to look the coolest it's going to give us the best crust I'm gonna pour two to three tablespoons worth into the bottom of the pan drop in the dough and start coaxing it out into the corners using my fingers and fists then we're covering with plastic wrap and letting rest at room temperature for at least one hour or until doubled in size another perfectly viable option for pan pizza is the humble pie plate glass is just not gonna give you the same crust as cast iron but it's perfectly acceptable if you're in a pinch same procedure just press the dough out into the corners cover it up and let it rest for an hour another great option is the quarter-sized rimmed baking sheet for this we're going to use the whole recipe of dough and due to its rectangular shape we're definitely not going to be able to stretch the dough all the way out into the corners just do the best that you can cover it up yada-yada-yada let it rest for one hour after which the gluten will have relaxed and you'll be able to stretch it the rest of the way the time in which your dough Rises is the perfect time to make tomato sauce so into the bowl of a food processor goes one 28-ounce can of peeled san marzano tomatoes 2 or 3 roughly chopped cloves of garlic how garlicky you like it a nice little shake of oregano a nice little shake of thumb we got to get this open first let's just a bit a little shake of dried basil a sprinkle of red pepper flakes some salt and freshly ground pepper then we're going to lid this up and just pulse it a few times and to probably help if we plugged it in right and yeah we're just pulsing this a few time know what's going on here is there something wrong with me no my food processors busted so let's get out this little hand blender thing this is going to do just as wonderful a job just pull some grind up your tomatoes until it's a relatively smooth puree and add a splash of olive oil if you like for a little extra flavor and then we're not even gonna cook this I've been enjoying raw tomato sauce and my pizza recently I think you will too now spiritually I'm trying to emulate Spring Street pizza with this recipe and that means having curled up pepperoni if you can find a natural casing pepperoni like this one make sure you feed a slice to your cameraman and you will be blessed with greasy little pepperoni cups now our dough is done resting and as you can see it needs very little coaxing to fill our vessel of choice so we're just gonna tease it down with our fingers before saucing and cheesing don't go too crazy with the tomato sauce nobody likes it over sauce to pie if you do you're kind of weird spread it all the way to the edge and then as you can see we're shredding some low-moisture full fat mozzarella which as you can see is much easier to shred and spread when you've let it sit in the freezer for about 30 minutes make sure you spread your cheese all the way to the edge that's how you get the brown crunchy bits on the outside top it up the Sapiro knee and then it's always a nice bonus to scatter some fresh basil across the top of your pie now we've had our oven preheating at maximum temperature for one hour with a pizza stone inside so our pizza should emerge beautifully cooked after only 15 minutes just run a knife around the outside extract to your table top and let it rest even if you do take a moment to gaze at its crunchy underbelly then right before serving hit it with some freshly grated Parmesan after its rested about 5 minutes we're ready to cut into slices and there you have it easily some of the best pizza to ever come out of my oven totally worth destroying the roof of your mouth for next up we've got our cast iron pizza and the procedure is very much the same but as I discovered it was easier to coax out into the corners using some lightly floured fingers sauce cheese pepperoni basil and a little glug of olive oil if you're feeling frisky this pizza might cook a little more quickly by virtue of the cast iron so check after a into 12 minutes as you can see the results are very similar but the proof is in the pudding and by putting I mean and crest this one's got a spectacular almost buttery crunch that you're just not gonna get any other way cast-iron is the apex predator of the home pan pizza jungle but it also responds very well to the GRANDMONT treatment aka the rim baking sheet same exact procedure but we're done cook it a little slower a little lower at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly brown and the crust is crisp and there you have it three ways to make an astonishingly good pizza at home largely thanks to food scientist J Kenji Lopez alts crust is thick but light airy and crunchy and the sauce tastes like the real deal New York stuff now let's say you don't have 18 hours to let pizza dough ferment that's where blue apron comes in with their weeknight tsukimi pizza you can have this version on your table ready in less than an hour all their meals are perfectly portioned minimized food waste and prices start as seven dollars and forty nine cents per serving every week there's 16 different recipes to choose from with any combination available for plans that serve either two or four people the fresh ingredients and easy to follow recipe cards arrive in a refrigerated box so they'll stay fresh even if you're not home when your package arrives blue apron makes it super easy to build your confidence in the kitchen learn new techniques cook better and cook more often and the first hundred people to sign up using the link in this video's description will get sixty dollars off your first three weeks of blue apron so what are you waiting for give it a shot and get cooking youhey folks this week's episode of basics with babish is sponsored by blue apron the first hundred people to sign up using the link in this video's description will get 60 dollars off their first three weeks I'm gonna make a super easy weeknight pizza with blue apron later on but for now we're doing some seriously perfect pan pizza let's get down to basics all right so first things first we got to make us some proper pizza dough into a nice big ol bowl goes about 16 ounces of flour that we're gonna whisk together with two teaspoons of kosher salt and two and a quarter teaspoons of active dry yeast to this we are adding roughly 11 ounces of room-temperature water and mixing together with a wooden spoon until a nice shaggy dough forms a no dry clumped up jiminy crickets add back a little splash of flour to make up for that incident and stir or knead with your hands until no dry