All You Need for Perfect Homemade Pizza

There's nothing quite like homemade pizza. It's cheap, infinitely customisable and everything you need is readily available at the grocery store. If you have kids, it's also a great activity to enjoy together.

If your DIY pizzas don't tend to live up to your expectations though, this step-by-step guide should help you to put that right.

Pre-preparation
Most homemade pizza disappointments can be put down to inadequate preparation. Your oven should already be at full temperature by the time the pizza enters, so preheating is a must. You should also make sure that refrigerated dough has had time to thaw, so it's easy to roll.

Making the base
Making your own dough isn't too taxing – mix 3 cups flour with 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon dry yeast, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt and let it set overnight, or you can save a little time by going ready-made. Flatten and spread the dough evenly and place your pizza base in a round pizza pan or baking sheet.

Preparing the sauce
You can buy ready-to-use pizza sauce too, but where's the fun in that? It's also much cheaper to make your own, whether you use cooked tomatoes or just open a can, mash it up and add salt and your choice of seasonings.

Assembling the pizza
Now it's time for the fun part, where you select your favourite toppings or ask your fellow diners for their input. The key is not to overload on the ingredients, deciding on 2 or 3 max to guarantee even cooking.

Depending on the size of your pizza, you will need 1 to 2 balls of fresh mozzarella, avoiding grated cheese as this can dry out. When layering your pizza, it's important to have sauce covering the base and the herbs on top, but the stages in-between are up to you.

Bake, slice and eat
Slide the pizza pan onto the bottom shelf of the preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit). A sharp pizza wheel is a small but worthwhile investment that will keep your culinary masterpiece intact as you serve.