Starter guide · Mix, rise, bake
Blistered, crisp-bottomed pizza from your own oven, starting this weekend.
You can start pizza making in the kitchen you already have: a home oven turned all the way up, a slab of steel or stone heated inside it, and a dough of flour, water, salt and a pinch of yeast. The craft is in the dough (weighing it, letting it rise slowly, stretching it by hand) and in getting a pizza onto a very hot surface and off again in a few minutes. Results are good from the first week. Once you are hooked, a backyard wood-fired oven takes you to the leopard-spotted crust and 90-second bakes of a Neapolitan pizzeria.
A great pizza is only four ingredients, so every improvement is your own doing: a longer rise, a better stretch, a hotter floor. Progress is fast and visible from one bake to the next. It is also one of the most social things you can cook, since everyone can top their own, and a batch of dough costs a few dollars.
Kitchen oven or live fire
Start here
Bake the linked Neapolitan-style recipe on your steel at your oven's top temperature this weekend, then repeat it until the launch feels easy.
Start here
Pick a spot on a stone or metal table well clear of the house, do a test fire to cure the oven, then bake one small pizza while you learn how fast the floor heats and cools.
Tested recipe to start with
What you can bake in your first month
Cheese pizza on the steel
A simple tomato sauce from the canned tomatoes and shredded low-moisture mozzarella, the easiest way to learn the launch.
Margherita
Crushed tomatoes, torn fresh mozzarella and basil, which teaches you to keep wet toppings light.
A cold-fermented dough batch
Mix it midweek, keep the balls in the fridge for two days, and taste how much more flavor the crust has.
Pizza night for four
Bake four dough balls back to back so stretching and launching start to feel routine.
Wood-fired margherita
A Neapolitan pie baked in about 90 seconds once the oven floor reads 750°F or more, if you added the outdoor oven.
Dough by weight
Measure everything in grams, including the salt and yeast, so a good batch can be repeated exactly.
Fermentation
Learn what a properly risen ball looks like (domed, airy, springs back slowly when poked) and use the fridge to slow it down when life gets busy.
Stretching
Push gas toward the rim instead of rolling it out, and stop before the center gets paper thin.
Launching
A lightly floured peel, a quick build and a confident shake are what keep the pizza round instead of folded on the steel.
Reading the bake
Watch the underside and rim, not the clock; turn a pie that browns unevenly and keep notes on rack height and timing.
Steel or stone
Steel holds and transfers more heat, so it bakes faster and browns better in a home oven, and it will not crack; stone is lighter and cheaper but slower. A quarter-inch steel suits most ovens.
Size
Measure your oven rack and leave at least an inch of air on each side; a 14- to 16-inch surface fits most home ovens and bakes a 12-inch pizza with room to land it.
Weight
A steel can weigh 15 pounds or more, so leave it on its rack and let it cool in the oven rather than lifting it hot.
Before each bake
Preheat the steel at your oven's top setting for 45 to 60 minutes. A cold-centered steel is the most common reason for a pale, soft bottom.
Outdoor ovens
Check the stone size (a 12-inch oven is easier to manage, a 16-inch one fits bigger pies), the opening height, which fuels it burns and the manufacturer's clearances. Read the floor with an infrared thermometer before every launch, aiming for 750°F or more.
Expect some ugly pizzas
Your first few will be oval, folded or torn. That is normal and they still taste good.
Expect the dough to fight back at first
Cold or under-rested dough shrinks as you stretch; let it warm up and relax, covered, for 20 minutes.
Expect a few smoky bakes
Flour on a 550°F steel scorches, so brush off excess and run the range hood.
Drop overloading
Too much sauce, cheese or wet toppings makes a soggy center and a pizza that sticks to the peel.
Drop building slowly on the peel
The longer dough sits, the more it sticks; top it in under a minute, then launch.
Drop the short preheat
An oven that says it is ready is not a hot steel. Give it the full 45 minutes.
Drop measuring by cups
Small yeast and salt amounts are easy to get wrong without a scale.
Home ovens
A steel at 500°F or more stays dangerously hot for an hour after the oven is off. Use dry oven mitts (a damp one turns to steam), keep the broiler supervised and let the steel cool in place.
Outdoor ovens run 750-950°F
The shell and opening get hot enough to burn. Wear heat-resistant gloves, use a long-handled peel, and keep children and pets back.
Placement
Set the oven on a stable, non-flammable surface such as a stone, metal or masonry table, follow the manufacturer's clearances from walls, fences and overhangs, and keep it well away from buildings.
