What You Need To Make Pizza At Home – Pizza Making Buyer’s Guide

Making pizza is something anyone can do at home, but to do it well requires the proper tools. This principle applies to every aspect of the process, from the ingredients used to make the dough all the way to the pizza peel used to slide it into the oven.

The best homemade pizza comes from combining quality ingredients with the right tools and a good recipe. Hopefully, the list of items below (all of which I use myself) will help you get started.

What You Need To Make Pizza

To make a good pizza at home, you’ll need (at a minimum):

• Flour (usually white, 00 or All Purpose work best)
• Water (clean tap water is fine, otherwise use bottled)
• Yeast (fresh or dry, most recipes call for active dry yeast)
• Salt (finely ground sea salt is best, but table salt works too)
• Some kind of sauce (tomato, a white sauce, even just olive oil)
• Some kind of cheese (mozzarella, monterey jack, block, etc.)

To make an even better pizza at home, you’ll also need:

• Pizza steel or pizza stone (for a superior crust)
• Pizza peel (to get the pizza in and out of the oven without using a pan)
• Fresh basil
• Fresh mozzarella
• Quality Italian tomatoes

To make the BEST pizza at home, you’ll need

• A portable pizza oven

Pizza Flour, Yeast and Salt

The key to a good pizza starts with a good dough, which makes choosing the best flour so important. For more information on different types of flour and which one is best for you, check out my post on 00 pizza flours here.

For most aspiring home pizza makers, Caputo’s Tipo 00 Chef’s flour is probably going to be the best bet. It’s designed for longer cooks at lower temperatures – as is typical in a domestic home oven.

Be sure to pick up some semolina flour as well. Semolina flour isn’t normally incorporated into the recipe but it makes a fantastic bench flour when shaping the pizza dough. Semolina flour is the best flour for shaping because it’s slower to absorb moisture away from the dough and it adds a nice texture to the crust when baked.

Caputo Tipo 00 Chef’s Flour

Caputo 00 Chef’s flour is the flour I use to make most of my pizzas. It’s perfect for long fermentation and home oven temperatures.

King Arthur All Purpose Flour

Not everyone likes or has access to 00 flour. King Arthur all-purpose flour is a high quality flour good for making any kind of pizza dough.

Caputo Tipo 00 Pizzeria Flour

Caputo 00 Pizzeria flour is the best flour for making pizza in a pizza oven like the Ooni. It’s perfectly milled for high temperature baking.

Caputo Fioreglut Gluten Free Flour

If you can’t eat gluten (or prefer not to), Caputo’s Fioreglut flour will give you great results on your next pizza dough.

Caputo Semolina Flour

Caputo’s Semolina flour is the perfect kind of table flour for shaping and working with pizza dough, especially at higher hydration levels.

Caputo Lievito Italian Active Dry Yeast

Caputo’s Lievito active dry yeast is perfect for making light and fluffy pizza dough just like in Naples.

Fine Grind Sea Salt

A good quality salt is the cornerstone of any good pizza dough recipe. I try to use fine grind sea salt whenever possible.

Pizza Toppings

A delicious pizza doesn’t need a lot of toppings, but the toppings it does have need to be of the highest quality.

I personally like to keep my pizzas as simple as possible, following the Italian tradition of fewer but higher quality ingredients. The toppings listed below reflect that sentiment.

Whole Peeled Tomatoes

Mutti whole peeled Italian tomatoes are universally considered top quality for pizza and pasta sauces. This is an essential ingredient in my kitchen for a reason.

Old World Pepperoni

Old world style pepperoni cup and char in the oven for a delicious and crispy taste.

Jalapeno Jack Cheese

Jalapeno Jack cheese is a great alternative to mozzarella for pizza. It melts great and has a spicy kick.

Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh mozzarella is the freshest and creamiest of all cheeses, which makes it perfect for every kind of pizza.

Pickled Jalapeño

Pickled jalapenos pair perfectly with cheese, tomato sauce and pepperoni. Jalapeno pepperoni pizza is one of my favorite pizza recipes ever.

Parmigiano Reggiano

Parmigiano Reggiano is the real Italian version of the more commonly known “parmesan” cheese you find on grocery shelves. If you haven’t tried it on pizza or pasta, it will blow your mind.

Whole Milk Mozzarella (Dry)

Whole milk mozzarella cheese is what you reach for if you want that stretchy, cheesy flavor found on NYC style pizza. This cheese melts great in the oven without burning.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A good quality extra virgin olive oil is the staple of all good Italian cooking, including pizza. I always make sure to have lots of this in my kitchen.

Chili Infused Honey

I first tried Mike’s Hot Honey at a pizzeria in NYC. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and drizzle some on your next slice of pizza, homemade or takeout.

Pizza Stones and Steels

Pizza Baking Stone

Rocksheat’s rectangle pizza stone is the one I use in my home oven. Its large surface makes sliding a pizza on and off easy, and it bakes great as well.

Pizza Steel

A pizza steel works similarly to a pizza stone but it’s quicker to preheat and stays consistently hot. Learn more about pizza steels here.

Pizza Ovens

While a pizza oven isn’t strictly necessary to make amazing pizza at home, it certainly makes the job a lot easier.

