Recipes
Classic Homemade Pizza
2025-08-12
Homemade pizza is one of those rare cases where the result is noticeably better than most delivery pizza, and costs a fraction of the price. The secret is in the dough: give it enough time to rise properly and stretch it thin, and you get puffy, crackly edges with a thin, pleasantly chewy center — much like real Neapolitan-style pizza.
The other key is a very hot oven. Home ovens rarely reach the 400-500°C that pizzerias use, but cranking your oven to its highest setting and preheating a baking sheet or pizza stone gets you surprisingly close: the crust browns before the toppings have a chance to dry out.
Classic Margherita with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil is wonderful on its own, but this same dough works beautifully with almost any topping combination, from pepperoni to a loaded vegetable pizza with mushrooms and peppers. The one rule that matters is not overloading the base — too much topping and the center won’t cook through properly.
Any leftover dough keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days, or can be frozen — it thaws and rises almost as well as fresh dough, so it’s worth doubling the batch if you plan to make pizza again soon.
Ingredients
- 500 g all-purpose or bread flour
- 325 ml warm water
- 7 g active dry yeast (1 packet)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 200 g tomato sauce or crushed canned tomatoes
- 250 g mozzarella
- toppings of choice: pepperoni, mushrooms, bell pepper, olives
- fresh basil and olive oil for serving
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
- Mix the flour with salt, pour in the yeast mixture and olive oil, then knead into a smooth, elastic dough for 8-10 minutes.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm spot for 1-1.5 hours until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature (240-250°C / 465-480°F) with a baking sheet or pizza stone inside.
- Divide the dough in half and stretch or roll each piece into a thin round, leaving a slightly thicker edge for the crust.
- Spread tomato sauce over the base, scatter mozzarella on top, then add your chosen toppings.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is fully melted.
- Let the pizza rest for a couple of minutes, then finish with fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil before slicing.
Share via email