Never indoors
An outdoor oven never goes inside a house, a garage or an enclosed patio, even with the doors open. Burning wood, charcoal or gas makes carbon monoxide.
Propane
If you add a gas burner, check the hose and regulator connection with soapy water each time you connect the tank (bubbles mean a leak), and shut the tank valve if you smell gas.
Fuel and ash
Burn only kiln-dried hardwood made for cooking, never painted or treated wood or lighter fluid. Ash stays hot for a day or more, so store it in a lidded metal can, and keep an extinguisher or a bucket of sand nearby.
Free online communities are the fastest way to improve: post a photo of your crust's underside and experienced bakers will tell you whether it needs more heat, more rise or less sauce. Recipe sites from flour mills give tested formulas to start from before you experiment.
The base kit is what turns a home oven into a pizza oven: a steel, a peel to launch with, a scale for repeatable dough, and the shelf-stable ingredients for your first recipe, so it doubles as that recipe's shopping list. Fresh mozzarella and basil come from the grocery store. Containers, a scraper and a cutter make every bake easier, and the outdoor oven gear sits behind the Wood-fired oven cooking add-on because it is a second, bigger purchase most people make after a few months of home baking.
One pick per line
The first line is salt, sugar and olive oil from your own pantry, so there is nothing to buy online for it. The steel, peel, flour, yeast, tomatoes and scale bake your first pizza; containers, a scraper and a cutter make every bake after that easier. The outdoor oven and its gear start out of the kit until you switch on the wood-fired add-on. Clicking a card selects it in the station list, and clicking the selected card again takes that line out.
The dough needs salt and a half teaspoon of sugar, and a drizzle of olive oil finishes a margherita.
Not sold on Amazon
Not sold on Amazon here. Pick these up with your groceries: any pantry brand works, and most kitchens already have all three.
A baking sheet cannot store enough heat to crisp a pizza; a preheated steel or stone gives the underside the blast of heat a pizzeria floor does.
Unicook 15 x 12 Inch Rectangular Pizza Stone for Oven and Grill, 6.8 Lbs
4.5(13,430)
$29.99
Chef Pomodoro 16 Inch Pizza Steel for Oven, Seasoned Baking Steel for Oven
4.7(732)
$59.99
Baking Steel Original 14x16 | Pre-Seasoned Pizza, Bread & Sourdough Steel
4.6(603)
$139.00
Measure your oven first and leave an inch of space on each side. Steel bakes faster and will not crack; stone is lighter and cheaper.
You build the pizza on the peel and slide it onto the hot steel in one motion, then use it to pull the pizza out.
Aluminum Pizza Peel Metal - 12 x 14 Inch. Pizza Spatula for Oven with Foldable Wood Handle. Pizza Oven Accessories Tools. Turning Peel, Bread, Pastry, Dough, Cake Spatula
4.7(1,815)
$17.99
American Metalcraft 3016 Aluminum Pizza Peel with 19 Inch Wood Handle - 12 x 14 Inch, 14 Gauge Aluminum Blade - Tapered Edges for Smooth Handling - Durable Commercial Grade, Silver
4.6(1,282)
$18.30
The Original Pro Composite - Easy Non-stick Pizza Transfer - 14" Wide
4.4(357)
$78.00
Pick one at least as wide as your pizzas. A 12-inch blade suits the first recipe. Trimmed parchment under the dough makes early launches foolproof; most kitchens already have a roll. If you add an outdoor oven, a longer handle keeps your hands away from the opening.
Finely milled 00 flour stretches thin without tearing and gives the soft, chewy crust the first recipe is built around.
King Arthur 00 Pizza Flour, Non-GMO Project Verified, 100% American Grown Wheat, 3 lb Bag
4.8(8,626)
$6.59
Antimo Caputo Chefs Flour 2.2 LB (Pack of 2) - Italian Double Zero 00 - Soft Wheat for Pizza Dough, Bread, & Pasta
4.7(1,602)
$19.92
Cento Anna Napoletana Tipo "00" Extra Fine Unbleached Flour, 11 Pound
4.7(3,739)
$30.00
Bread flour from the supermarket works too and browns a little faster in a home oven. For gluten-free pizza, swap this line for a gluten-free pizza flour blend and follow that blend's own recipe.
A tiny amount rises the dough slowly overnight, which is where most of the crust's flavor comes from.
