I almost called it "homemade", but that would be stretching it for me. I love pizza more than most people. There is a huge range of enjoyable pizza out there, but my favorite is my homemade pizza. Unfortunately, the crust takes about 1.5hours by itself, so I don't make it very often. It is more common for me to eat freezer pizza or pizzeria pizza, but I like the easy pizza better than either of those. Simplest recipie:
Loaf of store bought french bread. cut it in half to expose the largest inner surface possible in one straight cut (parallel to the table when the loaf is just sitting there).
Sauce.
Spices.
Grated cheese.
Toppings of choice.
Bake it in the oven.
Now for the long version.
Bread: The more artisan breads can make a very good pizza. However, often they are cooked to have an almost burned color to give that fire baked appeal. Not good for a loaf of bread you intend to put back into the oven. Also they tend to have a much harder outer crust which is great if you like it and have good molars. These are not appropriate for little kids or the elderly. I often get the cheapest loaf of bread that has the softest possible crust ... because I have little kids. They still just eat the toppings ... but at least they could eat the crust.
Sauce: Jars of "pizza sauce" are abhorrently thin and are only good for adding a little color to the crust. If you want something to carry the tomato flavor and mix with your spices, then I recommend one 6oz (the smallest size) can of paste mixed with one can of diced tomatoes in sauce or juice. Often I don't have the "in sauce" or "in juice" and settle for the normal ones and drain them. If I have the soft french bread I still drain the "in sauce" and "in juice" varieties as the softer bread gets soggy easier. But the "in sauce" or "in juice" makes the sauce taste fresher and less bitter. BTW this is a lot of sauce. Probably enough for two loaves.
I often add diced spinach to the sauce which can make the sauce a little bitter even with the baby spinach. I don't mind the bitter sauce. I have found spring mix works well without making the sauce bitter. But stay away from kale. Far away.
Spices. I don't like most of the Italian or Pizza spice mixes. They are not balanced right. They are always short on thyme and often omit the nutmeg. Yes don't forget the nutmeg. Just a dash. You shouldn't be able to taste in the sauce unless you are trained. Other spices include garlic, basil, and oregano in order of importance. And NO black pepper. Why you would want that in your pizza sauce is beyond me. The exact balance of spices depends on your personal tastes. If you are really into that tomato flavor, you may even consider replacing diced tomatoes with stewed tomatoes that have been cut to a size of your preference. I warn you though, one inch thick slabs of stewed tomatoes are a bad idea. IF you do go big on the tomatoes consider adding extra basil too. On the other side of the spectrum you may consider petite diced tomatoes and extra garlic.
The spices do not have to be premixed into the sauce at all. I will usually cut slivers of a young white or yellow onion (not from the heart of the onion) and mix them into the sauce as well as the garlic. I am extra sensitive to garlic but still love the flavor so I can't tolerate a bite of pizza with extra garlic. As for the rest of it though ... a bite with heavy basil or oregano is a treat. It makes the pizza less monotonous. I like to sprinkle the basil, oregano, and thyme on top of the sauce.
Cheese: I am not that picky about my cheese. But never get the finely grated cheeses as they end up melting differently. I usually get pre-grated low moisture mozzarella. A mix with some provolone maybe a little romano or mild cheddar is also good. A minimum amount of cheese is one 8oz package of grated mozzarella per loaf of bread. You may find that this is too little for your tastes. Adding another 2oz of mild cheddar to the mix generally fills it out nicely. Putting a total of 12oz of cheese on is getting fairly generous ... but 16 oz is probably over the line even for an afficionado. I don't usually save cheese to put on top of the other toppings. Unless it is a little medium cheddar to crisp on top of a pizza with few toppings.
Toppings: Everybody has their favorite toppings. I will just comment on three toppings: pepperoni, sausage, and pepperocini.
Most packages of pepperoni are just too thin or greasy or both. The small round ones are usually thicker and drier and better for pizza. Outside of that you may consider getting expensive pepperoni, but at least stick to the main brands.
Sausage is usually really "breakfast sausage". This is in no way appropriate for pizza. Most stores that package "italian style" sausage really just cut some spices into their breakfast sausage. This is a mistake. If you want sausage get one that was made for pizza. You may consider a link sausage like Linguica. That is perhaps the most overlooked pizza meat. If more pizzerias made it a standard meat it would not take long before it was more popular than pepperoni.
Pepperocini. My favorite brand is Mezzetta, but lots of brands are pretty good. Do not buy pre-sliced pepperocini. They have to be left to pickle intact and you have to cut the stems off after the fact. The flavor difference far more significant than which brand you buy. If I get them at a pizzeria I always ask if they were pre-sliced; if they were I will not get them.
I have convinced several people to try a two topping pizza with nothing but pepperocinis and linguica. They are usually quite impressed and about one in five of them decide it is their new favorite.
But don't be shy to experiment with your pizza. The whole pizza does not have to have a new brand of olives or an unusual topping like pistachios (which are great but may require some other adjustments for you to really appreciate them). You can make a little test corner. You can also get the dinner party involved and let them top their own section with whatever they like. Just be aware that a lot of toppings have a lot of water and too many can drown your pizza.
Bake: The bake time kind of depends on the toppings. More water from extra vegetables or thick layers of cheese requires more time at a lower temperature. Grated cheese has lots of air which makes it a decent insulator (a big part of why you don't want finely grated cheese). Adding a blanket of pepperoni and mushrooms on top only adds to this problem. You have to get the cheese to 150F to properly melt through. And you have to get the sauce to 120F or hotter especially if there were raw onions that you need to cook. On a pre-baked loaf of bread you don't have to worry about dough temperature, but if you had fresh dough you would need to get the top layer of dough to 140F or so and you have to do it before the sauce absorbs in. This is why most pizzerias don't do thick toppings, thick sauce, or thick crust ... or at least don't do it well.
I really don't know the exact temperatures for all the ingredients, but I do know cook times in my conventional oven at high altitude. A standard loaf with about 10 oz of mozzarella, some pepperoni, and extra thick sauce takes about 13 min at 350F followed by another 3min at
425F. Adding bell pepper, 2oz of extra cheese, and mushrooms means about 17min at 350F and 3min at 450F. The last hot part is to brown the cheese after it is melted as well as steam off any residual juices. A vegetarian deluxe pizza might take 20min at 325 and 5min at 425. I never go above 450F or below 325F no matter how thick the toppings.
That said, remember the bread is bre-baked. Putting the pizza on a stoneware pan will help keep the crust from cooking as much. If you have a convection oven, this won't make much difference.