flour remains this is almost like no need bread dough and that we are just trying to hydrate the flour and then we're gonna let time and science do the kneading for us so once that all just comes together we're going to generously oil a medium bowl with olive oil make sure that is good and lubed deposit the pizza dough inside cover and let rest at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours you can do whatever you want during this time I'm gonna go watch Frasier all right 50 episodes later it's about two seasons you can see that our dough is nice and risen and bubbly we're going to turn it out onto a well floured worktop and since this is just enough dough to make to 10-inch pizzas we're going to divide this in half using a bench scraper and start to fit these guys into their respective containers first up I'm gonna go with cast iron this is not only going to look the coolest it's going to give us the best crust I'm gonna pour two to three tablespoons worth into the bottom of the pan drop in the dough and start coaxing it out into the corners using my fingers and fists then we're covering with plastic wrap and letting rest at room temperature for at least one hour or until doubled in size another perfectly viable option for pan pizza is the humble pie plate glass is just not gonna give you the same crust as cast iron but it's perfectly acceptable if you're in a pinch same procedure just press the dough out into the corners cover it up and let it rest for an hour another great option is the quarter-sized rimmed baking sheet for this we're going to use the whole recipe of dough and due to its rectangular shape we're definitely not going to be able to stretch the dough all the way out into the corners just do the best that you can cover it up yada-yada-yada let it rest for one hour after which the gluten will have relaxed and you'll be able to stretch it the rest of the way the time in which your dough Rises is the perfect time to make tomato sauce so into the bowl of a food processor goes one 28-ounce can of peeled san marzano tomatoes 2 or 3 roughly chopped cloves of garlic how garlicky you like it a nice little shake of oregano a nice little shake of thumb we got to get this open first let's just a bit a little shake of dried basil a sprinkle of red pepper flakes some salt and freshly ground pepper then we're going to lid this up and just pulse it a few times and to probably help if we plugged it in right and yeah we're just pulsing this a few time know what's going on here is there something wrong with me no my food processors busted so let's get out this little hand blender thing this is going to do just as wonderful a job just pull some grind up your tomatoes until it's a relatively smooth puree and add a splash of olive oil if you like for a little extra flavor and then we're not even gonna cook this I've been enjoying raw tomato sauce and my pizza recently I think you will too now spiritually I'm trying to emulate Spring Street pizza with this recipe and that means having curled up pepperoni if you can find a natural casing pepperoni like this one make sure you feed a slice to your cameraman and you will be blessed with greasy little pepperoni cups now our dough is done resting and as you can see it needs very little coaxing to fill our vessel of choice so we're just gonna tease it down with our fingers before saucing and cheesing don't go too crazy with the tomato sauce nobody likes it over sauce to pie if you do you're kind of weird spread it all the way to the edge and then as you can see we're shredding some low-moisture full fat mozzarella which as you can see is much easier to shred and spread when you've let it sit in the freezer for about 30 minutes make sure you spread your cheese all the way to the edge that's how you get the brown crunchy bits on the outside top it up the Sapiro knee and then it's always a nice bonus to scatter some fresh basil across the top of your pie now we've had our oven preheating at maximum temperature for one hour with a pizza stone inside so our pizza should emerge beautifully cooked after only 15 minutes just run a knife around the outside extract to your table top and let it rest even if you do take a moment to gaze at its crunchy underbelly then right before serving hit it with some freshly grated Parmesan after its rested about 5 minutes we're ready to cut into slices and there you have it easily some of the best pizza to ever come out of my oven totally worth destroying the roof of your mouth for next up we've got our cast iron pizza and the procedure is very much the same but as I discovered it was easier to coax out into the corners using some lightly floured fingers sauce cheese pepperoni basil and a little glug of olive oil if you're feeling frisky this pizza might cook a little more quickly by virtue of the cast iron so check after a into 12 minutes as you can see the results are very similar but the proof is in the pudding and by putting I mean and crest this one's got a spectacular almost buttery crunch that you're just not gonna get any other way cast-iron is the apex predator of the home pan pizza jungle but it also responds very well to the GRANDMONT treatment aka the rim baking sheet same exact procedure but we're done cook it a little slower a little lower at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly brown and the crust is crisp and there you have it three ways to make an astonishingly good pizza at home largely thanks to food scientist J Kenji Lopez alts crust is thick but light airy and crunchy and the sauce tastes like the real deal New York stuff now let's say you don't have 18 hours to let pizza dough ferment that's where blue apron comes in with their weeknight tsukimi pizza you can have this version on your table ready in less than an hour all their meals are perfectly portioned minimized food waste and prices start as seven dollars and forty nine cents per serving every week there's 16 different recipes to choose from with any combination available for plans that serve either two or four people the fresh ingredients and easy to follow recipe cards arrive in a refrigerated box so they'll stay fresh even if you're not home when your package arrives blue apron makes it super easy to build your confidence in the kitchen learn new techniques cook better and cook more often and the first hundred people to sign up using the link in this video's description will get sixty dollars off your first three weeks of blue apron so what are you waiting for give it a shot and get cooking you\n"