A photo of a home-made, wood-fire inspired pizza.

Best Homemade Pizza

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients: The Dough:
500g bakers flour
10g salt
10g dry yeast
8g bread improver
30g olive oil
280g water
The Toppings:
*anchovies
*olives
*marinated artichokes
*marinated bell peppers
*marinated zuccinis
*ham
*pepperoni
*pizza tomato base
*pizza cheese

Best Homemade Pizza

Setting Up the BBQ for Wood-Fired Flavour:

I always start with the charcoal beads. Grab your BBQ chimney starter, fill it with charcoal beads. Make a little pyramid with some timber shards or small wood chips with fire starters on the BBQ chimney starter tray. Ignite the fire starters so the wood chips start to burn. Place the BBQ chimney starter over the tray and the burning wood chips will start heating the charcoal beads above. Once the beads turn white-hot, transfer them (carefully) into an aluminium tray.

Once the temperature reaches 300°C, turn the two burners where you’ll place the pizza tray down to low, but keep the other two burners (under the charcoal beads) on high.

This setup creating indirect heat, which ensures the pizzas cook evenly without burning the base, while still achieving that perfect wood-fired taste.

To enhance that authentic wood-fired flavour, take your pre-soaked apple wood chips and scatter them over the hot coals.

Cooking the Pizza:

Place your pizza directly onto a preheated pizza stone or grill plate inside the BBQ, close the hood, and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it, if the cheese is bubbling and the crust has taken on a golden hue with those irresistible charred bubbles, you’re in business.

Once cooked, slide the pizza onto a wooden board, let it cool for a couple of minutes (if you can resist), then slice it up and enjoy. There’s nothing quite like homemade pizza, especially when cooked in the BBQ incorporating charcoal beads and soaked apple wood chips — it’s got that unbeatable, rustic flavour that no store-bought version can match.

Enjoy!

Instructions:

Preparing the Dough:

Start by grabbing a large Pyrex glass container—there’s something about mixing dough in glass that makes the whole process feel right. Pour in the baking flour, dry yeast, salt, and bread improver, then give it a good mix with your hands. Now, make a little well in the centre and slowly drizzle in the olive oil and water. Using a wooden spoon (or your hands if you want to get stuck in straight away), mix everything together until it forms a rough dough.

Next, transfer the dough onto a lightly floured benchtop and start kneading. You want to push, fold, and turn the dough for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. If it’s sticking too much, sprinkle a bit more flour—but not too much, or you’ll end up with a dense pizza base.

Once kneaded, place the dough back into the Pyrex bowl, cover it with a clean tea towel, and let it rest for about 45 minutes. It should double in size—if it doesn’t, your yeast might not have activated properly (or your kitchen is too cold).

Rolling It Out & Adding Toppings:

When your dough is ready, punch it down to release the air and divide it into smaller portions, depending on how many pizzas you’re making. Roll out each piece on a floured benchtop, shaping it to your desired thickness. If you like it thin and crispy, roll it out nice and flat. If you want a bit of chew, leave it slightly thicker.

Now for the fun part—sauce and toppings! Spread a generous amount of pizza tomato sauce over the base, making sure to get right to the edges. Then comes the cheese—layer it evenly to create that gooey, melty goodness. Finally, start piling on your toppings. I like to arrange the anchovies, olives, marinated bell peppers, zucchinis, and artichokes for a Mediterranean vibe, or go full carnivore with ham and pepperoni.

Hardware Requirements:

What You Need:

  • Gas BBQ with hood
  • Charcoal beads
  • Timber shards (for burning the charcoal beads)
  • Fire Starters (to ignite the charcoal beads)
  • BBQ chimney starter
  • Aluminium tray (to hold the charcoal beads)
  • Apple wood chips (pre-soaked to enhance smoky flavour)
A close-up detail photo of a homemade pizza.See Our Video