Is there anything more fun than DIY pizza night? Round up the kids, grab plenty of yummy toppings, then everyone gets to make their pizza exactly as they want.
While pizza is generally a simple food to cook, that doesn’t mean it’s a walk in the park. If you’re not careful, there’s plenty that can go wrong when making your own pizza at home.
To learn more, keep reading to find eight of the most common pizza making mistakes—plus, how you can avoid them.
- Burnt Pizza Cheese
When making pizza at home, is there anything worse than opening the oven door to find your pizza cheese is burned? Black, seared cheese is the last thing anyone wants and is a quick way to ruin a good pizza.
If it happens to you, you probably left the pizza in the oven too long, used temperatures that were too high, or your pizza was on an oven rack too close to the grill.
You can try to scrape off the burned areas so that you can save your pizza. Usually, it only burns in certain areas, so it’s probably still salvageable.
- Forgetting to Pre-Cook Your Toppings
Did you cook your toppings separately before baking your pizza? While you can get away with not cooking your veggies ahead of time, common pizza ingredients that involve meat should always be pre-cooked.
Sausages, pepperoni, or beef should be cooked separately, then added to the pizza. It can be hazardous to your health to eat undercooked meat, so don’t take the risk.
- Using a Rolling Pin
To get a smooth, consistent pizza crust, it can be tempting to pull out the rolling pin and roll across your lump of dough. However, pizza experts know that this is a big mistake!
Rolling pins actually make pizza crust denser and harder to chew, so always use your hands to roll out your pizza dough. Just take care not to stretch it too thin, as this will cause it to tear and fall apart when you try to eat it.
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- Undercooking
Don’t undercook your pizza, or it’s going to taste like you’re eating dough and cold vegetables. Pizza experts recommend cooking pizza for about ten minutes at 450 F—ideally, with a pizza stone that can get even hotter.
If your pizza crust has started to brown, that’s often a sign that it’s ready to eat. If the crust hasn’t changed color, you probably need to keep cooking a bit longer.
Just keep an eye on it, as overcooked pizza is just as bad! Don’t worry though—over time, you’ll get used to your oven and work out exactly how long you’ll need to cook your pizza perfectly.
- Not Enough Cheese
One of the best things about pizza is the gooey, delicious cheese, still attached to your slice when you lift it from the pizza. To get the best results, make sure you add enough cheese to your pizza when it’s being prepared.
A pizza without enough cheese is just disappointing and not as much fun to eat, so don’t be stingy with your cheese or toppings!
Which cheese is best for pizza? It comes down to preference, but most chefs tend to use mozzarella because it melts well and doesn’t get too oily.
- Frequently Opening the Oven Door
Once your pizza is cooking in the oven, it’s almost time to eat! This is exciting, so you and the kids are likely to open the oven door frequently to check on the progress.
However, each time you open the door, you’re letting heat escape. This means the pizza is going to take longer to cook, delaying your dinner.
Try to resist temptation and just watch the pizza from the glass oven door instead.
- Not Waiting for the Pizza to Cool Down
Once the pizza is out of the oven, don’t dive in straight away! It’s going to be extremely hot and you don’t’ want to risk burning your mouth
It’s easy to do on piping-hot cheese, but the pain and discomfort can quickly ruin the rest of your meal. Just wait a few minutes before selecting a slice and the roof of your mouth is sure to thank you.
- Don’t Forget to Be Creative
When making pizza, don’t feel like you need to stick to the same old boring pizza recipes! One of the best things about cooking at home is getting creative with new recipes.
For example, pizza doesn’t need to be made from tomato sauce! You can try alternatives like pesto, hummus, bechamel, or barbeque sauce.
For toppings, some fun and usual foods to try include apples, goat cheese, calamari, or even nacho pizza, complete with beans, gaucamole, and nacho meat.
Avoid These Common Pizza Making Mistakes
Making your own pizza is both delicious and fun, but you want the pizza to come out of the oven perfectly, so don’t rush.
Use the pizza making mistakes above to know what you should avoid when preparing and cooking, so you don’t need to worry about any pizza disasters! Just remember that learning to cook any new recipe takes some trial and error, but soon, you’ll be an expert pizza chef!
Bon appetit!
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