DIY Pizza and Pizza Oven

My parents frequently made homemade pizza growing up. It was a great winter staple for us in Nebraska, as it was always so cold, so warming up the house with fresh pizzas in the oven was the perfect fix.

My dad actually calls his oven the “DIY Pizza Oven” because he uses tiles as the base for baking the pizza. You can go to your local tile store and find some basic, unglazed tiles for as low at $6. This is a great alternative if you don’t have a pizza stone! This other article I found talks a little bit more about the process as well. If you are going to use tiles, they must be unglazed.

Since my parents were in town last weekend, I thought it would be the perfect time to learn how to make homemade pizzas. I am always eager to learn new cooking techniques and new recipes. Once you get the process down a couple of times, it becomes so easy and you barely have to think about it.

We made two different kinds of pizzas:

• Pesto Pizza
• 2 Peps Pizza (the name comes from pepperoni and pepperoncinis)

I will include the ingredients for both pizzas below.

Another thing to note is that my parents have always made their own homemade dough because they have  bread machine. We are not as fancy and do not have a bread machine, so we just bought dough from Trader Joe’s. I thought it tasted great! Obviously, making your own might be slightly better and more fresh, but if you don’t have the proper equipment and time, just buy it from the grocery store.

To make the pizza, you basically roll out the dough on flour on a smooth surface. Once your dough is successfully rolled out, you can transfer it to your Pizza Paddle/Peel. Make sure to cover the peel with cornmeal before placing the dough on it – you don’t want it to stick!

Next, you can start to top your pizza dough with your sauce. For the pesto, a little goes a long way. Make sure to spread out the sauce evenly.

Once you top the pizza with your sauce, add the other ingredients including cheese and any meats/veggies.

Once you have all of your ingredients on, your pizza is ready to go into the oven! Carefully transfer the pizza from the Pizza Peel to the tiles in the oven. It should slide off pretty easily if you put cornmeal on the pizza peel.

You will bake the pizza at 485 degrees for 8 minutes. Depending on your oven, it might need a couple extra minutes, but be careful not to burn it!

Once your pizza is done baking, remove it from the oven with your pizza peel and let it cool on a smooth surface. Once it has cooled a little, you can start to cut it into slices.

Pesto Pizza Ingredients:

• 1 dough ball from Trader Joe’s (just the regular kind)
• 1 container of Pesto
  • I got mine from Trader Joe’s, but you can find this at most grocery stores.
• 1 block of Havarti Cheese (8 oz)
  • Grate the cheese with a cheese grater
• 1 packet of shredded four or five cheese Italian blend
  • For the cheese, we didn’t actually use this much cheese for each pizza, but this is typically the way it comes packaged at the store. You definitely do not want to put the entire 8 oz of havarti on the pizza (or the entire bag of shredded cheese).

Two Peps Ingredients:

• 1 dough ball from Trader Joe’s (just the regular kind)
• 1 can of red pizza sauce from Trader Joe’s
  • You can use almost any red pizza sauce, though.
• 1 packet of shredded four or five cheese Italian blend
• 1 packet of shredded Mozzarella (whole milk)
• 1 can of sliced Pepperoncinis
• 1 packet/bag of Pepperonis

Other Ingredients:

• Flour
  • For rolling out the dough
• Corn Meal
  • To put on the Pizza Paddle/Peel so the dough doesn’t stick

Baking Instructions:

• Bake in oven on tiles or pizza stone at 485 degrees for 8-10 minutes (check it at 8 though)

Both pizzas turned out so great. We will definitely be making it again soon. I hope that we can do it correctly without the supervision from my parents – it helps to have the experts around!

Have you ever made homemade pizzas? What are some of your tips and tricks? Do you make your own homemade dough or buy it from the store?

Leave me a comment down below or e-mail me if you have any questions about the process. Otherwise, enjoy!

-Catheryn