I challenged the idea that decent pizza needs expensive equipment. and tested 5 baking methods in a home oven.

Maybe this is obvious to a lot of people, but so many of my friends keep saying they’ll start once they buy a KitchenAid or a $700 oven. All the pizzas were made from one batch of dough. And please don’t judge the toppings — I used whatever I had at home. Even leftover chicken schnitzel made it onto one of them cause at the end I was out of ideas xD

The method:

• Flour: Caputo Pizzeria or bread flour with 11%+ protein

• Water: 65%

• Honey: 1%

• Olive oil: 2%

• Salt: 2.5%

• Yeast: 0.1%

(I’m using instant dry yeast. If you’re using fresh yeast, you’ll need 3 times more. I don’t recommend active dry yeast, since it needs to be activated in warm water.)

Process:

Mix the water with the flour, honey, and yeast until no dry flour is left. Let it rest for 30 minutes. If you're unsure about the strength of the flour, mix in 80% of it and add the remaining 20% later along with the salt.

Then add the salt, mix until the dough feels strong enough, and add the oil.

Let it relax for about an hour. During that time, do one lamination or two stretch and folds to build gluten strength.

The dough should reach room temperature — 22–24°C / 72–75°F — and you’ll start seeing air bubbles at the bottom.

That means the yeast is active. You don’t want the dough to rise in volume at this stage. Refrigerate it for 24 hours.

Take it out and shape it into balls. If it rose in the fridge, gently deflate it. Then wait until the balls double in size.

I’ve even noticed that if the dough balls have already risen and are ready to bake, but I want to delay baking for another couple of hours, I can gently deflate them and let them rise again. That makes the dough even bubblier.

If you have a steel or a stone, preheat it at the highest temperature for at least 1 hour, then bake. If the dough feels sticky by that point, pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

If you don’t have a steel or a stone, heat up a pan or another surface on the stove to about 260°C / 500°F and place the pizza on it. Mine are small, so they fit. Add the toppings, wait until the bottom turns brown, then move it under the broiler in a preheated oven.

Baking:

For a crispier crust, use convection first, then switch to the broiler.

For a more Neapolitan-style result, bake it straight under the broiler until golden brown