I use to have wet pizza dough ,now I put just the rolled out crust in the oven a few minutes before I add sauce or toppings it helps alot.

Congratulations Jessica.

Ann

Thanks for the tip, bulldinkie-- I'll keep that in mind after my frozen tomatoes run out.

Thanks, ann_t :-)

Good for you! I bet the roasted tomatoes add great flavour. Think I'll try that.

I've found that you really don't need much sauce. I use a ladle and then spoon it around so the dough is barely covered. Otherwise I end up with soggy dough.

I always par-bake my crusts. It's especially important when I'm making a Sicilian-style pizza, where the crust tends to be a little thick anyway. My crew likes their share of sauce, cheese, and toppings - so, for me, par-baking is the way to go!

I generally bake the crust for about 10 minutes (500 F.), then after topping them, back in the oven for another 10 minutes (give or take a minute, same temp).

Now I'm hungry for pizza!

Congratulations on a good pizza. I like the idea of blitzing roasted tomatoes. I'll bet that was delicious!

Lori

I roasted the tomatoes out of necessity-- they were too big too fit in the freezer in their natural state, but I do like them that way.

Wow, ten minutes! I wouldn't have expected. I think I baked it at 450, but I could give 500 a try. I am still a novice with the crust, but it was better and puffier this time around. I painted water around the outside and folded it over and pinched it. I noticed that the pizza place near me doesn't make a crust by hand-- they just roll a circle, and the crust puffs up around the toppings while in the rotating pizza oven they have. I'm intrigued by that. . . I wonder if it works in a regular oven.

I started making my own pizza this past year and I will never go back! So much better than any I buy out, and cost one quarter of the price!

Good for you, Jessica. I'll bet the roasted tomatoes were very good, the sauce is the one thing I don't like about pizza, so I'd probably like yours a lot better!

I bought the Princess a bread machine, she wants to make pizza dough, so I'll remember the pre-bake step, she likes lots of cheese so she could get a crisp crust and still lots of cheese!

I've got to remember to take my camera, and get pictures of her first pizza...

Annie

Do you pre-cook your pizza dough? I cook mine for 5 min. then add toppings and cook. Not soggy here.

Jessica:
I always prebake the dough, until there are tan specks showing.
Then you can cool and freeze them or put the Sauce on and bake it a while before adding the Toppings.
This will dry the sauce a little.

I always have Sicilian and 10 inch, Prebaked pizza dough in the freezer.
Always prepared for company, or a quick snack.
LOU

Think part of the problem with making pizza at home is the fact that typical home ovens just can't get hot enough. I have a pizza stone that kinda lives in bottom of stove. It's nice and dark/seasoned, but I rarely use it. Have a Calphalon pizza pan... bigger than stone with holes all over the bottom.

Have never par-baked a crust but gonna try that next time. Tho my pizzas come out good, I'd prefer if cheese was more gooey and less brown... maybe par-bake will help.

Annie, it would make my day if I converted you to pizza. What an honor! If you pass through Baltimore, stop by and I'll bake you up one. I'll even buy the good mozzarella! :-p

JoAnn, I've never par-baked the crust before. Sounds like I'll have to give it a try

Thanks Lou. The more options, the better. I love to know every way to do something. I seem to eventually need every scrap of kitchen knowledge I accumulate.

klseiverd, that's funny-- Mine was not brown enough, so I finished it under the broiler. It sort of sounds like you'd like it better with a lower oven temperature, as long as you could get the crust dark enough.

Be sure your oven is really hot 450 ,and the rack is on the lowest setting in your oven. I never had a soggy crust, and never pre baked... Good for you for giving it a try...well worth the time and effort.

June

Jessica, if I go to Baltimore, I'll come to your house and you can make me pizza and we'll see if I'm wrong. (grin) Heck, we'd have such a good time yakking I'd probably not even notice what I was eating...

Annie

What about the pizza pan or stone that you use? What do you use? I've heard the ones with the holes are the best...but...?

Annie, 'house' might be giving it too much credit. You might call it a one bedroom apartment if you were feeling generous. But I bet we would have fun! I want to hear all about your life in the country, because I'd like to have it when I retire (you know, in 50 years :-P)

Just a metal pan, arkansas_girl. Because of the aforementioned space limitations, I tend to stick to multi-use kitchen equipment. I looked at the unglazed quarry tiles, but I didn't quite understand what I was supposed to do with them, and a box of them costs as much as a pizza stone.

Klseiverd:
Try putting the Cheese on, at the end of the Baking.

( about 5 minutes ) before it is done.

You can adjust the time, longer or shorter.
****************************************************

I my Pizzeria, I used Pans. I had a proof box to hold about 100 Pans.
That way I could stretch them , in between preparing food.
When the Dough was out to the edge and up ( for a crust ), I Par Baked them and put them into the freezer.
That way I had extra on hand and ready, while making them with fresh Dough, also.

Actually, they were better when I used the prebaked dough
And they cooked faster.
When your making 150 in one night, you need a fast way to get them to the customer.

I still use oiled Pizza Pans, because you can start to stretch the Dough and let it rest.
Then do something else. Go back to the dough every couple minutes to stretch it a little more.
Have fun, LOU

I have an aga stove I just prebake on the bottom floor of the oven.

I rarely make pizza with tomato sauce, but when I do, I prebake the dough. My white pizza involves spinach or chard, blanched and with the liquid wrung out, as the first thing on the crust, usually with thin slices of garlic. Then cheese--provolone and mozzarella--then bits of cooked bacon, and mushrooms, kalamata olives and sometimes canned artichoke hearts. This is a fabulous pizza.

I don't prebake the dough. I bake pizza on the middle rack at 500 degrees. Top rack browns the cheese too quickly, and the bottom rack cooks the crust to fast.

Lacey, that sounds like a fabulous pizza, but I'd have to add a giant ladle of tomato sauce underneath :-)

Jojoco, what do you usually use for sauce? And do you use a lot?

Jessica,
If it is for my kids, I use jarred pizza sauce, per their request. I don't use a ton, maybe a third of a cup? I spread it around with a ladle so that it is a streaky, but complete coverage (like fingerpainting,with areas that have less). For me, what works best is that I use older dough and stretch it thin. I find fresh pizza dough impossibly ornery to work with compared to dough that has sat in my fridge for an extra day or two (or three). It still bakes up wonderfully, but will not fight at all. I can hand stretch it to whatever pan I have in seconds.

JoJoco:
You can use the top rack. Lower the heat to 450. Bake it without the cheese for a while.

Then add the Cheese when it is almost done. That way the
cheese won't overcook and
the dough won't be soggy.