How to get pizza crispy

[drspouse]

So I have a pizza stone and I do preheat it and I still can't really get my pizza crispy!

What am I doing wrong?

I usually use this recipe
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4683/pizza-margherita-in-4-easy-steps

I just got some pasta flour which a friend recommended. I'm going to try that today.
I am probably using a bit more mozzarella on some bits of the pizza as DS doesn't like it so his has just tomato and salami but his part isn't much crispier!

I only cook one pizza at once as if I cook more they are really soggy.

I use the bread baking setting. The fan setting is rubbish.

I roll out the dough with a rolling pin onto a silicone baking mat and then put the whole mat on the pizza stone. I don't have a pizza peel and I can't transfer it otherwise.

The mat's your problem, with the dough stuck to it the pizza stone won't drive out the moisture and make it crispy. The entire point of the stone is to transfer heat direct to the base.

Use flour and roll out on a flat surface and then drop the pizza onto the stone and in the oven.

It may also be that your oven (and therefore stone) aren't hot enough - sometimes they're not well calibrated. Check with an oven thermometer.

I've started prebaking the base for a few minutes before adding the toppings. I know it's not authentic but in my oven, by the time the base is properly cooked and crisp, the toppings are cremated. The prebake method works well to get a crisp base and nicely cooked top.

How do I get it onto the pizza stone without it all folding up though? It just goes floppy when I lift it!

I used to roll the pizza out on a baking tray (direct, no mat) but that was no better, and I thought it was probably because the tray wasn't being heated first? But maybe I should do that instead?

Roll it out on the pizza stone

But you have to preheat the pizza stone?

I use plenty of coarse polenta when rolling it out onto a baking sheet, it sort of acts like ball bearings and helps the base slide off the tray and onto the hot pizza stone.

One thing that’s made my pizzas come out the oven much nicer is whacking a load of olive oil on before it goes in, particularly round the edge.

Pizza isn't crispy.

Another one who prebakes the bases briefly first. Then top, then cook on preheated pizza stone. Seems to work.

Could you preheat a metal baking tray in there then take it out and put the dough on it when it’s already hot? (No idea about pizza ovens so not sure if this is practical but this is how I make pizzas in my normal oven)

Use a sheet of non-stick greaseproof paper instead of the silicone mat (Morrison's is best, Tesco's is rubbish).

Then transfer the whole lot with the paper under it onto one of them huge metal plates with loads of holes in (got mine in Lidl).

DS makes huge pizzas this way. They are incredibly thin and never go wrong or soggy.

Could you preheat a metal baking tray in there then take it out and put the dough on it when it’s already hot?
This still has the floppy-while-transferring problem. This is what you do with a pizza stone, according to the instructions.

NannyR aha, that is a possibility! I usually roll out with flour but polenta is worth a go.

Lonely also a good idea!

Damel it's surely not soggy though. Which mine is.

thenightsky another possibility - I have not tried that!

DH recently started using Anna del Conte's recipe from Gastronomy of Italy - it's much better than the previous dough recipe we used. We also roll on a silicon mat but then flop that directly onto the pre heated stone. Sometimes pre-bake, sometimes don't. The base has to be as thin as poss to get really crispy, and only add the toppings once it's on the stone.

When you say "flop" you mean you put the base only, not the silicone mat?

and don't your fingers burn?

DS's amazingly huge thin pizzas are a Gino DeCamp recipe for the base.

Is the oven hot enough on a bread baking setting? The pizza setting on my oven goes up to 275*, and the main heat comes from underneath.

We drizzle the base with olive oil, bake in a hot oven for a bit (straight onto the shelf) then add toppings and bake again. Lovely and crispy!

Don't put the toppings on until the base is already on the stone.

Preheat the stone, roll out the base, you can even do it on the silicone baking mat if you want, then just invert the whole thing over the stone. Stick your toppings on quick, get it back in the oven.

I roll/stretch out dough and put in hot dry frying pan for a minute or so to get base crisp underneath and firm enough to transfer to stone or baking tray on once toppings added.

The recipe I use says 240C and it does go to that - actually I just checked and it's the regular oven not bread setting.
I'm going to give some of these tips a go later on.
Does anyone successfully cook home made pIzza from frozen?

I had the same issue until I discovered this:

1. Preheat your oven with the pizza stone inside and on the lowest rack level.
2. Roll out the dough into a circle roughly as big as the stone.
3. Place some baking paper on a cutting board, then place the dough on top and put your desired toppings.
4. Carefully place the baking paper and pizza on the pizza stone and bake for about 9-10 min.
5. About 3 min into the baking time, open the oven, lift the dough gently with a spatula and pull out the baking paper. Continue baking for the above mentioned time.

That way the stone will absorb the moisture and the dough will crisp up.

Do you bake it on the lowest rack or move it up to bake?

Bake it on the lowest rack. The reason for this is the dough to be close to the bottom to ensure crispiness.

Thanks!

Problem with household ovens is that max temp is limited to 300 c, Pizza needs to be baked at 450 c to lock in the veg humidity and get a crispy base. I have heard that some get around this by using the self cleaning setting on a Pyrolytic oven. You could also use your pizza stone in a bbq if none of the above suggestions work.