I took the next step and bought a pizza stone and peel (giant pizza spatula). The peel is dusted with cornmeal and the pizza is assembled on the peel and then slid onto the stone which has been pre-heating in the hot (425 to 450 degrees) oven. The stone yields an even crispier crust than using a pizza pan. Homemade pizza is so good... my wife doesn't like the mess created by all the preparation, and we now have an Italian restaurant 2 blocks away that has a brick oven, and everything there is handmade (even their fresh pasta, which you can purchase to use in dishes at home), so it is very hard to compete for the sake of a homemade pie....

I took the next step and bought a pizza stone and peel (giant pizza spatula). The peel is dusted with cornmeal and the pizza is assembled on the peel and then slid onto the stone which has been pre-heating in the hot (425 to 450 degrees) oven. The stone yields an even crispier crust than using a pizza pan. Homemade pizza is so good... my wife doesn't like the mess created by all the preparation, and we now have an Italian restaurant 2 blocks away that has a brick oven, and everything there is handmade (even their fresh pasta, which you can purchase to use in dishes at home), so it is very hard to compete for the sake of a homemade pie....

Recipe Steps for Making Pizza …

Roll out a “pie”…

Place a 1 pound ball of lightly floured room temperature pizza dough (bought or preferably home made , a subject for later in this series) on a flat surface covered with lightly floured parchment paper. Roll the dough out to about a 12 inch circle ( I roll several strokes, turn a quarter of a circle,roll several strokes etc until I have the size…12 inches will give a moderately thick cooked pizza…I don’t do thin crust pizza.
Transfer the “pie” to a 13 inch pizza pan that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Pull and roll the edges of the “pie” to the edges of the pan.

Basic preparation to prepare for toppings sequence …

Brush the dough with olive oil to give a light coating.
Spoon a high quality tomato sauce over the crust .
Spread shredded Mozzarella cheese to create a thick layer over the crust.

Assembling and adding toppings…

Up to this point, we have a plain cheese pizza. You could cook it and have a decent pizza, but there are essentially unlimited toppings that could be added on top of the cheese to make the pizza special. I made a veggie and sausage pizza with the following toppings…
sliced sweet onion cooked in olive oil until lightly caramelized
sliced red bell pepper lightly caramelized in olive oil
fresh broccoli florets steamed until tender ( approx 5 min)
sliced fresh baby bella (cremini) mushrooms sautéed in olive oil
hot Italian sausage cooked 15 minutes in a pressure cooker, cooled,sliced and lightly browned in olive oil.
The density and proportions of each topping is up to you. Once you complete your distribution you are ready to cook the pizza.

Cooking and ready to eat…

Cook the pizza for 20 minutes at 450 deg F.

Been making my own dough for almost 50 years now. Never store bought. Learned how to do it in my father-in-law's Italian restaurant in So. Cal. Don't make it as often as I used to (a lot of work and I'm old) but I've been doing it every Good Friday for as long as I can remember. Never rolled, tossed. My kids and now my grandkids always enjoy the whole process. Here's a sampling of what I made the past New Year's Eve. Had a couple of dough balls left over so we're having pizza for Super Bowl tomorrow.

Yours looks great. Keep up the good eating.