Sharing the BEST toppings and baking tips for my favorite homemade pizza. Lots of ideas to help you create delicious homemade pizzas every single time.
Hello my friends! I’m back with part two in a two part series where I talk all about my favorite homemade pizza.
In case you missed it, last week I shared all about the best easy pizza dough, including step-by-step instructions about how to make it.
And today’s post I’m sharing the best toppings and baking tips I have gleaned after 15+ years of baking homemade pizza on a weekly basis.
First, rub the crust with olive oil
Rubbing the outside crust with olive oil, softens it and gives it a delicious flavor that no one can resist. Sometimes I sprinkle a little garlic salt or other seasonings on top.
Using olive oil on pizza crust is a game changer.
Next is the sauce
Just like dough recipes, there are a million pizza sauce options out there. I’ve tried dozens of them over the years, but I finally discovered my favorite a few years ago and now I use it exclusively.
This is the sauce of my dreams.
It has so much flavor.
You can can or freeze it (read on for details).
Did I mention it is amazing?
Okay I know now I have your attention and you are dying to know what is this secret sauce that has solved all my pizza problems. Haha.
Before I do, I need to tell you that 99% of the things I make in my kitchen are “from scratch”. Meaning they start with basic ingredients. That is how I love to cook.
This pizza sauce probably falls more in the other 1%, which includes things that are “from scratch-ish”.
The “ish” in this case is because I actually use a canning mix to make this pizza sauce.
These Mrs. Wages pizza sauce packets (aff. link) make things easy, but the taste is really the reason I buy them. This is an unsponsored post, by the way, meaning Mrs. Wages is not paying me to tell you about this product. I just want to share it with you because I love this pizza sauce so much.
I love that I can make it with fresh tomatoes from my garden (we’ve got a lot of those happening right now).
You can also used canned tomatoes from the store (and I’ve made it plenty of times that way too).
Each packet calls for 6 pounds of tomatoes (or six 14.5-ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes). And makes 5 pints of pizza sauce. Just a note that I’ve also made this sauce with crushed or regular diced tomatoes with great results.
I mentioned earlier that you can bottle or freeze this sauce. During this time of year I’ve got lots of tomatoes coming from the garden so I try to bottle up a year’s worth of sauce.
I use about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of sauce for each large pizza and since we make 4 large pizzas ever week, that works out to about 1 pint/week. So I normally can around 50 pints of this pizza sauce every year.
I told you we love it.
A little while ago I found a batch of frozen pizza sauce (a kind I used to make) hiding out in the freezer. I didn’t want to waste it so I went ahead and used it, thinking my family wouldn’t notice.
Well, I’ll never try that again, let me tell you.
They noticed. And I did too. It tasted nothing near as good as what we’ve become used to.
A good pizza sauce makes all the difference to homemade pizza, my friends. And Mrs. Wages is not just good, it’s amazing.
I know you’ll love it too.
Now let’s talk about the cheese
The most important thing to know about the cheese is that freshly grated cheese is the way to go. The pre-grated packages of cheese are convenient but they contain a powdery substance that keeps the cheese from sticking together. And it messes with the melting properties. Instead of melting smooth and creamy, it gets kind of tough and chewy.
So if you want that lovely, melty cheese, you need to grate it yourself.
Now having said that, let me assure you there are definitely times that convenience wins out and I go with the pre-grated kind (for example, making homemade pizza for 15 or 20 people). But this post is all about the best homemade pizza. If you don’t want just mediocre, then make sure you use freshly grated cheese.
As far as the type of cheese goes, there are lots of different options that we love. Low-moisture mozzarella is our stand by.
If you can get your hands on fresh mozzarella, that’s always a treat. Since it’s difficult to grate because of the high moisture content, we often just add slices and it melts super well.
Sometimes we add a layer of cheddar grated on top of the mozzarella. It adds a bit more flavor and is super yummy.
Or sometimes we sprinkle a bit of fresh grated parmesan on top which is a great finishing touch also.
What is your favorite kind of cheese to use?
On to the toppings
There are so many delicious toppings to try on homemade pizza. And I’d love to hear about your favorite combinations.
Here are a few tips for adding toppings to pizza:
- Don’t overload the toppings or the pizza doesn’t cook as well.
- Drain anything that is liquid well (pineapple, tomatoes, olives, etc) so you don’t get a soggy pizza.
