Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Place the oven rack in the center position. Line 1–2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Allow 15 minutes for the oven to fully preheat — do not skip this step. Checkpoint: You are ready to move on when the oven has fully reached 425°F.

Prep all your toppings before touching the dough. Slice the black olives into rounds, cut pepperoni slices into triangles and small rounds for eyes and noses, peel the mozzarella string cheese sticks into thin strips, and cut the orange bell pepper into curved mouth and triangle shapes. Arrange everything in small bowls so it is easy to grab during decorating. This takes about 5–8 minutes. Checkpoint: You are ready to move on when all toppings are cut and organized.

Divide your 1 lb of room-temperature pizza dough into 4 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, press and roll each piece to about ¼–½ inch thick. Shape each one into a round, a ghost (teardrop with bumps at the bottom), or a pumpkin oval using your hands or a large cookie cutter. This takes about 5 minutes. Tip: If the dough snaps back and shrinks, let it rest on the counter for 5 minutes, then try again. Cold dough will always resist — make sure it has been at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Checkpoint: You are ready to move on when the dough holds its shape without springing back.

Carefully transfer the shaped doughs onto the parchment-lined baking sheets. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, lightly brush the outer crust edges of each pizza with olive oil. This takes about 2 minutes. The edges should look lightly glossy.

Spoon about ¼ cup of pizza sauce onto the center of each pizza. Use the back of the spoon to spread it in a thin, even layer, leaving a ½-inch border around the edge with no sauce. Do not add more than ¼ cup — too much sauce will make the crust soggy. Then sprinkle ½ cup of shredded mozzarella evenly over the sauce. The cheese should cover the sauce in a single, even layer without clumping. This takes about 2 minutes. Checkpoint: You are ready to move on when sauce and cheese are evenly distributed and the border is clean.

Now decorate each pizza with your Halloween theme. Use this guide: Spider pizza: Place an olive half in the center for the body and lay thin string cheese strips radiating outward as legs on top of the cheese layer.

Jack-o-lantern pizza: Use triangle-cut pepperoni for the eyes and nose, and a curved orange bell pepper strip for the mouth. Use a small piece of bell pepper stem at the top as the pumpkin stem.

Mummy pizza: Crisscross string cheese strips across the entire pizza surface over the shredded mozzarella, then press two olive rounds near the top for eyes.

Place the baking sheets in the preheated 425°F oven. Bake for 10–15 minutes. Watch the crust edges — they should turn golden brown and the cheese should be fully melted and just beginning to bubble and brown in spots. If you are making ghost pizzas, do NOT add the fresh mozzarella ghost cut-outs yet. Checkpoint: You are ready to move on when the crust edges are golden brown and cheese is bubbling.

For ghost pizzas only: At the 10-minute mark, open the oven and quickly lay the fresh mozzarella ghost cut-outs on top of the melted shredded cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 2 more minutes until the fresh mozzarella just softens. Do not overbake or the ghost shapes will melt and lose definition.

Remove the pizzas from the oven. While still hot, add any post-bake details — press extra olive rounds into spider bodies or add any toppings that you held back. Sprinkle dried oregano over all the pizzas. Let the pizzas rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before slicing or serving. This lets the cheese set so toppings hold their shape.