Secret to the perfect pizza crust?

[oldchickenlady]

Quote:
Yep that's EXACTLY what I'm saying! Wastin my Papa's money that's fer sure! I can't cook in a cast iron skillet on the top of my new stove--it's a glass top and they say don't do it. Do you make yours in the oven in the skillet?

I have a glass top stove and I still use my cast iron skillet...just be careful! Dont bang it down or slide it around much. Aint no newfangled glass stove gonna make me give up my cast iron skillet for cornbread!

 

[KimberlyJ]

You do? I listened to the directions.....and I miss my cast iron skillet terribly! I think I'll try it THANKS

 

[KimberlyJ]

My crust always seems soggy. I can't pick a slice up and eat it, I have to use a fork. I want to be able to pick it up like delivery pizza. I guess I want the crust to be brown and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Mine is like wet on the inside, even if I pre bake it before adding toppings....

 

[bigmike&nan]

Kimberly

Well if you are eating thin crust pizza I would expect using less sauce (to the point it doesn't look like "enough") would help.
But if it is a thick deep dish pizza I would beg to differ with you - it's pretty hard to pick up a slice of deep dish and eat it in your hands. All the years I ever ate at Gino's on Rush Street, or Duo's on Wells Street or any of the other great deep dish joints I ate my slice with a fork and knife - all that sausage and cheese and diced tomatoes, I mean it's not a Jersey Thin Crust woman. LOL. I hate you now - I'm sitting here drooling, ain't had breakfast yet and am craving deep dish sausage and cheese pizza. HATE YOU, HATE YOU.... LOL

I used to work night shift near Duo's on Wells - I would call my order in and drive over to pick it up (and pies for the rest of the crew) and I would stand at the end of the bar near the kitchen and watch over the shoulders of the sisters making pies, what a wonderful thing. Try making my dough (or any of the others that have posted - all basically the same dough) and use some EVO in your cast iron skillet, cook it off at 450 degrees and hopefully you get THE TASTE, whether you are brave enough to eat that kind of pie in your hand, well that's for you to decide. But if you lay out your dough, a thick layer of mozzarella and parm, your sausage and then diced tomatoes and herbs you should have a pie so thick that by the time it's done on top that bottom crust ought to be baked pretty well, able to withstand the weight of the top when held in a hand.

What a good deep dish sausage and cheese should look like (from my old iPhone with the scuffed up camera lens, sorry)

 

[thefamilyflock]

I use the basic pizza dough recipe (with an extra bit of olive oil) found on the back of the yeast package. After the dough doubles, roll it out in cornmeal and use cornmeal to keep it from sticking to my hands. I put the dough on a greased sheet and use only a very thin layer of sauce and add my toppings. I bake it in a 450^ oven and pull it off the sheet and put it directly on the rack for the last 5-7 minutes. I have had good luck with the crust being crunchy this way. Lots of ideas in this thread, sounds like it could be a delicious experiment to work out the combonation that works best for you!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Soggy crust is either not enough rise/bake time or too much/too thin sauce weighing it down during cooking. No matter if it is precooked or not. You might try a higher oven setting as well. Most pizza crusts are meant to be cooked at higher temps upwards of 450 degrees. I do mine on 475 usually. I do a prebake as well when I have time, because I like the way it turns out better that way.

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
Soggy crust comes from not having your oven hot enough.

My oven doesn't hold heat well, my first pizza would be perfect but the second and third would be soggy. I finally figured out what the problem was...so I lined the bottom of my oven with bricks (being careful not to block the vents) to increase the mass of my oven and I place my pizza stone on top of the bricks. Then I preheat the oven for 45 minutes at 500° (the bottom rack has been removed of course) and bake my pizzas on the stone on the bricks. I leave the bricks in all the time, it takes longer to preheat for regular baking but it makes the oven bake much better.

I live in Texas and our summer's are very hot here, so this oven I keep in the garage, I do all my baking in the garage so I don't heat my house up with the stove.

Edited to add: When I was having so much trouble making a pizza I resorted to this to get my pizza fix. I still make them and they are yummy!!!

Pizza Loaf
Make 2

Dough
2 heaping tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 stick margarine (chopped up)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups scalded milk
2 large eggs – plus 1 egg yolk beaten
1/3 cup cool water
6-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons yeast
3 heaping tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten
1 egg – plus 1-tablespoon water beaten for egg wash

Place in bread machine in order listed and select the dough cycle.

Filling
1 – 8 ounce can tomato paste
1 large onion – caramelized
1 bell pepper – caramelized
1 – 8 ounce package mushrooms
Garlic salt
Italian Seasonings
Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese
oil to coat pan

Divide dough into 2 pieces and roll out like you are making cinnamon rolls.
Spread half of the tomato paste on each piece of the bread dough like you were spreading peanut butter on a sandwich and sprinkle it with garlic salt, Italian seasonings and Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions and bell peppers. I also cooked my mushrooms first. Rolled it up and baked it at 350° for 1 hour.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

Yeah the oven needs to be hotter, and the sauce may be a bit runny.
What kind of pan are you using?

 

[babettenj]

The trick with the cast iron pan is to preheat it good and hot in the oven, then throw your dough in- that might help with sogginess. When the dough hits the hot pan you won't have much time to manipulate it as it will start to cook- you could always slide it in with a peel. I have a glass top range, but heat the pan in the oven while it preheats.
The pizza stones are nice, but heavy for my arthritic hand so I use this lightweight pan and love it: http://www.babettesnjfeast.com/2009/09/weeknight-pizza.html. The dough recipe in that link is convenient in the bread machine, but I no longer make it.
The pizza dough I use now is made with sourdough. The texture is gorgeous- crispy outside chewy inside. I found the sourdough starter recipe (using all wild yeast) http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=58 and the dough recipe here: http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=65

 

[CDennis]

Quote:
Yep that's EXACTLY what I'm saying! Wastin my Papa's money that's fer sure! I can't cook in a cast iron skillet on the top of my new stove--it's a glass top and they say don't do it. Do you make yours in the oven in the skillet?

I have a nice glass top, I use a cast iron on it, no problems here!