3 Easy ways to Improve Pizza Night

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If you love pizza but are getting tired of the same pepperoni cheese situation, you're in the right place. Tomorrow is World Pizza Day and I am a major pizza lover. We eat some kind of pizza once a week for our "Pizza Movie Night" tradition, I'm pretty excited about the holiday. So today I'm going to share 3 easy ways I've discovered that will improve your pizza night.

1. Pizza Crust or Bust

Does anyone else remember pizza day in their school cafeteria? Despite it being pizza, it wasn't the best day. The reason being the crust just wasn't good. It was basically a soggy cracker with pizza toppings. If your foundation isn't good, the pizza won't be either.

My mom has shared before her quick pizza dough recipe in her Pizza Pot Pie post. I like that recipe because it's faster if I forgot to start the dough early. It also has a delicious flavor. The one thing I change from my mom's recipe is I never use a rolling pin on my pizza dough. I just stretch it out with my hands. If it resists stretching just let it rest a little and try again. This allows the air bubbles from the yeast to stay in tact and create those delicious bubbles we all enjoy in our pizza dough.

If I'm really on my game I will start my crust DAYS ahead of time. This allows your crust to develop that chewy texture and tangy flavor. Letting the dough rise for days in the fridge allows the yeast to really work at fermenting the dough. (Keep in mind if you have a sourdough starter in your fridge it would be excellent to use for pizza dough). I have tried many recipes for this type of dough, the one I like best is this one from Serious Eats. Though I've never been able to get a hold of 00 flour, I use bread flour and it works out well. I love the simplicity of this dough, and it makes a delicious dough.

If I am really off my game, or just feeling lazy, we buy a Red Baron 4 Cheese pizza and just top it with our own favorite toppings. This could work with any of your favorite store bought cheese pizza.

*Honorable mention to Pillsbury Pizza Dough because it is great for a store bought dough. It has a good flavor though it is a little dense.
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If you're gluten free, Lindsey has shared two delicious gluten free pizza crust options before. A cauliflower crust and another that she made in her air fryer.

Red Baron 4 Cheese pizza topped with bacon, olives, parmesan, and chili garlic oil.

2. Get Creative with Pizza Toppings

Have you ever been asked if you could only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be? I'm here to tell you the answer is pizza. Pizza can be topped with basically anything. 

Here is a list of some of our favorite topping combinations:

• Pesto instead of pizza sauce, goat cheese (in small clumps) instead of mozzarella, add dried apricot, a sprinkle of sea salt  and drizzle of hot honey once it comes out of the oven. It's really delicious.
• Chicken Alfredo pizza, replace the tomato sauce with Alfredo sauce. Add sliced red peppers and onion.
• Bacon, artichokes, mushrooms and olives is a popular favorite in our home. The olives can be black, kalamata, green, whatever you like the best!
• Garlic chili oil, oregano, parmesan, or red pepper flakes all make great things to finish off your slice before you take the first bite.
• BBQ pizza
• Taco pizza
• Veggie pizza

And my last bit of advice about toppings is to have fun with it. If it would be good with bread (and what wouldn't?) it will be good baked on a pizza!
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A goat cheese pesto pizza with diced cherry tomatoes, olives, mushrooms and sliced red onions.

3. In the zone with a pizza stone

A brick pizza oven would be ideal or even a small pizza oven, but that's not always practical. But a pizza stone is the next best thing! We love ours. 

Preheat your stone in the oven starting with a cold oven, otherwise it could crack. Be careful when you take the stone out because it's going to be super hot. And don't set it on a cold counter because it could crack from the shock. I have a metal stand that keeps it up in the air and goes into the oven with the pizza stone. Once the stone is preheated, I put my stretched out dough on the stone and quickly put the toppings on. I pop it back in the oven for about 10-20 minutes and just keep an eye on it. Once the dough is golden and the cheese is melted, I know it's done.

The beauty of a pizza stone is it cooks the bottom of your dough and makes it nice and crispy, but keeps the inside chewy.
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I hope these tips help you ramp up your pizza night and cure your pizza blues! Do you have any favorite pizza toppings? What are they? Let us know in the comments below!

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