Zoë's Baking Academy: Pizza!
With an incredible pan pizza recipe for paid "Extras" subscribers!
I am uncovering the wood fired oven (see below) in the backyard and officially starting the pizza party season. For the last several years I have made pizzas on Father’s Day and this year will continue the tradition. It’s just fun and who doesn’t love pizza? Even if you don’t have a pizza oven, you can still celebrate the dad in your life with pizza. It can be baked in your home oven or even on the grill outside.
It’s the perfect food because you can tailor the toppings to your own desires and the next one in the oven can be entirely different to suit the whims of whoever you are baking them with. My husband likes mushrooms so I created this fungi “FunGuy” pie just for him. I sautéed the mushrooms before adding them to the pizza so they wouldn’t release a bunch of moisture into the crust. No one wants a soggy bottom pizza. I suggest you do this for all vegetables. Speaking of veggies . . .
My dad is an avid gardener, and runs a community CSA out of his backyard in Minneapolis. He teaches the young kids who live around him how to garden and as a result, how to love eating vegetables. It’s his pride and joy and he’s spreading that love of gardening and growing food to future generations. Sitting under his tomato plants in Vermont is one of my first memories. The smell of tomato vines brings me right back to those times. We will have a haul from his urban farm to cook up and toss on a pizza. Such a gift!
If you like a thin crust, I have you covered. If you prefer a thick pizza with lots of toppings, this pan pizza is going to be the one you love. It is made with a dough that can hold up to your toppings and is baked crisp in a cast iron skillet. You can make either style pizza and enter your bakes in the latest Zoë’s Baking Academy Challenge: Pizza edition. All the recipes and information for entering are below.
Pizza Dough with 00 Flour
You truly don’t need much to create amazing pizza at home, and it starts with great pizza dough. This is such a simple recipe that provides wonderful results every time. It also doubles as focaccia if you have any left over dough!
Tips & Tricks for Restaurant-Quality Pizza
High-quality ingredients are really important to making your pizza restaurant-quality. So go for the good stuff. I highly recommend fresh mozzarella ripped into chunks and spread out so it has space to melt. Pre-shredded cheese tends to melt too fast in a super hot oven.
Don’t overload your pizza with toppings when baking a thin crust! Too many toppings may make getting the pizza off the peel and into the oven a chore. Those excess toppings may also make a thin crust too wet. However, if you’re using my pan pizza recipe (below for “Extras” subscribers). Then you can really load it up with your favorite toppings.
I love my pizza oven, but you can also make amazing pizza in your home oven or on your grill.
OVEN: You’ll want to preheat a pizza stone at a high temperature thoroughly.
GRILL: If you bake on the grill, you will either want to bake on a stone or blind bake the dough without toppings to set it and then add your toppings and finish it.
This pizza dough can be made ahead of time, which is part of what makes it so great. You can store the dough in the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer for up to two months. If you intend to freeze your dough, skip the second rise and freeze it directly after shaping the balls.
Check out my YouTube video to learn all my tips and tricks about pizza!
Recommended Equipment
Before you get started on your pizza dough, you’ll want a container for your dough and a Danish Dough Whisk.
You’ll need a Pizza Peel to get it in and out of the oven. I also suggest having an oven thermometer to make sure you get your baking temperature just right.
Once you’re ready to bake, make sure to have a pizza stone HOT. I recommend a Ceramic Pizza Stone or a Pizza Steel. You need to let them preheat thoroughly, which can take up to an hour for a really heavy duty stone. This is key to the best bottom crust when baking in a home oven. The stone conducts and retains heat, so your pizza bakes quickly and evenly to give you a crisp crust without burning or getting tough.
A super sharp pizza cutter is a great tool as well. This is the one my professional pizza maker recommends, it’s like the Mercedes of Pizza Cutters. Here is another cutting tool that I have used and love a Pizza Cutter Rocking Blade.
You can also visit my Amazon shop to find all the tools I use for making beautiful, delicious pizzas.
The pizza oven I have in my backyard is a Fontana Forni. I also have a Counter Top Electric Pizza Oven for the times I don’t want to fire up the wood oven in the dead of winter.
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Zoë’s Baking Academy Details
Before June 30, make pizza with my 00 Flour Pizza Dough or my Pan Pizza recipe (for “Extras” subscribers below). Don’t forget to snap a photo and/or video.
Show us your bake! Tag me (@zoebakes) in an in-feed post on Instagram or Facebook (it’s hard to track Stories, and we may miss them) and use the hashtag #zoebakesacademy and/or #zoebakes. If you don’t use social media or your account is private, you can still participate! Send an email to stephani@zoebakes.com with a photo to let us know you’re in.
For an additional entry into the giveaway, rate and review the recipe on ZoëBakes.com. Paid subscribers who make the pan pizza will automatically get a second entry.
That’s it! We’ll randomly draw a winner in early May. The winner will receive a signed copy of The Best of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which has easy, quick bread and pizza recipes!
Exclusive Recipe: Pan Pizza
This is a mashup of some of my favorite pizza/flatbread recipes topped with a beautiful variety of mushrooms and pepperoni flowers. When I was in Italy hosting a food tour with Via Rosa*, we made a focaccia that included boiled potatoes, and the result was a dough so tender and soft but still with a creamy texture to it. I’ve used potato in bread recipes but never in a pizza dough, until now. I think you’ll love the results; my husband sure did and he’s the one I was trying to impress. I tried the dough with and without the potato and he hands down preferred the one with the boiled spuds.
Because this pizza has a thick crust and is baked in a pan, you can go nuts with the toppings. My only warning is to make sure they aren’t loaded with water, which will make your crust soggy as it bakes. Things like mushrooms or other veggies should be sautéed first to release the moisture and then added to the top. If you are adding sausage, cook that first too.
The cheese goes on first, to create a barrier between the crust and and sauce, also to marry the dough with the cheese in a perfect union. You can reverse the sauce and cheese in a more traditional layering, but I like this order and suggest you try it to see if you do as well.
*stay tuned for my next trips with Via Rosa. My “Extras” subscribers are alerted early when I announce new food trips, so if you're not a member and love to travel, you’ll want to sign up. Not to mention all the great recipes you’ll have access to!