From Dough to Fire: How We Make a Costa Crust Pizza

A pizza might only spend about 90 seconds in our oven, but the process of making it starts the day before.

At Costa Crust, we make Neapolitan-style pizza with a pretty simple philosophy: start with good dough, use fresh ingredients, keep things simple, and cook it hot and fast.

Here's a look at how a Costa Crust pizza goes from a ball of dough to a hot pizza coming out of the oven.

It Starts With the Dough

For us, the most important part of a pizza isn't the toppings. It's the dough.

We make our dough from scratch and give it a 24-hour fermentation before an event. That extra time allows the dough to slowly develop its flavor and texture rather than trying to rush the process.

By the time we're ready to make pizzas, the dough has become soft, airy, and stretchy—the foundation for the light crust we're looking for.

It's a simple process, but it's one you can't really shortcut.

Every Pizza Is Stretched by Hand

There's no rolling pin at Costa Crust.

Each dough ball is opened and stretched by hand. We gently work from the center outward while trying to leave as much air as possible around the edge.

That air is what helps create the raised, bubbly crust you see when the pizza hits a really hot oven.

And because they're made by hand, they're not all perfectly round.

We actually like that.

Every pizza looks a little different because every pizza really is made one at a time.

Keep the Ingredients Simple

One of the things we love about this style of pizza is that you don't need to overload it.

Good tomatoes, cheese, fresh ingredients, and a few well-chosen toppings can do a lot when they're sitting on a great crust.

Too many toppings can actually work against you. They add moisture and weight and can hide the flavors underneath.

Whether we're making a classic Margherita, Pepperoni, Cheese, or Sausage & Mushroom, the idea is the same: use good ingredients and let them speak for themselves.

Then Comes the Fire

This is where everything happens fast.

Our pizza oven runs at extremely high temperatures, allowing us to cook a pizza in roughly 90 seconds.

Once the pizza hits the hot stone, the dough immediately starts to change. The crust rises, bubbles form around the edges, the cheese melts, and you start getting those darker charred spots that are characteristic of Neapolitan-style pizza.

Because the oven is so hot, you have to pay attention. A few seconds can make a difference.

We rotate the pizza during the cook so the crust gets an even bake, and before long, it's ready to come out.

And Then We Do It Again

One of our favorite parts of mobile pizza catering is that we're not making all the food hours before the party.

We're making pizza while the party is happening.

Stretch the dough. Add the sauce. Add the toppings. Into the oven. Turn it. Pull it out. Slice it.

Then start the next one.

It becomes a rhythm.

And when you're standing next to a hot pizza oven making pizzas for a backyard full of people, it's a pretty fun rhythm to get into.

Simple Food Done Well

Pizza doesn't have to be complicated.

Flour, water, salt, yeast, tomatoes, cheese, fresh ingredients, and a really hot oven can create something pretty incredible.

But simple doesn't necessarily mean easy.

The fermentation time matters. How you handle the dough matters. The amount of toppings matters. The oven temperature matters. And those 90 seconds in the oven definitely matter.

That's part of what we love about making pizza.

There's always another dough batch to improve, another pizza to make, and another excuse to fire up the oven.