12 Tips for Making Great Homemade Pizza and Jazzing Up Dough

There are few things that Americans love more than fresh, hot pizza. Pizza gets no fresher or hotter than a homemade pizza going straight from the oven to your dinner table. You can pick your own fresh ingredients, make your own dough, and put your signature on a family favorite.

Here are 12 tips for making great homemade pizza and jazzing up dough.

Gimmie the dough

1. Making pizza dough can be time consuming, requiring a few hours of prep time. You can save time and still have a homemade pizza taste by buying premade dough. If you have a favorite locally owned pizzeria, ask if you can purchase dough from them. Check your local supermarket; some major chains sell pizza dough that's ready to pop in the oven. The pizza dough that is canned and sold in your market's refrigerated section won't yield that homemade flavor you're after.

2. If you do make the dough from scratch, try using different kinds of flour, like whole wheat, sourdough, or other grains.

Brush up

3. Try glazing the dough with olive oil or flavored butter (like garlic butter). This will add flavor and give the pizza crust added crispness and a nice golden brown color.

Tools of the trade

4. If you plan on being a frequent homemade pizza maker, consider buying a pizza stone. The cookware mimics the effects of the masonry stone used in the best pizza kitchens. The pizza stone requires a little more care but it is worth it if you love pizza.

5. If you prefer a pan, get a non-stick pan with perforations. The tiny holes help prevent burning and cook the dough evenly.

Make it snap

6. If you like the cracker-like consistency of the store-bought thin-crust pizzas, you can mimic the effect at home. Use a high-gluten flour to make the dough, and make sure the dough is totally flat and without bubbles as you roll it. Use additional flour, both to keep the rolling pin from sticking, and help with the crisping process.

7. Another method of having a crispy crust is to add cornmeal to the dough. Conversely, you can sprinkle the cornmeal on the bottom of the pan or pizza stone before setting the dough.

Mix-ins

8. Cheese fanatics will love the idea of a cheesy crust. When spreading the dough, allow a few extra inches. Place rolled-up bits of your favorite cheese on the edge and fold the dough over. Now you have your own stuffed crust pizza dough.

9. Sicilian-style pizza (from Sicily, not the chain restaurant kind) is made by mixing various ingredients into the crust. You can try it, too. Don't stop at the traditional ingredients. You can experiment with various styles of food for your crust ingredients; cayenne pepper and onion for Cajun, chili pepper for Tex-Mex. Of course the toppings will have to match, flavor for flavor.

Change the shape

10. Making pizza at home means you don't have to stick to tradition, and here the tradition we want to ditch is the round shape. You can thrill the kids by shaping the dough into their favorite cartoon characters (which will encourage you to be even more creative when adding toppings). You can make a pizza boat. Go wherever your imagination takes you.

A couple of considerations

11. If you're going for a super-crisp crust or a deep-dish-style pizza, consider using slices of cheese rather than shredded cheese. Place them on top of the dough first, and then add your toppings. The cheese will act as a seal; the dough won't absorb the flavor of the toppings, nor the moisture.

12. Keep the dough floury on the bottom for a less oily way of keeping the pizza from sticking to the pan. This works for all pizza cooking strategies. Just don't put too much flour down there.