- Broaden your horizons (or horizals as my daughter says) because there are so many delicious options.
We need tip #3 around here especially. Our pizza routine (or rut, rather) is to make 4 pizzas every Friday night: 2 cheese and 2 pepperoni. Sometimes we will add olives to either the cheese or pepperoni or both. It’s kind of boring, but it satisfies the pizza needs of both the plain loving and more adventurous eaters in our house. And it is one meal where everyone is happy.
My happiness is mostly centered on the fact that everyone else is happy because I like a bit more variety. And I look forward to times when we can break out of the rut – like when people come over for pizza night. It gives me an excuse to branch out in the flavor department to try other delicious pizza options.
In the future I’ll share some of my favorite specialty pizzas with you, but for now I’ll just tell you about a few combos that are yummy.
- BBQ Chicken: BBQ sauce (we like sweet baby rays or KC Masterpiece) + cooked chicken + mozzarella/cheddar cheese + sautéed purple onion half moons. I normally mix the chicken with the bbq sauce and put it underneath the cheese so it doesn’t dry out.
- Hawaiian Deluxe: Pizza sauce + mozzarella cheese + Canadian bacon/cooked ham + pineapple + roasted slivered almonds (the roasted almonds are my favorite on here).
- Veggie Deluxe: Pizza sauce + mozzarella cheese + sliced olives, thinly sliced zucchini, chopped Roma tomatoes, other veggies of your choice + roasted almonds + a sprinkle of garlic powder and dried oregano on top.
Yum! I love pizza. And I’d love to hear about your favorite pizza topping combos so be sure to share those in the comments with me.
Last but not least, sharing my best baking tips
How do you bake the best homemade pizza?
There are so many ideas about this out there and I’ve tried a lot of different methods. I’m excited to share the baking method I use and best baking tips with you.
Tip #1: Use a pizza stone. I love my pizza stone. It gives the pizza a nice crispy, evenly cooked texture that is delicious!
I’m not actually sure what the brand mine is because it was a wedding gift 19 years ago. Yes it’s still going strong. But this baking stone (aff. link) I found on amazon looks of a similar quality (just slightly smaller) than the one I use.
I highly recommend a pizza stone if you are planning on cooking the best homemade pizza, but if you don’t have one, you can still get a delicious pizza by cooking it on an overturned baking sheet.
I’ve experimented with cooking the pizza on every rack of my oven (multiple times) and I like the center rack the best. I’ve found that it cooks the most evenly there.
Tip #2: Cook it hot. Homemade pizza cooks best at a high temperature. I use 500 degrees F on the convection bake setting on my oven. If your oven does not have convection bake, use 525 degrees F. If your oven does not go that high, turn it up as hot as your oven will go.
Tip #3: Preheat the pizza stone for at least an hour. I know, I know. I don’t like heating the oven that long either (especially in the summer), but it really does make a difference to preheat your pizza stone for at least an hour. The pizza cooks a lot better on a piping hot pizza stone.
Tip #4: Use a Pizza Paddle. It will make it really easy to slide the pizza on and off the pizza stone with a paddle. This paddle I found on Amazon (aff. link) is similar to the paddle I have (another 19-year-old wedding gift). And can I just point out that it makes you feel more like an official pizza maker to wield one of these things. 🙂
Tip #5: Use parchment paper. If the thought of putting paper in an oven that hot makes you worried, just know that I’ve been baking pizza on parchment paper for years and never had one burst into flames. Does it turn brown or black, sometimes? Yes, but no flames yet (phew!). Some methods call for sprinkling cornmeal on the paddle, but I’ve found that it’s a lot easier to slide the pizza on and off the pizza paddle with parchment paper. And it makes for a lot easier cleanup too.
Tip #6: Bake until the cheese is brown and bubbly. In my 500 degree oven on convection bake, the pizza bakes in just 6-7 minutes. The exact time will depend on how many toppings the pizza has and your oven specifically. In general the more toppings, the longer it takes to cook. Bubbly browned cheese is totally where it’s at so wait to pull it out until you see that happening.
Okay, my friends. it’s time to wrap up because it’s Friday night, pizza night and I’ve got pizza to go make. I hope you’ve learned something in this post to help you be more successful at making THE BEST HOMEMADE PIZZA!!
Don’t forget to chime in with your favorite pizza topping combos.
Happy pizza making!
