Make Your Own Pizza!

by Elizabeth Kurtz

Homemade pizza night just got a serious upgrade. Eight recipes, endless toppings, and one rule: everyone makes their own. Yes, even dessert pizza.

Last summer we purchased an outdoor pizza oven and it was one of our favorite outdoor and indoor pieces of equipment. It’s fun, versatile and creates fantastic toasty pizza within minutes. We’ve cooked lots of different pizza varieties from traditional to more creative. If you like, make your own pizza dough (recipe below), but feel free to buy the frozen dough from Trader Joe’s or in your local market and defrost it. I think it's delicious and an easier way to make this a fun treat.

A few tips: use cornmeal or flour under the dough for easy removal and turn the pizza in the oven to get even baking. These can be prepared in a traditional oven. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. Each of my kids makes their own pie with toppings, desired thickness and flavor. It’s great fun, the perfect summer night activity and a super easy dinner! Triple win!

Pizza tips and recipes…

You don’t need to make homemade dough. Yes, it's yummy but many commercial varieties are available in your local market or at Trader Joe’s. Many pizzerias are willing to sell the dough too. Let it come to room temperature before topping though.
You do need a pizza stone though. A sheet pan will not be big enough for a decent circular pizza and more importantly will not produce the crispy bottom surface that a stone will. Get something simple, no need for a fancy one, any brand made from stone is great.
Don’t use too much cheese, use other flavor enhancers like pesto, crushed red pepper, oregano, garlic, etc.
Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt before baking.

Homemade Dough, if you like homemade

Makes enough for 2 pizza recipes below

Classic Margarita Pizza

Feel free to use homemade pizza dough and homemade marinara sauce (my favorite recipe is in the pantry section of my cookbook, titled CELEBRATE), pizza sauce or regular tomato sauce.

Ricotta Pesto Pizza

This is a perfect combination, tangy pesto sauce with creamy ricotta. I often add caramelized onions and fresh tomatoes too, but start with this base.

Barbecue “Chicken” Pizza

Servings: 4 Prep Time: 30 minutes (estimated) Cooking Time: 23 minutes (estimated for standard oven method) This can be made pareve (with soy meat strips) or a meat version, being mindful to use a meat oven for a meat pizza and a dairy or pareve pizza oven for the pareve or dairy version. This is a copycat recipe for the famous California Pizza Kitchen recipe of BBQ chicken pizza.