Perfect Pizza Crust

Besides my little sister, I don't know anyone that doesn't love pizza. But it can get pricey if you buy it from restaurants, and making pizza at home usually doesn't taste as good. Sometimes the crust turns out hard and flavorless, and other times the middle of the pizza is under cooked. After some trial and error, I think Jeff finally figured out how to make the best pizza crust at home.

To start, make your dough a few days in advance. We mix our dough in our kitchen aid, put it in a ziplock bag, and set it in the fridge. When the weekend rolls around our dough has developed more of a complex  malty flavor by letting it sit. Just set it on the counter and form it into a bun a couple hours before you plan on cooking it so the dough can come to room temperature. Doing this step in advance also makes the process seem almost effortless when you actually make your pizza.

The next trick is how you cook the pizza in your oven. In traditional brick ovens, pizza cooks in a matter of minutes at 800-900 degrees. When you make it at home you want to get your oven super hot and place your pizza on a surface that is already preheated. We use a pizza stone and let it heat up for a good half hour before putting our assembled pizza on it. But be careful, I've heard some brands of pizza stones that will crack if you use this method.

Assemble your pizza on a floured pizza peel. We don't have one, but a flat pan works nicely. This way you can slide it off onto a surface that is already preheated.

Once it's done you can pull it off with the pizza peel. 

And always test your ingredients to make sure they are fresh! :)

Read this article for the best crust recipes.