Easy At Home Pizza
Easy At Home Pizza
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This is our family's go-to pizza recipe. It is fairly simple and very delicious. This style of pizza takes Big Daddy back to Friday nights growing up when his mom would make pizza. We prefer a simple cheese or pepperoni pizza but you can certainly add any toppings you prefer — the dough and sauce are so good they shine through no matter what you put on top.
🍕 The Dough
- 90g warm water
- 4g dry active yeast
- 2g honey
- 578g bread flour
- 13g diastatic malt
- 296g ice water
- 13g fine sea salt
- 7g olive oil
🍅 The Sauce
- 1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp Parmesan garlic seasoning
🧀 For the Pizza
- Thinly sliced fresh mozzarella
- Shredded mozzarella (light layer on top)
- Fresh basil (for finishing)
- Grated cheese (for finishing)
- Toppings of your choice
Making the Dough
- Add the yeast and honey to the warm water, stir to combine, and set aside to bloom for a few minutes.
- In a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, add the bread flour and diastatic malt. Mix on low until combined.
- Add the ice water and mix on medium speed for 2–3 minutes.
- Stop the mixer and add the salt. Mix again on medium for 2–3 minutes.
- Stop the mixer and add the olive oil. Mix on medium for 2–3 minutes until the dough is smooth and pulling away from the sides.
- Remove the dough from the mixer, form into a smooth ball, and place in a covered bowl. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
- After 12 hours, remove and separate the dough into two even balls — about 510 grams each. Place each into a separate covered container and refrigerate for another 12 hours.
- Remove from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour before using.
Making the Sauce
- Add all sauce ingredients to a blender.
- Pulse several times — don't over-blend. You want the sauce thick and chunky, not pureed. A few pulses is all it takes.
Building & Baking the Pizza
- Preheat your oven with a pizza stone inside to 500°F. Give it at least 45–60 minutes to fully heat the stone.
- Lightly grease a 12x12 pizza pan. Place one dough ball into the pan and gently stretch it to even coverage side to side and top to bottom. Don't rush this — let the dough rest a minute if it springs back.
- Cheese first — lay thinly sliced mozzarella in a single layer over the dough.
- Add sauce over the cheese to your preference, then finish with a very light layer of shredded mozzarella on top.
- Place the pan in the oven directly on the stone. Bake for 8 minutes.
- Before removing, spin the pan 180 degrees for even doneness.
- Using a pizza peel, carefully remove the pizza from the pan and place it directly on the stone for 7 more minutes. Check every couple of minutes, rotating as needed for consistent browning.
- Remove from the oven. Top with fresh basil and grated cheese. Slice and serve immediately.
- Diastatic malt powder is the secret weapon in this dough — it helps the crust brown beautifully and adds a subtle flavor. Find it at a homebrew store or online.
- Ice water slows the yeast activity and helps develop gluten structure — don't skip it or substitute warm water here.
- Cheese goes down before the sauce on this pizza — it creates a barrier that keeps the crust from getting soggy and gives you that great mozzarella pull.
- Don't overload the sauce — less is more. A thin, even layer lets the dough shine.
- The two-stage bake (pan then stone) is the key to getting a crispy bottom and a bubbly, browned top. Don't skip the stone transfer.
- This dough recipe makes 2 pizzas — freeze the second dough ball for next Friday night.
Make It Your Own
The beauty of having a great dough and sauce is that everything else is up to you. Classic cheese and pepperoni is hard to beat, but this dough handles anything — sausage and peppers, BBQ chicken, white pizza with garlic and ricotta. Once you nail the technique the possibilities are endless.
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