Homemade Pizza

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

I love to make pizza at home. Some nights it’s a resounding success, and other nights, like tonight, it disappoints. The thing is, I can’t figure out why. I use the same ingredients every time. I’ve used the same thick, rectangular stone for years. Every time, I preheat my stone for ~2 hrs at 550, my oven’s highest temperature. Here’s tonight’s pizza:

No char. I don’t want to burn the thing, but the slightest hint of char on the crust adds an amazing dimension of flavor. Without it, the pizza tastes flat. If I’d cooked it for even a minute longer, the cheese would have bubble too much.

Is there a secret to getting a hint of char on my crust, every time, at 550 degrees? I know it’s easy at 800 degrees, but (for now, anyway) that’s not an option.

2

Why preheat the stone for so long?

Our pizza stone exploded in the oven a couple of weeks ago. It was a very weird thing to happen. Also quite surprising.

3

Rob, I’ve had several stones break. Was it one of the relatively thin, round ones? I finally gave in and spent about $35 on a thicker stone (which seems to take a long time to heat up) a few years ago, and it’s bomb proof. Water is bad-- never use water to clean your stone. Just scrape off the larger chunks, and chalk everything else up to patina.

4

I use a pretty thick 1.5" stone. I let the oven tell me when things are at temp. I also hit 550F with my oven. When the over temp reaches that I know temperature equilibrium with the stone reaches that.

Never had one explode, but I’ve never done anything more than scrape it with a brush upon cooling. No water or anything.

Is Bill Ackerman on this forum? He’s the god for all things pizza…
[notworthy.gif]

5

Justin’s pretty crazy with a pizza stone, too…

6

I’m sure. I just don’t know Justin. I’ve been to Bill’s and he was crazy enough to build an entire pizza oven in his backyard [notworthy.gif] and talks about yeast varietals like I talk about Syrah. [shock.gif] [highfive.gif]

7

Get the thick stone from Williams Sonoma. It will gives you char at 515 after 10 minutes, middle of the oven, not bottom. Don’t forget cornmeal. Heats in about 30 minutes.

BTW, the stone carries the lifetime warranty.

8

You want char? I got your char!

9

What? You guys don’t cook your pizzas at 375˚ ? [blink.gif]


I’ve been known to hit the edges of homemade pizza with my propane torch to pull out a few scorched areas. Sure makes the pizzas look better in photos.

10

I’d rather have cheese that bubbled too much along with a proper char, then unbubbled cheese with no char.

11

While not traditional I use a pizza screen that gives me a nice crust. I don’t think I go as high as 550, though.

12

I was thinking further on the matter.
The crust needs to bubble a bit and extend upward to get the char, so never EVER use a rolling pin and be sure to start with a well made, well floured and not too chilled dough. Light and airy is the word of the day.

13

I find that a variable that’s best to control for is relative humidity, both as a function of the dough’s wetness and the general dryness of the air. My crusts tends to char better in the winter, if this makes the least bit of sense.

14

Erik makes sense.

A good stone wicks moisture from the dough at the same time as cooking it.

15

Mike, that’s the stone I have too… but I don’t want char on the cheese. Just the crust. I know the key is higher heat than I have available at home, but the holy grail, for me, is slight char on the crust while the cheese is still perfectly white with barely any bubbles.

16

Melissa, start with a lower moisture dough. I know many a good pizza guy who does pretty good with 550 (or less).

Your cheese is already browning in your image, so the key is the crust and not the overall temp.

Report back.

17

That’s exactly the problem-- cheese was bubbling before the crust was done. Justin Wells suggested humidity might be the key, and I’m thinking that together with your comment about lower moisture dough, that may be the answer. I use the same dough, same cheese, same stone, and same oven temp every time, so moisture sounds like a good variable. Thanks!

18

I actually pre-cook the crust. A trick a friend of mine taught me.

Take the dough, put onto pizza pan with holes in it (easier than the corn meal on the stone directly) but you can just put it on the stone if that’s your style. Cook 4 minutes. Pull out, put on topping, another 3 minutes. Done.

19

We use the dough from Trader Joe’s. If you let it come up to room temp then it works really well.

Oh and I figured out how the pizza stone exploded.

My wife makes…err made… French bread on the pizza stone and to get a good crust on the bread, she tosses a half a cup of water in the oven, on the heating element when she starts.

I know - sounds crazy but it works… at least it works up until the stone explodes.

20

lately, i have been having much more success doing my pizza on the grill than in the oven. the crust turns out great!