The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[marc]

Hello All!

My wife and I are trying to emulate a thin and crispy crust like a local pizza shop here in Fargo, ND. We have the toppings all figured out. The crust on the other hand is a whole other matter. We have tried quite a few recipies including the world famous one from Albert. Our probelm is that we cannot get a brown crisp bottom. We have heated the oven and pizza stone to 500 degrees for 1.5 hours prior to cooking and still no luck. We get a light brown crust on the top edges and the cheese gets really brown but the dough on the bottom remains doughy, white and spongey..not brown and crispy like we want. We have rolled the dough as thin as possible and moved the stone up and down in the oven and the results vary but we never seem to get the result we are looking for.

Does anyone have a suggestion or suggestions that will help us out?

Thanks in advance.

Marc and Karla

[tgnytg]

Hey Marc,

Have you tried Blind Baking the crust?

Blind Baking is baking the crust (on the stone) without toppings, so the dough and the toppings can be cooked for different times.

Blind bake the undressed crust, take it out and top it, then back into the oven to finish the cooking. The trick is to find out how long to blind bake, and how long to bake the dressed pie.

Blind baking is often done with pie crusts when the filling cannot be baked as long as the crust, like for pudding pies.

I would expect that you could get your crust VERY crispy using a blind bake. I have never tried blind baking, but it seems like a natural to get the crust you want.

Hope that helps.

Make sure to reply with your results to help out others who may have the same question.

Cheers, Tom

[chefrockyrd]

Hia,
I just got on to this site and saw your question.
We love thin and crispy in my house.

I roll the dough very thin, put it on a high rack in the oven, on a preheated stone without the filling (baking blind) as tgnytg said BUT here is where its different. I bake it till its partially baked and crispy THEN turn it over- put all of the topping on what was the bottom. Remove it totally to a board or upside down sheet pan or peel if you have one. Keep the oven closed and HOT.
Return to the oven and finish cooking the top.
BTW this works perfectly on the gas grill too.
Its so thin and crispy its like a cracker!
chefrockyrd

[007bond-jb]

I don't pre bake my skins ever, I bake @750deg heres some photos (notes)
the rectangle pie is a sicilian using 50% simolina flour on the greased baking pan that was placed on my stone (lowest rack) the preferated round pan in the photo is only used for slicing, My thin crust pizzas a baked directly on the stone. Try increasing the olive oil in your dough it will make a crisper darker crust. also don't use flour to dust your peel use simolina or corn meal (corn meal smokes badly)








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pizza baked not stirred

[chefrockyrd]

What kind of oven do you have that bakes at 750 degrees?
Just wondering.
Every oven I have ever owned or baked in only goes up to 550.

chefrockyrd

[007bond-jb]

this is from a previous post of mine on another thread
007bond-jb"]Hi Vinny, Its an old GE analog non-selfcleaning oven It has rotory type controls. When in bake mode I turn the temp. control wide open past broil. the last few temp marks are 500deg, 550deg then broil, the control will rotate about 1/4 turn past the broil setting. I don't know what the model # is I'll look when I get home, But I don't think they still make em. You can modify a new self cleaning oven to use the self clean mode to bake in. You have to disable the door lock & the door switch. They will do 750 to 800 in clean mode. Also you gotta be real careful if you spill something on the door glass it will shatter at these high temps
[/img][/quote]
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pizza baked not stirred

[chefrockyrd]

Wow, that is amazing. I have never owned an oven where you could disable the lock on self cleaning. Its either on or its off.

In my last two places and in my present home, I have two large gas ovens in a 5 foot Garland- just straight old gas- we use propane as its rural here and it does cook hotter than regular gas. I can fit a full size sheet pan in them, but there is no self cleaning, no lites in it, no nuthin, just heat. I use a mercury thermometer in them but the thermostat is pretty accurate. We always adjust them when needed.
Almost cave man/woman style.
And I have a third oven- a Thermador electric wall oven- everything is new so its got the touch pads. I don't think I can disable anything on it unless I dissasemble the keypad!
Thanks for the info on your oven.
Don't you think its amazing what people will do to get a good PIZZA!
chefrockyrd

[007bond-jb]

chefrockyrd To bake in self clean you have to modify the oven by taking it apart, This should only be done by someone who has seviced appliances & knows electical circuits/safety. Your local appliance repair shop will not do this due to liability maters. Self cleaning ovens are extra insulated due to the higher temps fire hazard isn't the issue, Its a burn hazard opening a door on 750 + deg oven you gotta be out the way of the rush of hot air. If you know an electrician, HVAC tech, or a appliance tech you might have them over for pizza & get them to show YOU how to do the modification. One more note: the wiring diagram for all newer appliances is taped inside an envelope in the control panel of the appliance....
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pizza baked not stirred

[chefrockyrd]

Thanks for the info 007Bond- you have the right name for sure.
But I don't think I will be taking apart my oven any time soon. Until we build a wood oven outside, I will stick with the grill. I have been having great results with it. But it does fascinate me that you go to the trouble to "hot wire" your oven.
We have a similar thing in my household that some of us would like to take apart- a gps in the car.
Seems you cannot operate it while you are driving- for safety reasons no doubt. So I have to stop on the side of the road and enter my info, then continue on. I bet you could do something with that, right?

BTW, my friend from Houma (sp?) La, is coming over soon to help me make a humungous pot of sauce piquant.
Do you know the place? Evidently there are lots of good cooks there.
chefrockyrd

[007bond-jb]

Chefrocky In reply to you buddy from Houma: I was born In Donaldsonville La. is about 30 miles from Houma Just about everyone in this state is a great cook. Sauce Piquant is good stuff, My favorite southern dish is Crawfish Bisque Where ya from? Oh the gps; I'd fix that pretty quik like. I have software & hardware that allows me to reprogram my vehicles computers, not the handheld junk this attaches to a laptop & can reprogram any parameter/componet the computer controls.
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pizza baked not stirred

[marc]

It been a while since I checked in here....I am very pleased to find a solution to my post!

I am going to use the dough recipe from this site and add a bit more oil and see what happens. I am really excited to try it out.

I will let you know what happens.

Any idea how much more oil I should try? Double?