Paneangeli Mastro Fornaio Yeast For Pizza 3 Envelopes, 3 Count (Pack of 3)
4.6(530)
$9.30
One in a Mill Instant Dry Yeast Packets | Fast Acting Self Rising Yeast for Baking Bread, Cake, Pizza Dough Crust | Kosher | Quick Rapid Rise Leavening Agent for Pastries | 12 Packets
4.6(4,625)
$14.99
Instant and active dry both work in the first recipe. Keep an opened package in the fridge or freezer.
Crushed by hand with a pinch of salt, good canned tomatoes are the classic uncooked pizza sauce.
Cento Certified San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes with Basil, 28 oz
4.7(5,248)
$4.58
One 28-ounce can sauces six to eight pizzas. Drain off some of the liquid so the sauce is not watery.
Weighing flour, water and salt in grams is what makes a good dough repeatable, and cup measures vary by more than a pizza can tolerate.
CYBERGIANT 13lb/0.1g Precision Digital Food Scale - Meal Prep Kitchen Baking & Espresso Coffee - Gram Scale with Stainless Steel Platform & LCD Display (Black)
4.5(885)
$16.49
Escali Primo Digital Food Scale Multi-Functional Kitchen Scale and Baking Scale for Precise Weight Measuring and Portion Control, 8.5 x 6 x 1.5 inches, Lavender
4.7(80)
$25.00
Ooni Dual Platform Digital Scales - Digital Baking Cooking Scales - Digital Kitchen Food Scales - LCD Display with Batteries - Ooni Pizza Oven Accessories
4.4(491)
$60.00
Choose one that reads in 1-gram steps up to at least 5 kilograms; one that also reads 0.1 gram makes the pinch of yeast easy to measure.
Each dough ball rises in its own covered container without drying out and fits in the fridge for cold fermentation.
500ml Individual Pizza Dough Proofing Container with Airtight Lid – Ideal for Neapolitan Pizza Round Dough Ball Cold Fermentation, Food Grade Silicone, Freezer & Dishwasher Safe – 4 Pack (Green)
4.7(503)
$32.99
Babadoh Pizza Dough Proofing Silicone Containers with Lids | Pizza Making Accessories | The Perfect Pizza | Set of 6 | Multi Green (2 Dough, 2 Olive, 2 Sage) | Original Size (make 12" Pizzas)
4.5(477)
$59.00
A set of four to six individual containers holding about 250 grams of dough each covers a pizza night. Oiled deli containers work in a pinch.
Sticky dough comes out of the bowl cleanly, divides evenly and lifts off the counter without tearing.
ALLTOP Bowl Spatula & Bench Scraper, Set of 2 Pieces, White, Green
4.7(4,073)
$4.79
Ecavria Bench Scraper, Premium Stainless Steel Dough Scraper with 2 PCS Flexible Bowl Scraper, Dough Cutter with Measuring Scale, Versatile Kitchen Scraper Set for Pastry Bread Pizza Cake
4.8(1,149)
$6.29
Spring Chef Stainless Steel Bench Scraper & Bowl Scraper Set for Baking
4.8(8,456)
$9.97
A flexible bowl scraper plus a stiff metal bench scraper covers both jobs.
A sharp wheel or rocker slices through a crisp crust in one pass without dragging the toppings off.
KitchenAid Classic Pizza Wheel with Sharp Blade For Cutting Through Crusts, Pies and More, Built In Finger Guard for Safety and Comfort Grip to Protect Fingers, Dishwasher Safe, 9-Inch, Black
4.7(31,862)
$15.99
16-Inch Pizza Cutter Rocker Blade, 304 Stainless Steel Slicer Knife, Silver
4.7(21,607)
$24.97
Cut on a wooden board, never on the steel or peel, to keep the blade sharp.
Only a live-fire oven reaches the 750-950°F floor that bakes a Neapolitan pizza in about 90 seconds with a puffed, spotted rim.
BIG HORN OUTDOORS 16" Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven – 2-in-1 Wood-Fired & Gas Compatible (Burners Sold Separately), 1112°F Outdoor Stainless Pizza Cooker, Portable for Party Usage, Sliver
4.4(293)
$199.99
Ooni Karu 2 Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven - Wood and Gas Outdoor Pizza Oven with Pizza Stone & Intergrated Thermometer, Pizza Oven Outdoor, Dual Fuel 12 Inch Pizza Maker, Outdoor Cooking Grill
4.5(220)
$448.95
Check which fuels it burns, the stone size (12 inches is easier to start on) and the manufacturer's clearances. Outdoor use only. A gas burner, if the model offers one, is sold separately and needs a propane tank.
Small, dry hardwood splits burn hot and clean; damp or resinous wood smokes, coats the pizza in soot and never gets the oven hot enough.
