The F&W Guide to Making Pizza at home dives deep on these six essential steps, but first, you’ll need the proper gear. Explore our recommendations for a scale to weigh pizza dough, the best bench scraper for shaping dough, a pizza peel and baking steel for cooking your custom pie, and a sharp tool for precise slices. Once you have the best pizza tools, you can turn your attention to perfecting the pizza dough, sauce, toppings, and baking techniques to churn out pro-level pies. Plus, we have more than two dozen pizza recipes to practice with.
Weighing pizza dough
The most accurate way to measure the ingredients and portion the dough is with a simple battery-powered digital scale that will tare to grams and ounces. Our testers like the Escali Arti Glass Kitchen Scale.
Proofing dough
To proof dough balls, place them on half sheet pans or in BPA-free plastic pint containers.
Shaping dough
A flexible, straight-edge plastic bowl scraper like the 5 1/4- x 3 1/2-inch Ateco Straight Edge Plastic Bowl Scraper is helpful for handling and cutting the dough and for shaping the dough into balls.
Transferring pizza dough
Use a lightweight aluminum pizza peel to transfer topped dough rounds to the oven and turn the pies while cooking. We like perforated peels like the Gozney Placement Peel that allow excess flour to fall away.
Baking pizza
Pros swear by the Baking Steel, a 16- x 14-inch slab that creates an ultra-hot surface for dough to crisp and rise. We also love the more lightweight, less expensive Lodge 15-inch pizza pan.
Slicing pizza
Forget the pizza scissors and wheels. We like the versatility and length of the 14-inch rocker-style KitchenStar Stainless Steel Pizza Cutter for clean, even slices. It doubles as a mezzaluna for cutting herbs and vegetables. (Don’t miss a chef’s pro tips for perfect pizza slicing.)
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