Welcome to the ScratchMadePizza blog

Explore the ideas, techniques and science behind making great pizza at home. From getting the most from your baking steel to understanding dough, heat and the baking process, discover practical advice to help you make better pizza.

Hi, I'm Tim

I’m the founder and owner of ScratchMadePizza, and I’ve been passionate about making authentic pizza at home since I was about 10 years old.

For years, I experimented with different dough recipes, ingredients and baking techniques, but I could never quite achieve the crispy crust, light texture and oven spring I was looking for in my home oven. Eventually, I discovered that the secret wasn’t just in the dough - it was the thermal mass and conductivity of the cooking surface, combined with getting the most from your domestic oven.

That discovery led me to develop my own carbon steel baking steel, designed to transfer intense heat directly into the dough and help you create amazing homemade pizza in a standard home oven.

Through the ScratchMadePizza blog, I’ll share what I’ve learned along the way, from pizza dough and baking techniques to understanding the science behind a great pizza crust. I’ll also share practical tips, recipes and advice to help you get the best possible results from your home oven and baking steel.

How it Started

I’ve always loved making pizza, but my early attempts at making pizza at home were often disappointing. I tried everything - pizza trays, traditional pizza stones, stacked baking trays, frying pans, and even cooking directly on the floor of the oven!

Eventually, I realised that the problem wasn’t the dough or the ingredients. It was heat transfer. Thin baking trays lose heat quickly, while traditional pizza stones simply don't conduct enough and can also take a long time to recover temperature between bakes. I wanted a cooking surface that could store and transfer a much greater amount of heat directly into the dough.

After researching and testing different materials, I found that carbon steel was the only thing suited to the job. A carbon steel baking steel combines excellent heat retention with high thermal conductivity, allowing it to deliver intense, consistent heat directly into the base of the pizza. The result is a crispier crust, better oven spring and more evenly baked homemade pizza.

I then worked with UK metal fabricators to develop a pizza steel specifically designed for standard home ovens. The thickness had to provide plenty of thermal mass and heat retention without making the steel unnecessarily heavy or difficult to handle. The result is a durable, easy-to-use carbon baking steel designed to transform your home oven into a high-heat pizza oven - giving you the tools to make better, crispier, more authentic pizza at home.

Always Innovating

Since its inception in 2021, ScratchMadePizza has continually refined and improved the way our carbon baking steels are made. From precision laser cutting and professional shot blasting to engraving, finishing and polishing, every stage of the manufacturing process is carefully considered.

We continually look for ways to improve the quality, finish and performance of our pizza steels. The result is a durable, precisely manufactured cooking surface designed to deliver excellent heat transfer and consistent results in your home oven. It’s this combination of modern manufacturing, careful craftsmanship and continual improvement that goes into every ScratchMadePizza baking steel - helping you make better, crispier homemade pizza, bake after bake.

Ready to Make Better Pizza?

Discover the difference a carbon baking steel can make to your home oven. Get yours HERE