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.

First one, still quite soggy. This was with the pizza stone at the bottom, and polenta under it while I stretched it, then toppings put on while it was on the stone.
Too much passata maybe?

Oops a photo

Oooh, crispy or not, that pizza looks goooood! 😋

Well I think so, but DH will complain the middle is soggy (and I'm not that pleased either).

No 2, also very liquid in the middle, but I put the oven up a bit and it was a tiny bit thinner.
DS doesn't like the cheese but his non-cheese side doesn't look much crispier.

(But it is a bit browner)

Your pizza looks seriously under done to me! Leave it in a bit longer, your dough has no colour to it.

Also if you can't master picking up your rolled out dough, roll it on the mat then just flip the mat over, so the dough falls off of it straight onto the stone

Get a pizza paddle. Dust it well with fine grade semolina, oven needs to be at its hottest setting and the dough needs to be stretched thin. Assemble the pizza on the paddle then slide it onto the stone. You can only make one at a time (unless you have multiple paddles) . When done use the paddle to slide under the pizza and then make the next one. Works every time for me. I have a turbo assisted oven and cook at 280 degrees for max 5 mins.

The recipe said 240 for 10 mins but mine was cooked at 260 for 14 mins. I can't really get it any thinner but I can cook for longer!

OP was that a typo when you said you have pasta flour for the dough? Don't use that, its strong white flour you want for pizza dough (bread flour in other words, for the gluten).
Preheat your stone for as long as possible (I use an AGA so leave the stone in the hot oven all afternoon).
Yes roll out your dough then lift onto the stone, then put on your toppings.
I am also wondering about your tomato sauce. My recipe is to crush a clove of garlic, saute it in a frying pan with a tiny splash of oil for just a few moments (like 15 seconds) to take off the raw edge but not so it catches, tip in your passata with a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for as long as it takes to achieve a very thick and NOT WET pasta sauce - it's almost at a paste consistency. There should be no runny liquid left at all. I suspect your sauce is much too wet, which combined with a coolish oven and not cooking for long enough is causing your problems.

Here's one of mine. To be honest though, even a non-crispy pizza is still yummy!

Oh one other thing to consider - I see you have topped yours with mushrooms. Mushrooms leach out a lot of water as they cook, so if you want to use them slice as thinly as possible (not into chunks which I think is what you may have done). Try to use more toppings that are "dry" if you are struggling to get your oven hot enough (such as pre-roasted strips of red pepper).

Mondrian not sure how using the Pyrolytic function would work on a self-cleaning oven? My Neff locks itself when you start that cycle and you can't get it open until it's finished and gone cold, some 2 hours later. By which time the pizza will be dust!!

That's a good point about the mushrooms - if you put them on raw they do make your pizza very wet, I fry mine first to get all the moisture out. Also, if I use fresh mozzarella (the ball type) I squeeze it in a tea towel to get as much liquid as possible out otherwise that tends to leach out milky liquid when you cook the pizza.

I have to cook everything from scratch as we are gluten free due to most of the family being coeliac. This includes pizza bases and gluten free anything dough related is notoriously difficult to handle.

After much trial and error I have found the best method for pizza bases is to roll out (or in the case of gf dough 'shape') onto greaseproof paper and then 'flip' it onto the baking tray/pizza stone. I bake my bases for about 10 mins and then put sauce/cheese/toppings on them once they are cooled.

You are welcome

It is pasta flour, 00 grade - quite a lot of recipes call for it.
pasta how does your cheese melt then?
daisy could you use the tomato paste in a tube? Or is that too thick?

(I do agree it is probably the sauce but this is supposed to be a quick tea that, when I perfect it, I can hand over to a less patient DH).

Strong bread flour, rolled out onto foil and then straight onto the wire rack.

Sorry maybe I wasn't clear. I cook the base for 10 mins, allow yo cool then add toppings and then cook the whole lot again until its looks like a delicious cheesy melty pizza.

Can't be any more specific than that I'm afraid ... maybe about 10 mins?

You need to cook it longer/make your base thinner.

OK seems the flour is a red herring - I stand corrected!!

No I woudn't use tomato puree that wouldn't taste right at all (much too sweet). Could you make the pizza sauce the night before?

If you are making it in a frying pan (like a do) it has a large surface area so you can drive the moisture off quite quickly. Much quicker than using a sauce pan. If you are making 3 pizzas (?) you will need one of those large bottles of passata which you'd have ready in 15-20 mins. You'd be rolling out your dough & grating cheese in that time?

Good tip re mushrooms.

What's the bet mozzarella to use? The Waitrose balls that I used last time were very leaky.

Oh and I use red pesto, rather than tomato sauce.

I use the cheapest own brand value mozzarella - once it's cooked and mixed with the other pizza flavours, you lose the delicate flavour of the expensive stuff, so you may as well just use the cheap one.
I also make a big pan of the tomato sauce and freeze it in single pizza size portions, so that making pizzas is much quicker.

Your pizza is very pale - i would have cooked it more. Semolina is the key. I use the jamie Oliver recipie - i think it says semolina flour but i just use semolina.

Costco pre made pizzas are divine incase you give up!

The best way to get the base thin is to stretch rather than roll. I tend to flatten the ball of dough working from the centre outwards then pick it up and stretch it placing it straight onto the pizza stone which has been preheated.

Something kind of like this