Have you ever craved for pizza in the middle of the night and thought how good it would be to just make your own pizza right then and there? But do you have any idea how to even make and how long to bake a pizza? While it is considerably easy just to order and have pizza delivered right on your doorstep, there is something more satisfying when you make homemade pizza yourself. With that, here are some things you need to know before deciding to make your own pizza at home.
Types of Pizza Ovens
Before going over the question of how long to bake pizza, we should first learn the different types of ovens typically used for pizzas. Generally, there are four types of pizza ovens:
Pizza Convection Ovens
Convection ovens cook pizza are considerably the cheapest and most efficient option, especially for homes with minimal use. This type of pizza oven works by simply circulating hot air within the stove and maintain an even temperature all throughout. This method allows the oven to use less power to reach a certain temperature and hold it.
Brick Ovens
Commonly found in households in Italy, brick-style pizza ovens are known for producing traditional and Italian-style pizza that has an extra crispy crust and a unique smoky flavor that is considered authentic or traditional pizza. This type of oven often uses wood and can reach temperatures between 700 to 1,000 °F, which allows it to completely cook pizza within 2 to 3 minutes.
Conveyor Ovens
Conveyor ovens are purpose-built machines that are typically large and used for commercial purposes. It consists of gas or electric burners that heat and maintain the oven at a precise temperature. This type of pizza oven is highly convenient for businesses that produced hundreds of pizzas as it is very difficult for conveyor pizzas to undercook or overcook the pizza. However, conveyor ovens would not be able to replicate the same characteristics of pizzas baked in a brick-style pizza oven.
Pizza Deck Ovens
Pizza deck ovens are like budget brick-style pizza ovens that are cheaper and a lot smaller and convenient to install. In this type of pizza oven, the decks or shelves are made of stone and are heated using gas or electricity. Much like brick-style pizza ovens, deck ovens can reach higher temperatures between 400 and 600 °F that allows them to closely mimic the consistency of an authentic brick-oven pizza.
Making Homemade Pizza
Learning how to make homemade pizza is a fairly feat, especially if you would opt for ready-made pizza doughs available in stores. However, nothing tastes and feels better than making your own pizza all from scratch. So, here’s how you make your very own take on the world-famous pizza, now that you know how long to bake pizza.
Ingredients
There are wide varieties of pizzas in terms of the toppings used on it. However, what is constant in these recipes is the way on how to make the dough of the pizza. To do so, you would need the following ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups (355 ml) warm water (105°F-115°F)
- 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
- 3 3/4 cups (490 g) bread flour
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (omit if cooking pizza in a wood-fired pizza oven)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Choice of toppings
Procedure
Keep in mind that there are several ways on how to make pizza dough that may be different from what we are going to do for our recipe. Now, here are the steps on how to make homemade pizza dough.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, instant yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil and use a mixing paddle attachment to mix together on low speed for about a minute. Then, exchange the paddle into a dough hook attachment and mix the dough for 7 to 10 minutes on low to medium speed setting.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean bowl brushed with a thin layer of olive oil. Lightly move the bowl around to coat it with the oil before covering it with a plastic wrap to let it ferment and rise. You can keep it in the fridge for 24 hours for a more flavorful dough, but for quick and easy pizza dough, you can let it ferment for 1 ½ hour in a warm place.
- Once you’ve let the dough rise, you can remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto a clean surface dusted with flour. Divide the dough into two balls and let it sit for about 15 minutes up to 2 hours. You can then flatten the dough ball with a rolling pin and shape it to a 1/2 -inch thick round crust.
- Once set, you can start placing your chosen toppings and prepare to put the pizza on the oven.
- The right time how long to bake pizza depend on the type of oven you have. For a brick-style pizza oven, you can easily bake the pizza for as quick as 2 to 3 minutes. However, for conventional home ovens, you can bake the pizza at 475O F for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden.
Conclusion
To learn how to bake your homemade pizza properly, it is important that you also know small details such as the different types of pizza ovens and the right time how long to bake pizza. Aside from that, it is also important for you to have the proper tools and equipment to make your pizza-making life better and a whole lot easier. Such equipment includes an electric mixer, a pizza stone, a pizza peel, and a cutting wheel. With these tools and knowledge you now have about pizza making, there is little to no chance that you would undercook or overcook your homemade pizza. Know more about baking pizzas.