Homemade Pizza Guide

Making pizza at home is easy as pie, no matter how you slice it

Descended from flatbreads made by ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks, pizza has become a staple in the American diet. The modern version is thought to hail from 16th-century Naples, Italy, where inexpensive, easy-to-eat flatbreads with toppings were sold by street vendors to local workers. In the 1940s, Italian immigrants brought their classic pizzas to the US; now, this humble snack is considered as American as apple pie.

While there is no lack of good pizzerias around Greenville, you don’t need to leave home to satisfy your craving. It just requires a little time and the right equipment. You can buy frozen pizza dough and jarred sauce, but it’s much more authentic—and fun—to make your own.

Josh Begley, executive chef at Indaco Greenville, recommends that home cooks purchase a pizza stone for cooking the pie and a pizza peel for getting it in and out of the oven. Though, he suggests, in lieu of a pizza stone, you can also use an upside-down cookie sheet/jelly roll pan. “It’s a little more rustic, but it works,” he says.

If you want to get fancy, consider purchasing a small outdoor pizza oven. Begley favors the Gozney and Ooni brands. Both come in wood, propane, or multi-fuel versions, and start at around $300. Chef recommends the propane versions, which yield a more consistent heat that is easier for the home cook to control than a wood fire.

As far as toppings go, the sky’s the limit. “Pizza’s a blank slate,” says Begley, who’s gone so far as to make a collard green pizza. “You can put whatever you want on there. That’s one of the fun things, just messing around with it.”

Do Try This at Home

Chef Josh offers pro tips for making pizza:

Put a little semolina flour or cornmeal on the bottom of your pizza peel to help the pie slide onto the pizza stone in the oven. The semolina won’t stick to the pizza, whereas regular flour will adhere to the bottom of the crust, and you’ll wind up with a burnt-flour taste.
Be sure your oven’s hot and preheat your pizza stone first. If you put pizza on a cold surface, it won’t get crispy. If you’re using a small pizza oven, be sure you preheat it for 30 minutes to an hour.
When using a small pizza oven, the heat source comes from the back, so you need to turn the pie a couple of times for even cooking.