[Alupis]

While extra high temperatures and/or fancy ovens will certainly make a better pizza, it's not a requirement for making great pizza at home, even when using raw pizza dough (store bought or home made) and throwing it yourself.

The better your crust, the better the pizza, but heck, even using pre-made Boboli pizza crust can yield a good tasting home-made pizza.

Although, I'd certainly recommend getting some dough from your local grocery store and throwing it yourself... it's a skill that's surprisingly satisfying to learn and to get good at, plus it makes the entire experience a ton more fun and enjoyable (and it'll impress guests as well)!

Pizza is very easy to make, and can be a lot of fun!

[ghaff]

Some of the other flatbreads/Naan breads available in many supermarkets work well also. I tend do thin/crispy crusts anyway so these plus a pizza stone work pretty well for me. Working with pizza dough was always the "step too far" for making my own pizza but now I find it's pretty straightforward.

[Alupis]

> Some of the other flatbreads/Naan breads available in many supermarkets work well also

Naan breads are great for "personal sized" pizzas, especially the garlic Naan breads!

[wastedhours]

I'd also say you can mitigate some of the temperature differential by making sure you have a pre-heated surface in the oven. An upturned (perforated or not) baking sheet in an as-hot-as-it-can-go oven for an hour or so makes a decently hot base for the crust.

[pat2man]

You can also make a great pizza in a cast iron skillet. It will hold a lot more heat than a baking sheet and gets your dough pretty crispy.

[Alupis]

> An upturned (perforated or not) baking sheet in an as-hot-as-it-can-go

Or a pizza stone if you have one (they're fairly inexpensive usually).

But a pizza stone is a single-tasker kitchen gadget (thanks Alton), where-as the baking sheet is a multi-tasker with more utility.

Both will do wonders for getting a more crispy crust!

[stinky613]

Pizza stones aren't just for cooking pizzas on. They help you maintain your oven temperature[1].

Also, IIRC, Alton Brown does use a pizza stone, but he recommends buying unglazed ceramic floor tiles as an alternative.

[1]https://www.cookingforgeeks.com/blog/posts/the-two-things-yo...