Tips, science, and techniques for better pizza dough
Par-baking gives your crust a head start so you get a crisp, fully-cooked bottom every time - even in a regular home oven. Here's exactly how to do it.
Everything you need to make great pizza at home - from a dead-simple same-day recipe to the upgrades that take your crust from good to extraordinary.
If you've ever had a pizza stick to your peel and dump its toppings onto a 500°F stone, you already know why dusting flour matters. Here's the complete guide to semolina for pizza - on the peel and in the dough.
A pizza steel is one of those rare upgrades you notice on the very first use. Here's everything you need to know - thickness, placement, seasoning, and the broiler trick that changes everything.
Cold fermentation is the single biggest upgrade you can make to homemade pizza. Here's a complete guide to doing it right - timing, flour, yeast, and troubleshooting.
Biga is the secret behind the best Italian pizza crust. Here's a complete guide to making this traditional pre-ferment - from mixing to integration, with troubleshooting tips.
Not all stand mixers can handle pizza dough. Here's what to look for - motor type, torque, dough hooks - plus honest comparisons of KitchenAid, Ankarsrum, Bosch, Kenwood, and dedicated spiral mixers for every pizza style.
It might be the most fought-over question in food - does pineapple belong on pizza? From its accidental Canadian origin to Gino Sorbillo serving it in Naples, here's both sides of the debate and how to make pineapple pizza that actually works.
Which yeast is actually best for pizza dough? A deep dive into instant vs. active dry vs. fresh vs. sourdough - plus how much to use, brand recommendations, and a conversion chart.
Learn how poolish, biga, and sourdough preferments give pizza dough deeper flavor, better oven spring, and a lighter crumb - with step-by-step instructions for each method.
The flour you choose affects everything about your pizza - stretch, rise, chew, and browning. This guide breaks down protein content, the W-index, and which flour to use for every style and oven type.
Hydration is the single biggest lever you have over your pizza's texture, rise, and crumb structure. This guide covers what it means, how to calculate it, what ranges work for different styles, and how to handle dough once you push past 65%.