Making the best possible pizza at home means that you have to start with the best pizza sauce recipe, pizza dough recipe, and toppings available. Better equipment helps too. I started to notice a while ago that my pizzas were coming doughy in the middle. If I left the pizza in longer, I would burn the toppings. Utter fail.
The solution is a pizza stone. Pizza stones heat evenly, which means that your pizza won't be doughy in the middle-instead, when the outer edge is done, you'll know that the inner part of the pizza is done. Pizza stones also tend to suck water out of the dough, so your crust will crisp up nicely.
Before heating your stone, you want to throw some cornmeal on it. This will help keep your pizza from sticking to it when it's done. Preheat your pizza stone by placing it in a cold oven, and then turn the oven on. This will allow the stone to absorb heat evenly, as opposed to from the outside in. If you place your stone in a hot oven, you're quite liable to crack it. In addition, once the stone heats up, you really can't handle it with an oven glove. Those things get hot! So you're going to need a large wooden paddle to grab the stone when your pizza is done. Your pizza paddle will also allow you to place the pizza on the stone without needing to take the stone out of the oven.
Once you've eaten your pizza, you need to clean your stone. It's important that you let it cool in the air-exposing the hot stone to water will crack it. Scrape the stone with a knife to get rid of any chunks left on. Because pizza stones tend to be made of porous materials, you never want to use soap on one. They will end up soaking the soap in and you'll notice the taste in your next pie. So wash it in warm water alone.
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