Until probably a few years ago, I had never made a homemade pizza. It seemed terribly difficult but really, I just never thought much about it.
Now that I have made lots and lots of pizzas, I wish I could convey to everyone how easy it is to make a homemade pizza. Through the years I’ve tried a lot of pizza crust recipes and while all of them were great, this is my current favorite.
For my sauce, I simply dump a quart of my home canned tomatoes into a pot, add a little brown sugar, a little garlic, use my stick blender to grind up all the tomatoes. Then I add a little oregano, Italian herbs, fennel . . whatever spices you like. I simmer it on high til it’s as thick as I want it to be. So easy!
I think that the pizza pan has as much to do with a successful pizza as does the recipe. When I first began making pizza, I used a regular solid bottom pizza pan. It worked fine.
Then I graduated to a pizza peel and a pizza stone. That worked but . . I lived in MO and I had two ovens. I keep the pizza stone in the wall oven because I mostly used my regular “under the stove” oven. We moved here and I have one oven and a tiny little kitchen. Storing the peel was an issue. There’s no way I can leave the stone in the oven. Too often I have something on both racks in my oven. The stone is heavy and fragile and I didn’t like having to let it cool in the oven after using it, then taking it out and putting it away.
Not long ago, when I should have been knitting or sewing, I was researching pizza pans. I came across this one. Anything that has 200+ reviews, and 190 of them are 5 star ratings, that’s coming home with me. I’m telling you . . I LOVE this pan! It was pre-seasoned and it does not stick one bit! When I oil it, I oil it heavily. There’s not oil puddling but it’s definitely not dry. This makes the crust kind of crunchy on the bottom, almost like a toasted cheese sandwich.
Start with the crust.
I bake it for 8 minutes at 450º, just as the instructions recommend.
After it’s baked those 8 minutes, I let it cool for a few minutes, the put the sauce on it.
Then the other topping ingredients are added.
Then it bakes til the cheese is melted and the pepperoni and Canadian bacon are hot.
That, my friends, is a perfect pizza made in a perfect pizza pan!
I have no idea how much it costs to make a homemade pizza. The crust basically takes 2-1/2 cups of flour, a tiny bit of yeast, some sourdough. The sauce comes from a jar of home grown, home canned tomatoes. The cheese was one bag of Great Value (Wal-Mart) mozzarella, I used half a bag of Canadian bacon and half a bag of turkey pepperoni so there’s enough of each of those for another large pizza. I can tell you that it costs a fraction of buying a pizza and unless you have a good pizza establishment near you, it’s a whole lot better than most pizzas you can buy already made.
Lee Ann L. says
We don’t even use a pizza pan. We have a pizza stone and we bake it right on the stone. 🙂
JudyL says
I used a stone before I got the black iron skillet/pan.
Judy D in WA says
The other night when the pizza was coming out of the oven, Ernie was on the phone. He told his buddy that he had to go, the pizza was done. Then there was this long conversation about how I make our pizza. Made me feel pretty good. 🙂
I’m a pizza stone gal but you may have converted me to being a cast iron pizza pan gal.
Debbie Rhodes says
I am drooling…..
Debbie Rhodes says
did another post just to get the email right!!!!sorrry
Donna says
Is that a Lodge Piazza pan? Pizza is one of my favorite foods. May need one of those pans.
Susie Reardon says
What kind of pan is it?? what is the recipe for the crust? thanks
JudyL says
There’s a link in the blog post to the pan and to the recipe.
Ranch Wife says
I didn’t even know Lodge made these. I am a cast iron – homemade pizza kind of gal so I just added this to the Christmas list. Wish Cabela’s carried them so we could use our points. See, I don’t need to go to town, you are my very own personal shopper. 🙂
Diane says
Hi Judy-
I looked up the info on Amazon and the specs say that it should be used up to 400 degrees. You regularly use it at 450? I love your site, especially the chicken stories!
Jo's Country Junction says
Judy..our favorite pizza is homemade breakfast pizza. After your crust put on some campbells fiesta nacho cheese soup for the sauce. Then put on fried bacon and scrambled eggs. Then cheese and it’s ready to go back into the oven. It’s yummy and a great way to use up eggs. I put a dozen scrambled eggs on the pizza.
Roberta says
Well it was pizza for us tonight, just because i saw this post. Homemade crust, jar sauce, pepperoni, black olives, and two cheeses. Now I wonder how many people had pizza because of this post. 😉
Hugs!!!!
pdudgeon says
when my 3 kids were growing up the nearest local pizza joint was 10 miles one way, so you’d better believe that i learned how to make my own pizza really quick. i got so good at it that i could whip up the crust in 5 minutes flat. with those hungry kids i used a very large baking sheet with the raised edges so it held the pizza crust really well, and we got 8 pieces of pizza at one baking. i always greased my rising bowl and pizza pan with olive oil to give it a good flavor.
Evelyn says
My son loves home-made pizza – we never buy it at the store anymore! We use a big cookie sheet and sprinkle cornmeal down on the pan before rolling the dough out. I am often pressed for time so we use the Pillsbury dough that comes in a can you “pop” and canned sauce that I add brown sugar to. Other times I make it all from scratch. We pre-bake our dough too. I like the idea of a cast iron pan though (our pizza stone broke ages ago!).
shirley bruner says
we always make our own pizzas now, too. i don’t use a pan….just put the crust right onto the oven rack. when it is done, i use a large knife to pull it onto a wooden cutting board. jim’s half gets pepperoni and sausage and my half gets veggies…tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, broccoli, spinach…whatever i have in the frig. yum
Janna says
It’s dangerous to hang out on your blog!!! See what you made me do! We love pizza but the nearest BAD pizza is 22 miles away. I used CJ’s recipe and started making my own–we love it but I wish the crust was crispier–maybe this pan will help??
Sandy says
That looks like a fine pizza pan, but I don’t make pizza often enough to buy the Lodge caste iron pan. I’ll just keep on using the pans I’ve had since the 1970s! However, it would make a great Christmas gift for my daughter and her family. Thanks for talking about it.
Karla says
I have a large round pan that has holes in the bottom. It is coated so that the pizza slides right off the pan. The handle has silicone pads on it. The pizza always comes out crispy on the bottom and soft and tender and cheesy on the top and no mess to clean up afterwards.
Amy says
We found a recipe a few years ago for Pizza on the grill, and now that is the only way we make it. We tried our own dough, but near us the fresh dough from the grocer is just as good ( not canned or frozen)…so we don’t make our own.
We let the dough sit at room temp for a bit, cut the ball in half and roll out… we rarely get it round, but that is ok for the grill….,shape whatever way you want.
Then we slide it onto the back of a sheet pan. Brush with olive oil and put on the gas grill at 350 for 3-4 minutes, brush top with oil, flip ( we use tongs as it is already rather firm at this point)…
Then we put on the sauce ( we do make that), and toppings… 3-4 more minutes and it is done.
Note: toppings that need cooking, any meats, mushrooms, etc, should be precooked, as they are on the grill such a short time. It is great and does not hea the kitchen so we will do this all summer. Great posts.
Robin says
A little late- but boy does that pizza look good!!!