As an Italian descendant and someone who lived in Sao Paulo for more than five years, it’s not a surprise that I’m a pizza fan.
After moving to the US, we struggled a bit to find a pizza the way we like it, so we learned how to make them at home. And this is the most popular reason we invite our friends to come to our place and spend good time with them. So I can tell you that pizza is something that almost everyone loves.
You can always order some pizzas and invite your friends, but in this post I will share how you can make your own pizza from scratch (much more fun, isn’t it?).
Another good reason to make your own pizza is that all your guests can join to help and it’ll result in a lot of fun and laughs (kids are the ones that enjoy this time the most). So, are you ready?
- Planning the toppings
The first thing I usually do after listing who I will invite to my pizza party is to check if any of my guests have any food restrictions. In this case, one thing to be aware of is if there will be someone who is dairy intolerant as the most popular pizza toppings have cheese as an ingredient.
Fortunately, it’s easy to find options for them. Check out these ones (link to Amazon by clicking in the images):
For the ones with no restrictions, my suggestion is that you have a good amount of mozzarella cheese ready as you might use it for 90% of the pizzas.
The second most important ingredient that can make the difference is the tomato sauce. It’s very easy to make it at home and, believe me, a bad tomato sauce can kill your pizza. This is a good and simple homemade tomato sauce recipe.
And finally, the traditional toppings are always a good choice. You can also ask your guests if they have a favorite or traditional one that everyone would love to try.
Margherita
Tomato sauce;
Mozzarella cheese (optionally fresh);
Basil
Pepperoni
Tomato sauce;
Mozzarella cheese;
Pepperoni
Four Cheese
Tomato sauce;
Mozzarella;
Provolone;
Cream cheese;
Blue cheese
Tips
- If you have more than eight guests, you can make appetizer cuts, so that everyone has the chance to grab a bite of each;
- You can consider that each person will have about 3-4 full slices of pizza;
- For dessert you can have a sweet pizza! Nutella with strawberries is my favorite one.
- Dough
If you are the one who loves baking, this is your chance to make your own pizza dough. Here you can find a good recipe to follow.
If you don’t wanna risk, you can find a good fresh pizza dough at Whole Foods. Each dough will result in 2 big pizzas. You can find the instructions on how to bake your pizza on the dough recipe link I shared above.
- Utensils
You can always, of course, just assemble your pizza on a baking sheet and throw it into the oven, but you definitely get way better results using a pizza stone or a pizza steel as those can be preheated on a high temperature before you lay your pizza over them.
If using a pizza stone or steel you’ll also need a pizza peel to slide your pizza over the stone and take it out when it’s ready. I usually prefer the aluminium ones as they are thinner and easier to handle. Just make sure to throw some flour on them before assembling your pizza, so the dough doesn’t stick to it
The wood pizza peel can be an alternative to the above but I personally love using them to serve the pizza after I take it out of the oven.
Of course you’ll need a pizza cutter to slice your pizza. There are many types of cutters but the one I’m sharing is the one I find easier to use without messing up with the toppings as I slice it.
This post reminded me that it’s been a while since the last time we had a pizza party here, so I think I will plan one soon. And what about you? Do you also love pizza? Let me know your favorite toppings by leaving a comment.