you can do it with bare ubuntu. It will take you a bit longer to configure, but you will learn more.

I think you should ask yourself if you want to set up a home server to have something that is stable and runs with minimal interference, or if the main purpose is to try things out and learn about all the tools

There are many out of the box nodes, and IMO they are all perfectly fine. sure, the most maxi approach is to buld everything from ground up, but not everyone has time for that