Learn How to Make the best homemade pizza…the ultimate budget food!
The Quiet Foodie is all about how we can make delicious and interesting food on a budget and making your own homemade pizza is right at the top of my budget food to do list!
Here on this page is all I know about Pizza ! Right from the perfect dough recipe for any occasion, and the freshest pizza sauce, through to the tasty toppings! Homemade pizza is about the best budget food known to man! It’s a small collection of mainly store cupboard ingredients, all very easily accessible and let’s face it…who doesn’t like pizza!?
We make homemade pizza all the time. The kids always get involved on pizza day and it all goes down a treat!
If you want to make amazing homemade pizza you’ve come to the right place! Let’s do this…
4 steps to amazing homemade pizza!!…
Step 1 – Let’s start with the pizza dough recipe…
Now I’m not saying there’s always hours to make a fresh dough! Sometimes you will need to buy ready made bases or pizza dough from the shops and that’s fine!…but when you do have the time and focus to make a fresh pizza base, think about my top 3 recipes…
Number 1 is a super quick pizza dough you can make in about 15-20 mins. There is no rise time in this dough. You mix it all up, and let it sit whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients and then use it as soon as you are ready.
Number 2 is my basic bread recipe which I use for almost everything…including pizza! It’s a super easy recipe, very tasty but still pretty quick! You can get a good pizza to the table in 6 or so hours. Giving the pizza rise time gives the pizza amazing flavour!
Number 3 is my very tasty, 72 hour proved pizza dough which is not for the faint of heart! The 72 hour prove gives you an unbelievable flavour, very deep and interesting, on the verge of a sourdough vibe. I tend to make this dough on the weekend and plan to eat mid week whilst it proves in the fridge…
Check out the individual recipes for prices but all very similar ingredients and all super cheap!
Step 2 – it’s the pizza sauce recipe…
You really don’t get easier, fresher and tastier than my classic pizza tomato sauce! Made in under 5 minutes and for almost pennies, Iv used this recipe for years and is my others halves speciality!
It’s as simple as whizzing up good tinned tomatoes, fresh garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. No cooking involved!…until you get it into the pizza obviously…
Step 3 – How do you top this?…toppings…
To be honest, what do people not put on pizzas these days?
Toppings are where we spend all the money when making home made pizza. Prosciutto ham and parmesan cheese are not at the top of anyone’s budget shopping list! Be creative with your toppings but the classics area a classic for a reason…
Here are some quick classic topping ideas to get the juices flowing…
- Margarita
Classic tomato sauce, Parmesan or cheddar, dry mozzarella and fresh basil leaves to finish…
Classic tomato sauce, dry mozzarella, pepperoni
- Ham and mushroom
Classic tomato sauce, dry mozzarella, ham, mushroom
- Bbq chicken
Bbq sauce, dry mozzarella, smoked cheese, shredded chicken
Step 4 – Now how do we cook this thing!?…
If you are working with your oven at home, you can go ahead and cook your pizza in as hot an oven as possible. Most domestic ovens will get to about 250 degrees and that will be fine.
You can help things along by cooking you pizza on a pizza stone…
The pizza stone replicates, to a certain extent, what is happening in a pizza oven. The heat of the stone will cook the pizza from the bottom, similar to that of a pizza oven whilst the heat inside the oven cooks the pizza from the top.
Place your pizza stone in a cold oven and once you preheat your oven you inturn will preheat your pizza stone. Slide your pizza onto your pizza stone and you are away!
If you don’t have a pizza stone you can try and do the same thing with a flat baking tray. Iv tried this and it did work well. Very convenient in that you don’t need to buy the extra equipment, you just use a tray you already have.
My preferred version these days, if Im cooking indoors, is to start the pizza in a dry, hot frying pan and then after a couple of minutes put it under a really hot grill. The pizza will continue to cook in the frying pan from the bottom giving you a slightly crispy base whilst the grill takes care of the top…
Now in an ideal world…and has such been my mission for the last few years, is too cook your pizza in a pizza oven…
There really is nothing quite like the wood fired pizza oven! Cooking your homemade pizza in about 2 minutes flat, seeing the flames lick over the top and serving it up to your family!
Check out my Cooking Pizza Page for all you need to know!
Learn how to make homemade pizza – Question time…
Now I am learning with the rest of you! There are professionals out there which know much more than me! All my information here is from dedicated research by myself. Do please leave any comments if you know better! It will help us all! 🙂
WHAT IS THE BEST YEAST TO USE FOR MAKING PIZZA?
Ok, so lets try and get this right. There are 4 main types of yeast, one being wild yeasts used in things like sourdough. You can use these to make pizza but they are a completely different kettle of fish and require a completely new blog post so lets look at the other 3…
- Fresh yeast, sometimes called cake yeast or compressed yeast is used by most professional bakers. Its a fresh product and so has to be treated like one. It is highly perishable and will last upto 2 weeks in the fridge.