12-14 lbs Per Box Kiln Dried Mini-Oak Pizza Oven Wood 5 Inch Log Length - for Long Consistent Burns - Compatible with Gosney, Solo Stove or Any Other Brands Ovens - 12-14 lbs Per Box
4.5(104)
$29.99
Old Potters Kiln Dried Pizza Oven Cooking Logs, 6 Inch Mini Log, Oak
4.5(703)
$36.99
Smoak Firewood Cooking Wood Mini Splits - USDA Certified Kiln Dried (8in Pieces, 25-30lbs) Red Oak Pizza Oven, Grilling, Smoking Wood
4.4(417)
$69.99
Match the split size to your oven's fuel tray; a box runs several sessions. Never burn treated, painted or scrap wood.
They light the first wood quickly without the chemical taste lighter fluid leaves, which you should never use in a cooking oven.
HGD Natural Fire Starters - Waterproof & Odorless Charcoal Starters for Fireplace, Campfire, BBQ, Grill, Fire Pit, Wood & Pellet Stove, Chimney, Pizza Oven & Smoker - Indoor & Outdoor Use
4.6(553)
$7.98
Fire Starters, 50 Count Natural Fire Starters for Grill and Charcoal, Fire Starters for Fireplace, Fire Pit and Campfires, Odorless All Weather Fire Starter for BBQ, Smoker and Pellet Stove
4.7(6,317)
$11.99
Shwuevei 65 pcs Fire Starter - Natural Fire Starters for Fireplace, Pellet Stove & Wood, Fire Pit, Smoker, BBQ, Chimney, Pizza Oven - Fire Starters for Grill, Charcoal Starter
4.7(1,999)
$13.39
One or two per fire is enough.
The oven floor and the air above it run at very different temperatures, and reading the floor before each launch is how you avoid burnt bottoms or pale crusts.
TempPro TempScan Infrared Thermometer Gun for Pizza Oven Griddle HVAC
4.6(9,779)
$21.94
Etekcity Infrared Thermometer Laser Temperature Gun, -58°F~1130°F
4.6(37,623)
$24.99
Pick one that reads to at least 1,000°F. It also tells you when your home steel is fully heated.
The fire side of the oven bakes far faster than the front, so you turn the pizza every 20 to 30 seconds with this small round peel.
Honsdom 8 Inch Pizza Turning Peel, Round Perforated Spatula Turner Spinner
4.7(782)
$18.95
7” Pizza Turning Peel - Extra Long Handle Pizza Turner - Restaurant-Grade Aluminum Perforated Pizza Peel Lightweight Metal Outdoor Pizza Oven Accessories
4.6(447)
$22.99
ooni Pizza Turning Peel - 9 Inch Aluminum Perforated Pizza Peel, Lightweight Metal Pizza Turner with Long Handle, Pizza Tools, Pizza Oven Accessories
4.7(1,351)
$70.00
Choose a blade of 7 to 9 inches and a handle long enough to keep your hands clear of the opening.
Adding wood, moving the door and touching the shell of a 900°F oven calls for gloves rated far above kitchen oven mitts.
Comsmart BBQ Gloves, 1472 Degree F Heat Resistant Grilling Gloves Silicone Non-Slip Oven Gloves Long Kitchen Gloves for Barbecue, Cooking, Baking, Cutting
4.4(14,506)
$14.99
TempPro 932°F Heat Resistant BBQ Gloves, 14" Waterproof Oven & Grill Gloves
4.5(560)
$21.99
Ooni Grill Gloves - Heat and Fire Resistant, Protective Heat Proof Gloves Perfect for Outdoor Cooking, Grill, Fireplace, Barbecue or Pizza Oven
4.7(236)
$34.99
Look for long cuffs that cover the wrist. They are for dry handling only; wet gloves conduct heat.
Ash and stray flour on the oven floor burn onto the next pizza, so you sweep the stone before each launch.
ZEAYEA 21 Inch Pizza Oven Brush with Scraper, Brass Bristles, Copper Wire Pizza Stone Cleaning Brush for BBQ Grill Cleaning, Outdoor Oven Accessories
4.4(212)
$11.99
21'' Pizza Brush with Stainless Steel Stone Scraper - Brass Bristles - Wood Handle - Hanging Ring - Outdoor Pizza Oven Accessory - Compatible with Ooni, Gozney, Blackstone, Solo Stove Ovens
4.6(337)
$17.99
Brass bristles suit a pizza stone; let the brush cool between sweeps.