You can get great results using a pizza stone or steel in your home oven, or even just by sticking to sticking to lower temperature pan style pizza. But if you want leopard spotted authentic Neapolitan style crust, or a whole pizza cooked in as little as 90 seconds, you really need a pizza oven.

In the past, pizza ovens were prohibitively expensive. But with the proliferation of current generation pizza oven brands, notably Ooni, there are, refreshingly, many reasonably priced, high quality domestic pizza ovens available.

You can’t go wrong with Ooni and I fully recommend their ovens to my readers. If you don’t believe me, you can search Youtube for thousands of other positive testimonials. Ooni pizza ovens really do work amazingly well.

Which pizza oven is best? That depends on the style of pizza you plan on making. If you’re brand new to pizza ovens and are interested in making wood-fired Neapolitan style pizza, I recommend the Ooni Frya 12 priced at $349. If you prefer larger New York style pizza, I recommend the Ooni Koda 16, with it’s easily adjustable propane burner and wide surface area, priced at $599.

Related Posts: Ooni Pizza Ovens: All 6 Models Compared & Reviewed, Ooni vs Roccbox: Which Is The Best Pizza Oven & Why

Ooni Karu 16

The Ooni Karu 16 is a large, 16 inch multi-fuel pizza oven. Great for all kinds of pizza.

Ooni Frya 12

The Ooni Frya 12 is a Neapolitan pizza sized wood pellet fueled pizza oven. Perfect for Neapolitan style pizza.

Ooni Karu 12

The Ooni Karu 12 is an affordable, multi-fueled pizza oven capable of making pizza up to 12 inches in size.

Ooni Koda 16

The Ooni Koda 16 is a large, 16 inch pizza oven fueled by propane. This oven is perfect for New York style pizza.

Ooni Pro 16

The Ooni Pro 16 is an extra large multi-fueled pizza oven great for all kinds of pizza as well as roasts, meats, bread and lots more.

Ooni Koda 12

The Ooni Koda 12 is small, affordable propane pizza oven that’s great for making individual sized pizza of all types.

Roccbox by Gozney

The Roccbox by Grozney is one of the most popular non-Ooni pizza ovens on the market. It uses multiple fuels types and retains heat very well due to its thick insulation.

Pizza Making Accessories

Every aspiring pizza maker needs tools to make pizza. Some of these tools are absolutely essential, like a pizza peel or pizza pan. Other tools, however, like a dough scraper or kitchen scale, just make life a lot easier.

One thing is for certain – if you want to take your home pizza game to the highest levels, you’re going to want to use the best tools whenever possible.

From my experience, I recommend starting with a good pizza peel, a digital kitchen scale and a dough scraper to start making amazing pizza at home. Then when you start to get the hang of it, you can feel confident investing in more gear like a pizza oven, dough proofing trays and gardening equipment (for fresh herbs).

Below are some of the pizza making accessories I use almost every day in my kitchen.

Dough Scraper

A dough scraper is essential for working with pizza dough. It also helps cleaning up the counter when you’re finished as well.

Dual Kitchen Scale

A weigh scale is essential for getting the best results with precise pizza dough recipes. This dual scale measures large quantities like flour and water as well as small ones likes yeast and salt.

Ooni Natural Gas Conversion Kit

If you have access to natural gas, this conversion kit will take your Ooni pizza oven to the next level of efficiency.

Ooni Stackable Ingredient Containers

These stackable containers from Ooni are great for storing ingredients while cooking or for fermenting dough in the fridge.

Ooni 12″ Perforated Pizza Peel

This 12 inch Ooni perforated pizza peel is essential for making smaller Neapolitan sized pizzas in a pizza oven or using a conventional pizza stone.

Ooni 16″ Pizza Peel

For larger New York style pizza, this 16 inch Ooni pizza peel is exactly what you need to slide your pizza in and out of the oven.

Dough Proofing Tray

If you make multiple pizza dough balls at a time, these proofing trays make proofing and storing easy. This is exactly what professional pizzerias use.

Fresh Herb Growing Kit

Fresh herbs are essential for making a quality tasting pizza, and a growing kit like this makes it easy and affordable to have them on hand and ready at all times.

Detroit or Sicilian Pizza Pan

This pizza pan by Lloydspan is my go-to for all types of pan pizza – Sicialian, Detroit, “grandma” style and even focaccia. Its anodized finish doesn’t stick or scratch.

Perforated Pizza Pan

If you don’t have a pizza stone, this perforated pizza pan is the next best thing. The tiny holes on the bottom let hot air through to give your pizza a crispy and browned base.

Related: Which Ooni Accessories You Need To Get Started

Related Posts:

• Essential Pizza Making Tools Checklist
• 4 Essential Tools That Will Make Your Pizza Better
• Ooni vs Roccbox: Which Is The Best Pizza Oven & Why
• Ooni Pizza Ovens: All 6 Models Compared & Reviewed
• Best Cheese Blends For Detroit Style Pizza
• Which Mozzarella Cheese Is Best For Pizza? Low-Moisture Mozzarella Vs Fresh

Related Questions: