Here’s the Only Way Giada De Laurentiis Says to Make Pizza at Home

There isn’t a Giada De Laurentiis recipe we won’t try. We love her sheet-pan lasagna and easy tiramisu. Everyone knows that her lemon spaghetti is her favorite (for good reason!). But when I recently met her at her Las Vegas restaurant and asked her about her favorite pizza recipe, she paused.

“If you don’t have a pizza oven that gets to really high temperatures, making pizza can be sort of lackluster at home,” she said.

OK, she doesn’t actually discourage making pizza at home. After all, she has pizza recipes in cookbooks and on her website, and she makes them on her cooking shows all the time. But the dough is usually already made, or she might say to use premade dough (a great pizza-at-home hack). And a lot of people have outdoor pizza ovens these days.

Still, Giada has one preferred method for making pizza in a home kitchen, and it’s a lot easier than you might think.

How does Giada make pizza at home?

Of course, Giada has a cool pizza oven at home—a Marra Forni, which reaches temperatures of around 800°F. But when she’s not using that to make bubbly, thin-crusted pies, she makes something much simpler (and opposite!) in the kitchen.

“I like to make deep-dish pizza in my home oven. The crust is buttier, it holds up, and it’s just more decadent,” Giada says. “I feel like a traditional Neapolitan pizza never bubbles right in a traditional oven, and the bottom doesn’t cook properly, even if you use a pizza stone. It’s not airy enough because it doesn’t have enough heat hitting it.”

She prefers to make a thick-crusted, deep-dish pie in a skillet or cake pan, something where you can press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. She layers in sauce, such as vodka sauce, and a variety of different cheeses. “Sometimes I dice the cheeses instead of shredding them, so you really get like these pools of cheese on top,” she adds.

Giada’s Deep-Dish Pizza Recipe

While Giada has been known to add beer to her pizza dough, her standard one is much more traditional for her deep-dish pies. Her deep-dish pizza recipe is layered like one you’d find in Chicago, with slices of cheese on the bottom and sauce on top. But she told me she’ll put anything on a deep-dish pizza, and you can build it any way you’d like: with any pizza sauce, your favorite pizza cheese and any other toppings you love.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 to 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal, plus more for dusting
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for the pan
• 6 ounces sliced provolone cheese
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• Dried oregano and red pepper flakes, optional

Directions

Step 1: Make the dough

Combine the yeast, water and honey in a small bowl. Set aside for five minutes or until foamy. Combine 2 cups of the flour, the cornmeal and salt in a bowl. Add the water mixture and the olive oil. Using your hands, stir together to form a rough dough.

Step 2: Knead the dough

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it for about five to 10 minutes or until it forms a smooth dough, adding more flour as needed. The dough should still be slightly tacky but not so much that it sticks to your hands or the counter.

Step 3: Let it rest

Place the dough in an olive oil-coated bowl, turning the dough to coat it in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand in a warm place for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

Step 4: Get the pan ready

Preheat the oven to 425°. Position one rack on the top third and one on the bottom third of the oven. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with olive oil. Wrap the bottom of the pan in aluminum foil, and set it aside.

Step 5: Build the pizza

Gently place the dough in the pan and, using your fingers, spread it out to the edges. Work the dough about two inches up the side of the pan. Shingle the provolone on the bottom of the crust and part of the way up the sides. Spoon the marinara over the cheese, and smooth it with the back of a spoon.

Step 6: Bake

Bake the pizza for 30 minutes on the lower rack. After 30 minutes, rotate the pizza to the top rack and continue cooking for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is a deep golden brown and the sauce has slightly darkened. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and seasonings if using, and allow the pizza to rest for 10 minutes before unmolding it from the pan, slicing it and serving it.