The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[pizza]

Jack has a problem...

Well I finally tried the recipe and the dough turned out great but I did have one problem.

I used a stone and cooked the pizza @ 550 for 8 minutes. It rose nicely and the crust was a nice color as well as the toppings but the center was not done and kind of gummy.

The edge was fine, nice air pockets too. I tried something new and used parchment paper with a little semolina to form the pizza. It slid into the oven nicely onto the stone.

One thing I noticed was the bottom was just a light brown except from the edge to about an inch in. So I am not sure if it was the parchment paper or I didn't cook it long enough. Next time I am thinking of still using the parchment but removing it after 5 minutes and then cooking it directly on the stone for another 5 minutes.

What do you think? By the way your site is fantastic!

Thanks, Jack. Can anyone assist Jack?

The only thing I can think of is that the pizza stone was not pre-heated long enough. I always preheat my stone for at least an hour...

What do you think? Comment please.
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[Thick Crust]

Maybe the paper prevented the stone from pulling the moisture out of the crust and not browning? I let my stone pre-heat for at least 45 minutes.
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Legends of Pizza!

[dfandreatta]

It's important to allow the oven to preheat - I used to service appliances, and one of the things that manufacturer tech departments told me was that the "Preheat" alarm, that usually goes off in around 7 or 8 minutes at 350 degrees, is no indication that the oven cavity is evenly heated to that temperature because of the location of the sensor. They told me that no less than 20 minutes, even 30 or 45 would be required to adequately consider the oven "preheated."

That said, I would concur with the other comments that the stone is probably not adequately preheated.

If that's the case, let us know how you progress.
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"Papa Don"
Apollo Beach, Florida

[pizza]

I was hoping Jack would respond here at the forum....

He just emailed me:

He explained that he let his stone heat up for only 20 minutes.

He agreed to try to pre-heat for 45 minutes to an hour...

I'm sure that will make a big difference.