One secret to a good crust is a hot oven and a baking stone. I preheat mine at 500F for an hour before I ever slide the pie from the peel.

I've recently begun to experiment with using a cast iron skillet (in an electric oven) to make a Chicago-style pie. The crust has been excellent, though my wife says the pies are a combination of NY/Chicago style, because the crust remains thin, but there are plenty of fillings with sauce ladled lastly.

You'll get there. Keep baking.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Unorthodox Epicure: '...Aspiring Pizza Snob'

I preheat the oven and the stone at 550F for an hour before slipping the pizza on to the hot stone. The hotter the oven/stone the better.

Ann

Hot stone in a hot oven=crisp crust.
A couple of nights ago I had a family with 2 teen aged sons for pizza and apple pie.
I baked the pie first, then turned the oven to 500 while I rolled the dough and added the toppings to the pizza....then slid it onto the stone....results not a crisp crust. The next 2 pizzas were much better. I thought that after an hour and a half at 350 and 10 minutes at 500 that stone would be hot enough.....wrong!
HOT stone.....in a hot oven---->crisp crust.
Linda C

Punamitsike:

The Recipe had all the instructions.
If you do not have them.

You can Google " Lou's Pizza Dough ".

I am tired of hearing about Baking on a Stone, Crisp Crust, Soggy crust .

Not by you but by everyone who thinks they have the best !

Chicago style , New York style, thin or thick Crust, etc.

***************************************************

Remember the saying , Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Some hate thin Crust some love it.

Others like a very thick Crust but it has to be " Crispy and Tender ".

Baking on a Stone is not the only way to get a Crispy Crust

A trick to not having a soggy crust, is to Prebake the Dough a few minutes ,
then put on the Sauce and bake that a few minutes.

Add the toppings and Cheese last , so it will not burn.

In the Pizzeria I built one oven with Stone Shelves but I still baked the in a pan.

Took them out onto the Stone just to brown the bottom.

Read the Recipe and instructions again or give it a Google.
Good Luck !!! Have fun,

LOU

PS:
The only other thing I can recommend is to wait till I come Down to Fla. this winter.
Then I can give you hands on Tutoring.

In spite of my dislike for pizza, I will eat thin crust and it has to be crispy, on those occasions when I cannot gracefully plead the stomach flu and have to cave in and eat pizza. I hate the wet and soggy dough right in the middle that you get sometimes, I absolutely cannot make myself eat that or I could easily fake people into believing I DID have the flu.

That said, I have a pizza stone. I find getting anything onto the stone without dropping it into the bottom of the oven or burning myself or causing it to look much more like the continent of Africa than a round anything is impossible for me. I've tried sliding it off another sheet, I've tried parchment paper, cornmeal, Elery's pizza peel, whatever. Phooey, Ann T makes it sound so easy. "Slide it onto the stone" Uh huh. I removed the stone and it sits propped between the stove and the counter.

Now my latest issue of Cook's Illustrated tested the Lodge cast iron pizza pan. They say they get the same crust, it heats to 500 in half the time, retains the heat well and costs half as much. The problem of getting an unbaked pizza onto the hot pan remains.

It just makes me so darned glad that I really don't care much for pizza so when Elery wants pizza he bakes it himself.

I do understand what you mean, though, when you say there are tons of instructions on making dough and few instructions as to how you're supposed to get the darned thing onto a screaming hot stone and baked, or how long it gets baked, pre-cooked vs raw toppings, etc. Personally I bake the crust on a pan until it's brown, add the precooked toppings and cheese, bake it until the cheese melts, then cut it and serve it and pour myself a bowl of Cheerios!

Annie

Frankly I am sick about hearing about the only way to bake a pizza and have a crisp crust is with a prebaked crust.
I suppose that's why when you stand at one of those pizza places where they make the pizza in front of you....and you see the guy tossing the dough and swirling on the sauce with a ladle....piling on the toppings using his hands, and grabbing handsful of grated cheese and sliding it from the peel into that very hot oven. Those places probably don't know how to make a pizza....yeah that's is.

