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Should You Let Pizza Cool Before Cutting? Plus Other Mistakes We’re Making With Homemade Pizza

The smell of fresh pizza dough is enough to get our mouths watering. We just want to take the entire thing to the living room and gorge on it there. However, The Kitchen Warriors recommends that we have some class and at least cut our divine treat into slices before having our way with it.

Do you see how prone we are to making mistakes when faced with the ultimate cheesy deliciousness? Wonder what else you could be making with your homemade pizzas? Let’s find out. 

11 Don’ts When It Comes To Homemade Pizza

Here are some situations you should avoid when making homemade pizza:

1. Going Overboard With the Cheese

Yes, there is a thing as too much cheese when it comes to pizza. It might not be as big an issue if you’re just being served the pizza, but it’s a whole other story if you’re actually the one who made it.

Excessive cheese can ruin your hard work. The moisture in mozzarella cheese can weigh down your pizza and make it soggy. It also has the potential to become a major greasy mess.

When making homemade pizza, you want to put just enough cheese to cover the sauce.

2. Stretching the Dough Too Much

Many love thin crust pizza. However, if you’re making one at home, there’s a chance you might stretch the dough too thin that the toppings fall off.

How much is too much? There’s a thin line where thin-crust pizzas are concerned, so it’s best not to pull the dough anywhere near where you can almost see through the other side.

Although you might not create the perfect thin crust, you can at least guarantee your pizza will have a great crust that holds all the toppings together.

3. Going Crazy With the Toppings

Letting loose on the toppings can turn your pizza into one soggy mess. It can still be a delicious mess, for sure, but not likely one that looks appealing.

Remember that you don’t have the equipment that your favorite pizza places have to help deal with an overload of toppings.

So, keep things at a minimum when making pizza at home. A little sprinkling of mozzarella, some pepperoni slices, and a bit of sauce should be enough to do the trick.

4. Not Pre-Cooking Toppings

Pizza cooks at searing high temperatures, so there’s probably no need to pre-cook the toppings, right? Wrong.

Unless you’re dealing with veggie toppings, always make it a point to preheat. Meat toppings are particularly tough and cook longer than the dough. The same goes for tougher vegetables like broccoli.

5. Not Preheating Kitchenware

Creating a masterpiece at home might not require a fancy pizza stone, but that doesn’t mean you should underestimate the power of preheated cookware. Preheating your baking sheet gives your pizza that perfect, crispy crust we all desire.

6. Stretching Cold Dough

The only bad thing about making homemade pizza is the waiting time. This isn’t like ordering from your favorite pizza place where your order gets delivered in minutes. Nope, we’re talking hours of waiting, even longer if you’re dealing with dough fresh out of the fridge.

Dough that’s been refrigerated should be given some time to come to room temperature. If you stretch the dough while it’s cold, its stiffness will make it tear easily.

7. Forgetting the Cornmeal

It’s a rule in pizza making to always sprinkle the baking sheet with cornmeal before placing the pizza dough. It adds flavor to your crust and prevents the dough from sticking. You can also sprinkle some on the counter, so the dough doesn’t stick while being stretched out.

8. Using Canned or Jarred Sauce

Did you go through all the trouble of creating your own dough just to smear canned sauce all over it? You most certainly did not!

Keep to the theme by whipping up your own homemade pizza sauce. Combining homemade pizza with store-bought sauce won’t do the pizza justice. Your guests might not mind, but, being the maker, you’ll surely feel something is missing.

9. Too-Low Oven Setting

If you’ve sat next to an authentic pizza oven in an Italian restaurant, chances are you were sweating buckets. Pizza is cooked at searing high temperatures to create that crust we all crave.

It doesn’t matter what kind of pizza you’re making; the oven should be set at 500 degrees for an acceptable outcome. Any lower than this and you could find yourself sorely disappointed with the result. Also, make it a point to keep an eye on the pie while it’s cooking. 

10. Not Letting the Pizza Cool

We’ve all been there. Each of us had that experience of digging into piping hot pizza only to get our mouths and tongues burned. Keep these painful moments from happening by allowing your pizza to cool and settle after it comes out of the oven.

Once it does, bring out the pizza wheel and slice across all that cheesy goodness. By this time, the melted cheese would have set enough that it won’t slide off your slice.

When it comes to homemade pizzas, you should never rush the process.

11. Not Using a Pizza Cutter

As yummy as pizza is, we can’t forget about the presentation. It adds to the appeal of your pie and makes your effort of baking at home worth it.

As such, you want to use a pizza wheel for slicing pizza. Its sharp, circular blade lets you glide across the crust with ease. 

In the absence of a pizza wheel, use a chef’s knife. Make sure the knife’s diameter covers the entire length of the pie, so it creates a smooth, clean cut. 

Making the Best Homemade Pizza

You love pizza so much that you can’t help but make some at home. While you don’t need fancy equipment to get the job done, you need to avoid doing certain things that can ruin your pizza-making experience. Following our list won’t necessarily lead to the perfect homemade pizza, but it can result in an excellent first try.

Cher

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