For pizza lovers, a slice is more than a food—it’s an obsession. And while some can feed that obsession by buying New York-style wedges, others feel compelled to take the process into their own hands—starting with yeast and ending with a perfect sprinkling of Parm.
Given that the pizza has a long history in the United States and a longer one, of course, in Italy, it would be disingenuous to claim that pie-making is simple.
Yet, at its core, pizza has just two elements—crust and topping—and so while its methods and proportions may be tough to master, getting started isn’t hard at all.
1. The Dough
A good pizza crust does more than deliver toppings to your mouth—it’s got flavor. Amazingly, all you need to create an ideal crust—one with both structure and flavor—is flour, yeast, water, and time.
“For some people, that’s half the fun of making pizza — chasing the incremental gains with each iteration of your recipe or technique,”
He recommends the beginning a pizza journey with the personal pan pizza that Kenji Lopez-Alt developed for Serious Eats.
2. Alternatives to Perfect Dough
If you want pizza and you want it now, no 22-hour rise is going to work for you. That’s why English muffins, bagels, and French bread exist.
Store-bought naan, tortillas, and wraps are also workable stand-ins for dough. With any of these replacements you also have the advantage of a sturdy crust, since you’re starting with cooked bread, rather than raw dough.
3. Other ingredients
The pizza products ingredients list is:
- Sauce
- Cheese
- Tomato
- Olive oil
- Garlic
4. Finishing
Your pie isn’t quite done just because it came out of the oven looking perfect. To finish off your pizza, take a few last steps.
First, sprinkle with Parmesan as soon as you can—the more the better. Then, add any fresh herbs, like basil, or dry seasonings, like oregano and red pepper flakes.
Finally, give your pie something extra by drizzling it with the best-quality olive oil you have.
Let the pie rest for 3-5 minutes for easy slicing. Then, at last—potentially a full 24 hours after you began your pizza-pie odyssey—cut a slice and eat it. It’ll be worth it.