Annie as for getting the pizza from the peel to the stone....it's a knack for sure. I have folded a few! LOL! And I have messed up a few Swedish tea rings as well!!
I guess it's a similar knack to flipping a couple of eggs without a spatula....or a pancake. With the pizza you need enough cornmeal or flour on the peel....with the egg, enough butter in the pan.
Keep trying.....the first time you get it right you'll feel so smart! LOL! Like the first time you get the pie crust into the pie plate without tearing!
Linda c

Frankly I am sick about hearing about the only way to bake a pizza and have a crisp crust is with a prebaked crust.
I suppose that's why when you stand at one of those pizza places where they make the pizza in front of you....and you see the guy tossing the dough and swirling on the sauce with a ladle....piling on the toppings using his hands, and grabbing handsful of grated cheese and sliding it from the peel into that very hot oven. Those places probably don't know how to make a pizza....yeah that's is.

Annie as for getting the pizza from the peel to the stone....it's a knack for sure. I have folded a few! LOL! And I have messed up a few Swedish tea rings as well!!
I guess it's a similar knack to flipping a couple of eggs without a spatula....or a pancake. With the pizza you need enough cornmeal or flour on the peel....with the egg, enough butter in the pan.
Keep trying.....the first time you get it right you'll feel so smart! LOL! Like the first time you get the pie crust into the pie plate without tearing!
Linda c

LindaC, I can get the pie crust into the pan without tearing it, but I still can't flip an egg or a pancake in a pan without a spatula, I'm too clumsy. Elery also insisted that I could do it, but after more broken eggs and pancakes scraped off the floor he asked me just what the heck was wrong with using a spatula anyway, LOL.

As for the pizza, the bottom of my oven thanks me for giving up on that process. so does my aloe plant which is pretty much stripped most of the time because I burn myself at least a couple of times a week. I said I was clumsy...

Annie

Annie

Just another method...dark pan, hot oven, bottom rack.

Annie, I don't know about the pizza peel, I don't do fancy equipment for pizza, but I can tell ya, if I can flip an egg, anyone can!
In the diners, training as a short order cook, they give you a dozen eggs and a nonstick small pot, but the secret is---you practice over the sink! That way, your messes are scooped up and tossed, or washed down the disposal.
Even after 24 years, I still miss a few, but the dog likes it that way! The accidents go in her bowl!

"They" say....to practice flipping eggs with a wet folded wash cloth....but I don't know what to use to practice scooting a pizza.

LindaC:

If you are refering to me, I never said that a prebaked
crust is the only way.

Read over my Post.

I just put in a suggestion to prebake the Dough a few minutes before putting on the sauce,
so the crust wouldn't be soggy.

I prebake my dough for Pizza and put them in the freezer,
for my own use.

I have worked it out to my taste and a few hundred others,
otherwise I wouldn't be doing it this way.

*******************************************************

How about the Chicago Style Pizza and the Sicilian you
love, if I recal, they are baked in a Pan.

You know , Deep Pan Pizza !!!

It is easy to slide a round Dough outo a Stone
They would have a hard time sliding the thick rectangular Dough onto the Stone.

Most of them are prebaked !!! and stacked on the side,
ready for use.

Punamitsike :
Another cause for soggy dough is , the Sauce may be too watery.
That's why I cook mine a little, to thicken it.
Then do like you did,
bake the Dough with just the Sauce a few minutes.

Unorthodox Epicure:
My Post wasn't meant to knock you method. Your Cast Iron
Skillet way sounds good.

I'll have to try that with fresh Dough.

I bake at 420 Degrees, for the thicker Pizzas so the dough gets cooked thru.
LOU

Annie:
Is it so hard to try, baking the Pizza in a pan and then onto a Stone ???
LOU

I recommend joining the pizza making forum, if you are serious about pizza. Many of the members there own pizza restaurants, but there are amateurs as well. I got very good information from them, and they helped me develop the pizza recipe that I still use today.

I bake on a stone, but I generally put the dough on a pizza screen first (a common practice for commercial pizza), and then it is easier to slide onto the stone. I've also done it on the bare stone, and I have not noticed a different between using a screen and not using one. Some people prefer using the screen with no stone, to allow hot air to make the crust crisp.

I tend to make a NY style thin crust, and it cooks in 10 minutes in ad 550 degree oven - no need to prebake the crust.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Pizza making forum

Sissy, I've gone through a LOT more than a dozen eggs.....um.....more like dozens of eggs, five or six dozen at least. An equivalent amount of pancakes joined the eggs on the floor or hopelessly broken/misshapen on the edge of the pan, side of the stove or dripping down the oven door. Not a single one got flipped correctly and I spent a couple of decades of my life owning and running a bar and grill. And you know what, I can't do that vegetable flip thing either where you just shake the pan, or I'd better chop another pan full of vegetables. It's gonna go over one side or the other, every time. Heck, I might as well just take that pan, dump it upside down on my stovetop and get it over with.

