Pizza 101

• Flatbreads with toppings aren't unique to southern Italy. Middle Eastern bakers make breads topped with herbs and seeds, eastern Europe created onion-topped bialys, Spain has its sweet or savory coca, and northern Italians bake focaccia with a wide range of toppings. Still, pizza -- the tomato-topped Neapolitan version of topped flatbread -- is the one that captured the affection of Americans. A perfectly baked pizza has a crust that's slightly charred on the bottom and at the edges, crisp at the edges, but with a light and fluffy interior. Getting that result requires an oven at temperatures of 750 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

Your Home Oven

• Your range at home is usually limited to a maximum temperature of 500 F, much lower than a commercial pizzeria. The self-clean cycle of a self-cleaning oven can generate higher temperatures, but the oven door locks during that cycle for your own protection. The blast of hot air that would otherwise escape when the oven door opens could cause serious burns. Although you can't match pizzeria temperatures with your home oven, lining it with unglazed tile or clean bricks will allow you to recreate the hearth used in commercial ovens. Preheating the bricks at your oven's maximum temperature for 30 to 45 minutes will produce a better pizza than simple oven baking.

Your Barbecue

• If you have a large charcoal-fired barbecue, you can adjust the vents and draft to generate a high enough temperature for baking true pizzeria-style pizza. Use a heavy-duty pizza stone or unglazed tiles to form a hearth, and bring the barbecue up to 800 F or higher with the lid closed. Open the lid carefully -- airtight barbecues might belch a dramatic flame when the oxygen reaches the coals -- and slide in your pizza. In just a few minutes, your pizza will be perfectly cooked.

The Backyard Oven

• If you're a serious food lover or just obsessive, the ultimate answer to perfect homemade pizza is building your own back yard pizza oven. Check your local building code first to ensure you're not breaking the law, and then research plans that fit your budget and degree of handiness. Commercial models and some high-end DIY projects can be expensive and require serious skills to assemble, while more frugal versions call only for mud and used building materials. Once it's assembled, cured and test-fired, you can turn out enough pizzas and bread for the neighborhood with one armful of firewood.