Is there anybody out there who doesn’t like pizza? It’s doubtful. That’s why we spend the entire month of October celebrating everyone’s favorite food. While you can always stop by your favorite local joint to indulge, or have it delivered right to your door, it’s also fun to make your own pizza at home, especially if you gather some good friends and let everybody make their own. You provide all the fixings, including Coleman All Natural meats, and let everybody get creative.
We’ve got some recipes to get you started, but you can have fun using your own culinary creativity as a starting point for your delicious creation, so don’t limit yourself to the old standby.
Meat Lover’s Pizza
This pie is perfect for the unabashed carnivores in the crowd. With ground pork, bacon, pepperoni and chorizo, this one will satisfy anybody’s cravings for pizza—and pork!
Pizza with Bacon, Arugula and Tomato
A creamy Alfredo sauce forms the base for the layers of fresh tomatoes, smoky bacon, and fresh arugula that make this pizza so delicious.
Grilled Pizza with Sausage, Mushroom and Onions
If you’re feeling adventurous (or don’t want to make a mess in your oven) you can even cook pizza on the grill. Just remember that if you’re using a pizza stone, you need to have it over indirect heat so it doesn’t crack.
Bacon, Egg, and Veggie Pizza
Pizza for breakfast? Yes, please! This one has bacon, eggs, and vegetables to get your day off to a healthy and tasty start. Of course, you can also make it for a delicious dinner.
Equipment and Ingredients You’ll Need
While you can get an adequate crust on a baking sheet, ideally you’ll want to have a pizza stone for the crispiest crust and even browning.
You’ll also need a pizza peel (or two), the big wooden or steel paddle that you use to shovel the pizza onto the hot stone.
You don’t need an expensive pizza oven to make great pizza at home, but you need an oven (or grill) that you can heat to at least 500 degrees.
Corn meal helps keep the pizza from sticking to the peel when you slide it into the oven.
Tips for a Successful Pizza Party
Have all the toppings and dough ready in advance and set up a pizza-making station or two on a kitchen counter.
You can make your own dough if you have time (it needs to rise for a couple of hours) or you can find refrigerated bags of premade dough at grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Divide the dough into grapefruit size balls.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and let the pizza stone get hot. This can take up to 30 minutes.
Set up an assembly line—one person rolling out or stretching the dough and others adding the toppings. Or, you can let each person make their own.
Don’t overload the pizza. A layer of sauce, a layer of cheese, and two or three toppings is all you need. If you add too much, you run the risk of a catastrophe when you put it in the oven, and it won’t cook evenly.
Sprinkle the peel with a layer of corn meal, lay out the dough on top of the cornmeal, and add the toppings. Then slide it onto the hot pizza stone. This may take a little practice, but that’s part of the fun.
While one pizza is in the oven, get another ready to go. If you have two pizza peels and stones, the process goes faster.
The Coleman Way, since 1875, is our commitment to quality, taking pride in humanely raising animals on family farms in the U.S.A. with no antibiotics ever, no growth hormones, and 100% vegetarian fed. The result is premium, great-tasting, all-natural meats in a variety of cuts and flavors that can be easily prepared and that you can feel good about serving to family and friends.