Do I Need a Pizza Stone?

Pizza stones store a lot of energy by absorbing heat. This means, it takes much less time to cook the pizza especially from the bottom while the Otto Grill heats from the top. The pizza stone also absorbs moisture coming from the pizza dough so as to ensure a crispy dough. When cooking in the oven, condensation collects between the baking sheet and the bottom of the pizza. And no one wants a soggy pizza…

A pizza stone is essential for authentic pizzas with crispy crust!

How Long Should the Pizza Stone Preheat?

With the Otto Grill, the pizza stone needs only a short time to heat up. The pizza stone is placed on the bottom of the grill while the Otto Grill is on full heat. The pizza stone should be heated for about 5 minutes so that it reaches a temperature of 750-930°F.

Caution: Do not heat the pizza stone any longer. This could build-up too much heat under the burners – and you don’t want to burn your pizza.

Italian-Style Pizza Dough

The pizza stone is one crucial piece and the right ingredients are the other. The perfect pizza comes alive from its aromatic base, and that comes from the perfect pizza dough. To get that typical aromatic, crispy crust taste, you need to let the dough rest for several hours; the best way is to let it rest over night.

The dough rest is very important. This is when the yeast fermentation takes place which ensures the typical pizza aroma when baking.

Make Perfect Pizza Dough Yourself

For the best pizza dough, you don’t need many ingredients. The four main ingredients are flour, yeast, water and salt. Otto also likes to add a bit of sugar and olive oil.

The addition of sugar helps kickstart the yeast fermentation much faster but you don’t need to use it. Olive oil provides a distinctive Italian flavor but also gives the dough more suppleness and elasticity.

Important Pizza Ingredients

Flour: For the perfect pizza dough, Italian Pizza Flour is the best because it contains a higher amount of gluten. This makes the dough much more maliable for the creation of the dough as well as the particular pizza crust taste. You can buy pizza flour in every well stocked supermarket. If you don’t have pizza flour, you can also use a regular flour type.

Yeast: You won’t want to use too much yeast for pizza dough because the yeast taste is too dominant and will cover up the flavor of other ingredients. So, be careful with adding the yeast. Use about 1/2-1 tsp. of fresh yeast to a 1/2 cup of flour.

Salt: Not only does salt provide more flavor, it also improves the dough properties by removing moisture and improving the malleability of the dough. It also supports the fermentation stability so that the pizza dough rises evenly during fermentation. Furthermore, the addition of salt reduces excessive fermentation and the formation of dough bubbles.

Oil: The addition of oil makes the dough even more elastic and also increases the stability of fermentation. Fats are important for flavor. They ensure that the taste of the crust is gently rounded off and creates a velvety sensation in the mouth.

Best Pizza Toppings

As far as toppings for your home-made pizza, your creativity knows no bounds. Use any and all things. Leftovers are a perfect pizza topping and a way to clean out the fridge. Though, if you need some inspiration, we have a few recipes you’re going to love.

Otto’s Grilled Pizza Recipes

Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita is the ultimate Italian cuisine. A favorite worldwide for generations, you will find this classic pizza recipe on any menu. We teach you how to grill up the perfect Margherita pizza recipe.

Get classy with the classic pizza.