To make this easy to follow, I'll break it down to each part, first we'll discuss dough ball size, then how much sauce followed by cheese quantity and finally how much of each topping so you can skip around to find the information you're looking for.
When working out how big of a dough ball you need, you'll have to ask yourself what size pizza and how deep you want the base. For a standard 12 inch pizza you'll need somewhere from 175g (6.2oz) for a thin base to 300g (10.5oz) for a deep pan.
Below is a table showing dough ball weights based on size of pizza and base style so you can use this as reference for whatever you're trying to achieve.
Pizza Size (Inches) | Base Style | Weight (grams) | Weight (Ounces) |
---|---|---|---|
8 | Thin | 110 | 4 |
8 | Neapolitan | 155 | 5.4 |
8 | Deep Pan | 190 | 6.7 |
10 | Thin | 175 | 6.2 |
10 | Neapolitan | 240 | 8.5 |
10 | Deep Pan | 300 | 10.5 |
12 | Thin | 250 | 8.9 |
12 | Neapolitan | 345 | 12.2 |
12 | Deep Pan | 430 | 15.2 |
14 | Thin | 340 | 12 |
14 | Neapolitan | 470 | 16.6 |
14 | Deep Pan | 590 | 20.7 |
16 | Thin | 450 | 15.8 |
16 | Neapolitan | 615 | 21.6 |
16 | Deep Pan | 765 | 27 |
If you want to make sure you have the perfect amount of sauce on your pizza then aim for 80g, roughly 2.8 ounces for a 12 inch Pizza. Obviously this will need adjusting if your pizza is bigger or smaller and if you like your sauce a bit thicker or thiner.
below is my (roughly) 10 inch pizza base with thin sauce and thicker sauce coverage. The first has 50g of Mutti pizza sauce and the second has 75g. This should help you to see what the coverage is like and then you can plan your pizzas according to how you like it.
The table below maintains these ratios for the various sizes you might want to make your pizza so you can find your size and then go for the thin coverage, thick coverage or somewhere in between.
Pizza Size (Inches) | Thin Sauce | Thick Sauce |
---|---|---|
8 | 32g / 1.13 oz | 48g / 1.69 oz |
10 | 50g / 1.75 oz | 75g / 2.65 oz |
12 | 72g / 2.54 oz | 108g / 3.8 oz |
14 | 98g / 3.45 oz | 147g / 5.18 oz |
16 | 128g / 4.51 oz | 192g / 6.77 oz |
Geting the right amount of cheese on your pizza is a tricky thing, too much and it's thick and doesn't melt very well but not enough and it burns or lacks flavour. For me, around 108 grams (3.8oz) is a good starting point for a standard 12 inch pizza.
Below are pictures of the same 10 inch pizza from above with three different amounts of cheese so you can see which one suits your tastes. The first has 50g of grated mozzarella, the second has 75g and the final one has 100g. I've also done this with diced fresh mozzarella and the coverage is about the same.
The table below gives the three options based on the size of pizza you like making, from here you can choose to go light on the cheese or throw loads on if that's your preference.
Pizza Size (Inches) | Less Cheese | Medium Cheese | Lots of Cheese |
---|---|---|---|
8 | 32g / 1.13 oz | 48g / 1.69 oz | 64g / 2.26 oz |
10 | 50g / 1.75 oz | 75g / 2.65 oz | 100g / 3.53 oz |
12 | 72g / 2.54 oz | 108g / 3.8 oz | 144g / 5.08 oz |
14 | 98g / 3.45 oz | 147g / 5.18 oz | 196g / 6.91 oz |
16 | 128g / 4.51 oz | 192g / 6.77 oz | 255g / 9.03 oz |
Adding toppings to your pizza is the fun bit but it's easy to go over board and end up with way too much variety and too much total quantity so take it easy.