We've had mixed results making pizza at home, so I was happy to see an article and slide show on this topic in the New York Times. The author recommends making your own dough with a starter. That's just not happening around here, when I can get bags of pre-made dough in the supermarket for $1.50. You can also buy pre-made dough from your favorite pizza parlor.
Some of the other tips could be implemented. The author says to pull the dough rather than use a rolling pin. I'm not sure if my fingers are that talented, but we'll try it out. Also, the author recommends really cranking up the oven, putting the pizza stone at the bottom of the oven, and keeping it hot for an hour before putting the pizza in there. We'll try that out, too. But maybe not in August.
Pizza is a great cooking activity for kids. I let the boys roll out the dough themselves and pick their toppings. I usually put the rolled dough on the hot stone and quickly add the ingredients for them. Maybe if I had a metal pizza mover (correct term?), it would be easier to transfer the uncooked pizza to the hot oven.
Apt. 11d 
Grilled pizza is awesome.
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We have a wooden paddle to move the pizza in and out of the oven. I’m not sure about the metal ones, but we just make the pizza right on the paddle (corn meal on the paddle and the pizza stone). Not that we’ve done this in a while. And we only made dough from scratch once. It just takes too long.
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I make pizza dough in my bread machine. It only takes ~45 minutes, mostly done by the machine.
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You’ll learn how to pull the dough with practice.
Why not get the boys to make the dough from a starter? They’ll get it within 3 or 4 goes.
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Bread machine.
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Ditto on the bread machine idea. And the pizza stone and super hot oven is key, as is a light hand with the sauce. Also, we add oregano to the dough. Since homemade is inconsistent, it makes it an adventure every time. Latest experiment in toppings: thin-sliced yellow summer squash brushed with oil, salted and peppered. Delish.
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My husband has only made pizza about three times, but he substitutes whole wheat flour for 50% of the bread flour and it comes out fine. That’s one place where you can come out ahead of the store dough. Quite a few pizza places nowadays offer whole wheat pizza crust and it tastes fine.
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There’s probably a Good Eats that tells how to make your own wood-fired pizza oven with a giant flower pot, some heavy foil, and some hose clamps.
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Hold on, they want you to preheat the oven for an HOUR before you bake the pizza? How is this environmentally sound? Is this really better than the gas for the car to go get a pizza?
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