As for the peel/pan/stone, if I'm going to prebake the crust on the pan I'm not going to bother to spend an hour preheating a stone to 500 F and then cleaning both the stone AND the pan. Elery would like to build a wood fired oven when we build our house. I think he should go for it and he can deal with the pizza and the peel. While he's at it he can put my bread in there too, because I can't manage to transfer a risen loaf to the hot stone without deflating it and I've never successfully gotten a loaf of that no-knead stuff from counter to hot dutch oven without deflating it either!

So what is the problem? I'm not dexterous enough? Not careful enough? Not patient enough? I dunno, but I've gotten lots of flat bread and misshapen pizza and broken eggs to prove that I don't have the knack. Can't do those roses on cupcakes worth a darn either.

I'm blaming it on carpal tunnel. yeah, that's it...

Now, can anyone actually do that pizza crust thing where they throw it in the air and catch it without tearing the dough?

Annie

Now, can anyone actually do that pizza crust thing where they throw it in the air and catch it without tearing the dough?

Annie, DH can do that. I tried, and so did a friend, and the dough ended up on the floor. Lets get the hubbies together when they build that pizza oven (on his to-do list, LOL). Oh, I can't flip eggs, pancakes or veggies either, but DH can. Grrr. That's OK, we both bring different skill sets to the kitchen, grin.

A pizza oven is on my official bucket list!

Never have I had pizza like that we had in Italy. Thin crust, quite crispy, lightly topped with fresh ingredients and cooked in a wood oven. I'm spoiled forever!

Oh and I watched them, they roll the crust with a skinny rolling pin, they don't toss it! I asked one chef about the crust and he said the secret is semolina flour and olive oil.....how much who knows!

Annie:
I can do it. Maybe you should give it a try.

It may give you a feel for the dough and next time you try the dough off the peel thing,
it may work.

I had to prepare my Pizza's different in the Pizzeria,
so I could bake 150 on a Friday, myself.

They didn't care about all the showmanship, just a good Pizza.
LOU

"Now, can anyone actually do that pizza crust thing where they throw it in the air and catch it without tearing the dough?"

Practice with a damp kitchen towel. With palms facing the floor, drape the towel over the backs of your hands. Toss the towel upward with a spinning motion. Catch it on the backs of your hands and toss again. After you get then hang of it, do it with dough. The dough needs to be partially formed by rolling first.

Jim

I cannot throw a frizbee, and so I'm pretty sure that I cannot throw pizza dough either. I roll out the dough with a pin. I use one cup of semolina flour with 3-1/2 cups of regular flour, but I also add 2 tbsp VWG (vital wheat gluten).

Lars

Lars based on what I saw in Italy you get it!

Hey Jim:
I didn't know you were a Pizza Buff.
That is a good way to practice.

You will have Annie spinning eggs and Pancakes, in the air.
LOU

Lars, you always make me smile. Love your posts.

Ann

Wow! This thread has taken on a new ��and different � life. Interesting. Lol.

Lars, I'm not so hot with a frisbee either, so I guess I'll stick to a rolling pin for the pizza dough.

When Elery builds that pizza oven, I'll invite Jessica and Sharon and their hubs and we'll have a bit forum pizza party!

Annie

ANNIE:
If you try the Cast Iron Skillet, you can lay the dough in the same as a Pie Crust.

From the rolling pin , right in.

LOU

Eh, it's getting to be way too much trouble to even bother making pizza, now that I've thought about it this much. I think Elery should just make pizza when he's at his place and I'll go to Pizza King for the grandkids. Voted "Best Pizza in Big Rapids" for about 11 or 12 years in a row now, and owned by a neighbor next door to the farm. Mike Mohnke, he also owns/runs the local funeral home. I'm not asking him what makes his pizza so popular, LOL.

Annie

Annie, he runs a funeral home AND a pizza joint?

Why does Sweeney Todd suddenly come to mind....darfc...

Yeah, I thought it was an odd combination too. maybe that's why he just applied for a liquor license. (grin)

Annie