Cooking a homemade pizza in the oven?

[greenbananas29]

Any tips?
We are looking to get the kids involved with making a home made pizza from scratch in our oven.
We initially looked at a Ooni pizza oven but honestly don't think we could warrant using it or making pizzas enough for the money.
So my question is can you make a home made pizza in a normal oven?
Any tips or advice? Could I buy a pizza slab or cooking tray?!
Thank you

We got a pizza stone for the oven a few years ago and it's great - was about £15 from Amazon though probably a bit more than that now. I make the dough in our old ancient bread maker and it works great. We have pizza Fridays almost every week and the kids love it.

Been making these at least 3 times weekly for over 30 years as my sons favourite food. I make a batch of dough, leave in fridge (will keep for a few days) tear off a handful when someone wants a pizza, roll out to required thickness, add homemade sauce (tiny bit of onion sautéed in olive oil with carton of passata added), a mixture of mozzerella and cheddar plus any toppings desired. Have the oven very hot initially as with all bread products, then turn down if the top starts browning too quickly. I will often slip it off the tray for last couple of minutes directly onto oven shelf to ensure no soggy bottoms. I tend to use heavyweight steel baking sheets or the favourite is a paella pan which is the perfect size. 🍕😋

I have some round trays with holes in, very inexpensive but good results. Like a previous poster, I also use my bread machine to make the dough. Fresh dough makes a big difference!

I don't yet have a pizza steel, so use an upturned baking sheet. Oven 240C then lower to 220.

My pizza dough goes on a sheet of baking parchment which then gets slid onto the hot tray.

Bake pizza with just the passata/tom sauce fir 6 minutes. Out of oven, add mozzarella etc and back in for another 6 mins.

Should add I make my own sourdough pizza dough. I use rice flour to stop dough sticking; I don't roll out dough but shape by hand.

We had a pizza stone and made the dough in the bread maker - pizza cooked in oven on highest setting (240 degrees). Nice pizza.

Family clubbed together to buy DH an ooni pizza oven 2 Christmases ago - game changer. We have pizza night once a week all year round, cook pizzas in the garden, they take about 90 seconds, taste like proper Italian wood fired pizza.

Another one that makes them in the normal oven. 450g fine flour, teaspoon salt, teaspoon sugar, sachet of quick yeast, tablespoon olive oil and enough warm water to form a dough. Mix well by hand and cover and leave to rise in warm place. I use this to make three thin bases. I have round, preforated baking trays and put baking paper on them. I use Sun Dried tomato pesto and ready grated mozarella and red leicester. I also use a sprinkle of pizza herbs. My favourite topping is artichokes, mushrooms, olives and peppers, sometimes with a drizzle of chilli oil. oven at 200 until cheese bubbling but not going brown.

I've used a pizza stone, but find an easiglide baking tray is better as it gets properly hot and as is easier to wash up.

Dough wise we use 00 flour if it's available and add semolina to the baking tray if we remember.

I've had good results recently with half Greek yoghurt & half Self raising flour and you don't need to prove it so its really quick.

I make ours in the large frying pan… crisps up the base. Put the toppings on the dough whilst it’s in the pan then put under the grill to cook the top. Always tastes great 😊

We use a pizza stone and the pizza comes out great!

My best revelation after many variations was to just use the fresh pre rolled Pizza Express dough and then get the little ones involved with putting on the pizza sauce and toppings and the eatng part! It's the best pizza base I've found.

I make pizza with dough from scratch. I agree it's a cheap and delicious meal! The downside is it's not a meal where you can prepare it then present it all on the table and eat together. Someone needs to man the oven and keep making the pizzas if you are feeding more than 2 people.

I have tried different methods. Our benchtop pizza oven makes the best thin pizza, as it uses a stone which creates a crisper crust.

Doing it on a tray in the main oven works fine but I add some oil to the tray to help with crispness and roll a thicker base otherwise a thin one is too floppy.

Doing in a cast iron pan on the stove top then oven is another good way, and it comes out a bit like a Pizza Hut pan pizza.

It is!

There are two versions of pizza we make at home.
One is the lazy version, where would make a basic dough, proof it, roll it not too thin on a simple tray with baking paper, add whatever toppings we fancy and stick it in the over at 190 for 15-20 minutes. It takes little effort and it's a tasty and cheap family meal, albeit not the fancy kind.
The second is the restaurant-style proper pizza: slow rise dough with double proving, individual size, topped with passata rustica, burrata and selected toppings and cooked with the double method of pan on the stove for the bottom, and oven grill at maximum power for the top. More of a faff and more washing up to do, plus you need to cook the pizzas one at a time, but delicious and better than any takeaway option on the market. It does replicate the flavour pizza get from a proper oven, but without need to have one.

Don't buy a pizza oven unless you already know you'll make a lot of homemade pizza. We've just got one but after years of doing it in the oven.

If you have a bread baker make the dough in there but it's easy to do by hand if you don't. Agree caputo flour makes a difference. Remember it's just an italian version of cheese on toast. Delicious but not actually all that complicated.

Another vote for frying pan method.
You can buy a really good quality cast irom skillet for £30 which can go straigjt into the hot oven after starting out on the hob - see bbc good food recipe for frying pan pizza. Skillet can be used for other cooking too so a good investment. Beautifully seared meat, I sear my roast joint in mine then the whole thing goes into the oven.

230 degrees centigrade for 8 minutes (fan oven), normal baking tray works well for me for a thinly rolled out pizza. I don’t bother pre heating the tray. I use my bread machine to make a big batch of pizza dough (no fancy flour) and cut it into portions, wrap each portion in cling film, and stick them in a plastic box in the freezer for when I want a pizza.

We have a pizza stone, its probably unglazed ceramic, cost about a tenet maybe, bought it years ago. It makes a massive difference to baking pizza.