8 Tips & Tricks for a Perfect Pizza

Try this clever trick to keep pizza dough from shrinking back as you roll it out.
1. Roll the dough into a 6-inch disk and place it on an overturned mixing bowl that has been lightly dusted with flour.
2. Gently pull the edges of the dough downward, stretching it over the bowl until it is the desired size.

If you run out of cornmeal while making pizza, you can dust the surface of your pizza peel with finely ground bread crumbs, which work just as well: they keep the dough from sticking, do not burn, and have a neutral flavor.

Once the toppings on a grilled pizza are heated through, it is important to remove the pizza from the grill swiftly to make sure that the crust does not burn. For many grill cooks, though, that is more easily said than done, as the pizza can be difficult to maneuver intact with tongs or a spatula. Here’s a trick that helps: using a splatter screen or rimless baking sheet as a pizza peel. Don an oven mitt on one hand to hold the “peel” and use tongs or a spatula with the other hand to slide the pizza onto the peel.

If you crave the long, foldable slices typical of new york city pizzerias, not the 6-inch-long pieces produced by making multiple cuts through the center of a round pizza, you can achieve floppy perfection with a few quick adjustments.
1. Instead of forming a 13-inch round on the pizza peel, stretch the dough into an oblong shape. Bake as directed.
2. Slice the pizza using a zigzag pattern across the width of the pie.

If the pizza dough is too elastic when you are stretching it, just let it rest a few minutes and it will be easier to handle. When making pizza dough, you should use brewer’s yeast, not regular yeast.

Start mixing the dough with water, adding flour to it: the water is your guide to how much flour to add. Be careful with the salt. It should be added away from the yeast.

Has the dough risen? To find out, take a small ball of dough and put it in a glass of water. If it floats, it’s ready.

Pizza dough should be baked in the lower part of the oven at maximum temperature to start, then it should be moved to a higher shelf after adding the toppings. Pizza should be cooked at the highest temperature the oven has, generally 480°F in a home oven.