I was trying to persuade my friend Elisa to write an article about home-made pizzas with a home pizza oven. Her family loves to make their own pizzas. My persuasion skills failed me. I didn’t get an article, but I received an invitation to a family birthday pizza party instead, which was better than an article!
I had the chance to watch how home-made pizzas are made from scratch. I have made pizzas at home before with a normal oven, but Elisa’s family has a special gas pizza oven. You can actually see the flames in the oven and the pizzas cook much faster than in a normal oven. The pizzas also taste different. They are lighter and they have a smoky aroma.
Elisa’s parents are a great team. Her mum kneaded the dough and added the toppings. Her dad was the runner and the baker. He collected the pizzas from the counter and shoved them into the oven. He had to make sure that the pizzas didn’t burn and that they were served straight from the oven.
Some of the other guests tried their hand at making pizza under Elisa’s mum’s guidance. My job was to observe the whole operation and to take photographs. I couldn’t believe that we ate 12 pizzas. Guests received the pizza menu in advance.
I was impressed by the list of ingredients, which included: basil, parmesan, buratta, arugula, mozzarella, pesto, ricotta, garlic confit, and pine nuts.
It was an intense evening as we had to eat each piece of pizza quickly before the next pizza arrived for cutting. My conclusion was that there is a lot of planning that has to go into a home-made family pizza party and time is of the essence. As the flames in the pizza oven keep going, there has to be a constant flow of pizzas going into the oven to maximise the use of the oven.
It was indeed a special pizza dinner which I will remember, because it was a family pizza dinner. I went to a small family-run Italian restaurant in Singapore many years ago, where the mother of the family, who was the cook, came out of the kitchen at the end of the evening to greet the guests and to ask if they enjoyed their dinner. The Italians have a way with food.
A big thank you to Elisa and her parents for making this post a joy to write and for showing us the art of celebrating at home.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 19 April 2026
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