- Active dry yeast is a partially dehydrated product formed into granules. The yeast cells are dormant at this stage and to use them they need to be rehydrated in warm water with a pinch of sugar to feed the yeast. You need to give it mix and leave for 5 minutes and expect to see foam – confirmation the yeast is still alive.
- Instant yeast is a finer version of dry yeast which activates quicker and so can be added straight to raw ingredients with no need for soaking first.
It is fresh and active dry yeast which I will be using for all of my pizza making…
WHAT IS THE BEST FLOUR TO USE FOR MAKING PIZZA?
Your choice of flour comes down to two aspects – the protein level in the flour and the proving time you have available or want to give the dough.
The higher the protein level in your flour the higher the gluten level, and gluten is in full control of the texture of your pizza giving it the chewiness and elasticity in the dough.
Gluten is produced when the wheat proteins mix with water and the more gluten strands which are produced the less likely the dough is to tear when you stretch it out. High protein flours mean more gluten and a longer proving time. A longer prove gives times for a delicious flavour to develop and a fluffier, chewier crust.
You have 3 main choices when it comes flour for making your pizza…
- All purpose flour or plain flour has a slightly lower protein level than the following two flours and there for can sometimes be harder to roll out and work with. Saying that it will produce great results! I tend to use all purpose when making recipes I don’t intend to prove for hours. It will be the cheapest of all 3 flours.
- Bread flour is the go to for any home baker. Slightly higher in gluten it will be easy to stretch out and work with. It will need to be proved considering its higher gluten level and this will inturn help you achieve the fluffier, chewier crust with the crispy outside your are looking for.
- Tipo ’00’ flour is a bit more expensive but will give you the thinner base and chewier crust you might be looking for. The ’00’ refers to the coarseness of the flour and is the finest you can get.
Can I substitute for whole-wheat flour?
Yes, how ever I don’t go 100% whole-wheat. I might go 10% whole-wheat/90% bread flour up to 50/50.
What type of mozzarella do I use on my homemade pizza?
When it comes to mozzarella on a pizza there are quite a few options these days. These are the 4 you may want to think about…
- Pre grated mozzarella – this is a very popular option and will give you the desired stringy pull once it cooks that everyone looks for. Its a very convenient product in that you can literally pick it of of the shelf and pour it onto your pizza. The supermarkets have started doing mixes like cheddar with mozzarella which can be quite good and give the slightly bland mozzarella a bit of flavour.
Its cheap and very easy to get hold of but it can contains starch and other anti-caking agents to stop the cheese becoming a single clump and sometimes these additions can change the flavour of the cheese slightly. - Low moisture mozzarella is delicious used on homemade pizza! It melts very easily, slightly easier than fresh mozzarella and gives you a better stretch and elastic pull which is obviously what it’s all about. It’s really easy to work with – you can grate, slice it or cube it up and because of its lower moisture level, you don’t have to worry about the watery pool on top of the pizza.
I would however say that it doesn’t taste as fresh as fresh mozzarella but low moisture mozzarella is my first choice when it comes to dressing my homemade pizza! - Fresh mozzarella has a lovely creamy, fresh flavour. It doesn’t burn easily making it good for high temperature cooking but still melts really well giving you the pools of melty, stringy cheese you like to see on a good pizza! You will often find fresh mozzarella brought fresh over the counter or purchased in bags or tubs and will most likely be stored in a water, whey or brine solution. Due to this high water content there is a bit of prep required when using fresh mozzarella. To avoid the watery pools you sometimes find on top of your pizza you need to drain the mozzarella for a good 15 minutes plus, it needs patting dry and ideally used on the pizza in smaller pieces. Fresh mozzarella proves to be a very affordable, very popular choice of mozzarella for topping your pizzas.
- Buffalo mozzarella is made from water buffalo milk. It has a richer, creamier flavour than cows milk mozzarella and comes with a higher price tag to match. You can use buffalo mozzarella as you would normal mozzarella but do try adding it to your pizza after it is baked for a creamier, fresher flavour. If you are adding it to your pizza before baking you will need to drain your mozzarella for even longer than normal mozzarella due to its even higher water content.
If you want an even more extravagant product with an even higher price tag, Burrata is delicious and a completely different level of richness and creaminess to add to your pizza. It has a fresh mozzarella outer shell with a creamy curdy centre. The curds having a very subtle, tangy flavour.
What ever you do don’t cook your Buratta. Cook your pizza, then slice it up and dress your pizza with it after. The pizza warms the cheese through enough keeping the fresh creamy flavour you pay the extra money for!
If you have made it to the end of my blog page well done! Hopefully I can help you find your perfect pizza for any occasion!
