The Kitchen Equipment You Need to Make the Best Pizza at Home | Gear Heads



We’re constantly on the search for better homemade pizza, which means you need a good baking stone or steel in your oven. Which option is right for you? Hannah and Lisa are here to help you decide, and show you some other cool pizza gear along the way. Check out the equipment mentioned in the links below!

Buy our baking steel co-winner:
Buy our baking steel co-winner:
Buy our best buy stone option:
Buy our winning overall pizza peel:
Buy our winning wood pizza peel:
Buy our winning metal pizza peel:
Buy our winning food processor:
Buy our best buy ladle:
Buy our winning pizza cutter:

Get the recipe for Thin-Crust Pizza:
Read Lisa’s full review of baking steels and stones:

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20 Comments

  1. You do not need a food processor. It just adds cost and added cleanup time.
    Combine the dry ingredients evenly in a bowl and then add the water. Just rough mix the dough in that bowl by hand. Then put the dough in a covered container in the frig for a few hours. Take the dough out and mix/knead a couple of times – like 30 seconds – then back into the frig till you want to make your pizza. Within a few hours the moisture equalizes throughout the dough and the dough behaves well. The quick mix/knead and some time in the frig is all it takes to make an easily made wonderful rising dough. My doughs seem fine for up to a week of frig storage. Probably more but there must be some point when they lose the power of happy yeast to raise the dough.
    You don't need the expensive conveyor belt peel. The plain restaurant style metal peel costs considerably less than half a much. Use a file to "sharpen" the front edge since many of them come with a sort of blunt edge. The blade you want will be aluminum and it may be a ten minute job to refine the front edge. Aluminum is easily worked with a file.
    If you're running the oven hot enough, the video's cook time recommendation may be too long. My home oven gets pretty hot and my pizzas are done in just over four minutes. Watch your pizza and you'll see when it's done. Some ovens may allow you to set the temp a little past the hottest marked number. Don't use the cleaning cycle – that is way too hot and unsafe. Just use the hottest temp in the bake range.
    One item left unmentioned in this video is rolling out the dough. A tapered rolling pin makes it easy. Roll out from the center to stretch the pizza. Keep the dough floured enough that it doesn't stick. Take your time shaping the pizza. Two or three minutes should do to get the pizza rolled out as thin as you want.

  2. Here's a bit of advice for anyone, not making pizza COMMERCIALLY… like your not cranking out pizzas left & right..

    Just use a large single piece table spoon, for sauce.. b/c a lot of jars of sauce, your not going to fit a ladle in. Even if you make your own
    pizza sauce, a ladle isn't going to reach all those nooks & crannies in the container b/c its too large.

    Its overkill basically.

    That being said, I want to try & use a steel… I've only use a stone & that made a huge difference in pizza making.

  3. So with the steel I have to switch from bake to broil and I'll get a beautiful result.

    And with the stone, I can leave it on bake the whole time and I'll get a beautiful result.

    Also, if I buy the set with the four stones, I can make a smaller pizza or even use it in my toaster oven? I know which one is the clear winner.

  4. I read about this 25 years ago, and perfected it with trial and error. Get the unglazed, cheap tiles at Home Depot. Wash without soap. If one breaks, just get another. Make sure your oven comes to at least 500 degrees for about 20 minutes. The traditional paddle or peel works fine, but the dough often sticks, and your toppings go flying. Cornmeal helps. But the checker is parchment paper. It will go black at the high temp, but doesn't hurt the crispy pizza. I used to do this in a cabin, deep in the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest. Except for Rome, the best pizza I ever had.

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