Incredibly Good Cheese Pizza Recipe

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Usually homemade pizza is an exercise in compromise. It’s never charred or crisp enough, and certainly not as good as delivery. But this cheese pizza—a recipe that turns the notion of at-home pizza on its head—proves that you really can have it all. The trick? Cooking the pizza in two steps: first in a pan on the stovetop to create a crisp bottom, then on an oven-safe wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet under the broiler for that perfectly charred finish. Both the stovetop and broiler are capable of generating intense heat, which cooks the pizza hard and fast, unlike the comparatively lower radiant heat of the oven that can dry out the dough and turn the crust leathery before it fully cooks. While unconventional, this two-pronged approach yields a wood-fire-like result that’s hard to imagine coming out of a home oven. Think large, irregular bubbles that burnish and blacken, a crust that’s chewy yet crisp, and that characteristic je ne sais quoi that, until now, only came from restaurant pizza ovens. Behold: actually good homemade pizza.

While this recipe provides instructions for making a quick homemade pizza sauce that’s delightfully garlicky and a touch spicy, feel free to use your favorite store-bought sauce in its place. Be careful not to overload the dough with sauce, as that will weigh it down and inhibit a proper cook. And as far as toppings are concerned, go wild. Just be aware that any meats you might use (like crumbled sausage) need to be precooked before assembling.