Making pizza at home isn’t all that difficult and with a little practice you can often turn out pies that are just as good and probably better than your local corner pizza joint. You do, however, need a few pieces of equipment.
Sure, you can get by with just an upside down cookie sheet and a maxed out oven in a pinch, but a few essential tools can really push your home pizza making to the next level.
Some days the pizza craving comes on strong and fast. Too fast to think ahead and have dough prepped. Too strong to put off another day. You need the pizza and you need it tonight. If you find yourself suffering from pizza fever, for the love of god, don’t settle for mediocre (or worse) takeout pizza. Making pizza at home isn’t a big undertaking and the results (maybe with a little practice, but not much) are far, far superior to your average suburban pizza shop.
Weeknight pizza is not typically in the cards at our house. Too many other moving parts: piano practice, homework, day care pick up. The pizza making is usually reserved for Friday or Saturday given the number of pies and the amount of time it typically takes me.
However, we are hosting Christmas dinner this year and, before we shop this weekend, we needed to clear out some space in the fridge and freezer. After I pulled out all the half-eaten jars, containers and bags, the only thing I could think of was put it on some dough, cover it all in cheese and bake it till bubbly.
It worked out ok. This pie was quick, easy, unique and relatively healthy. It paired well with the side salads from the crisper drawer clean out.
This weekend I put the cover on the Uuni and packed it away carefully until spring, but before I do I wanted to write up a few more Uuni pizza making tips that I learned while cooking more pies for friends and family this fall. You can also check out my first batch of Uuni pizza tips from when it was fresh out of the box.
I’m sure you could still use the Uuni on the deck in the snow and cold, but I have enough trouble balancing and maintaining the oven’s heat when nature isn’t working against me, so I’ll be moving all the pie making indoors until it thaws out in the spring.
Here are more tips that I’ve learned in cooking over 50 pies in the Uuni2s this year.
Do you think I let eating alone stop me from making pizza? Hell, no.
Michelle and Cecilia were out at a birthday party. Allison was home, but as long as the Netflix was streaming and the mac ’n cheese was cheesy enough, she would leave me alone.
So, I had a Friday night free and I was determined to find out if Trader Joe’s cauliflower pizza crust was worth the hype.
I’m coming up on a year of owning my Uuni2 and I continue to like it and cook with it on a regular basis. It does, however, come with some challenges.
Michelle is already on edge with all the bread making that has filled up the freezer. Imagine if she came home to 8 personal pizzas for dinner. It could go either way. I’m not sure I want to risk it.
The girls are still not (yet) fans of the wood char, so if I’m going through the effort of firing up the Uuni, it’s likely to make pizza for guests that are coming over.
Now, typically I would go for a big Sicilian pan pizza to feed a crowd and that remains my go-to in the fall and winter, but who wants to kick up the oven to 550 for a couple hours during the summer?
That brings up the biggest issue I’ve found with the Uuni. Yes, it cooks pizzas very fast. Yes, it gives it that distinct wood flavor. Yes, it can be temperamental with maintaining temperature. But, my biggest issue by far, is how you prep and prepare all the pizzas and still have time to mingle and talk with your guests?
I used to have this deal with myself: if I wanted something really indulgent, like french fries, cookies or ice cream, I could have it if I made it myself. Having kids torpedoed that rule, just no time to hand cut fries any time the craving strikes, but it has stuck around for pizza.
Ten years after moving here and we still haven’t found a local or convenient place that makes a reliable pie that we like. It’s cheaper, easier and tastier (sometimes healthier) to just make pizza at home.
I make a lot of pizza at home. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Here are the most common things people ask about or should know if you want to make pizza at home.
