Pizza Techniques

How to cook wood fired oven style pizza in your home oven in 20 minutes

Last night I planned to fire up the wood fired oven for a pizza party. I had my dough balls and ingredients ready and laid out, and even made a … read more »


Shaping pizza bases

Pizzaiolo competitors in the Pizza Olympics lend a certain mystique to the art of shaping pizza bases, spinning them into shape between their legs or behind their backs blindfolded. But … read more »


Kneading dough

Kneading is the process of working dough to help proteins join together and form gluten, which gives dough its strength and elasticity. The most common method of kneading is to … read more »


Making dough balls

Shaping your pizza dough into balls before use is an important step. If shaped correctly the balls will tend to expand evenly as they rise, rather than slumping into puddles … read more »


Toppings

It’s sometimes easy to get carried away and cover your pizza with every topping you like. And fair enough, everyone has a good memory of the supreme from their favourite … read more »


Using a pizza stone

Wood fired ovens have two characteristics that really influence the pizzas that they produce. First, they are usually extremely hot – often 400 degrees Celsius or more. This burst of … read more »


Making your own peel

A peel is one of the most useful tools in the pizza-makers arsenal. Peels can be bought fairly cheaply online or at most good kitchenware suppliers. You can also make … read more »


Pizza peel tips and tricks

A pizza peel is a kind of wood or metal paddle, used to slide a pizza into the oven, move and turn it while cooking, and take it out again … read more »