I’ve been doing this for a while, but it’s a problem I’ve never solved. Dunno if it’s my crust recipe or something I need to do during construction.

The recipe is as follows:

  • 1c water, 120°F
  • 1 packet dry active yeast (2.25tsp)
  • 1Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2Tbsp olive oil
  • 3.5C white flour
  • 1tsp salt
  1. Mix the yeast and sugar in the warm water, wait to bloom
  2. Add everything else and mix into dough.
  3. Knead, proof
  4. Roll out, transfer to pan
  5. Second proof (optional)
  6. Preheat oven to 425°F
  7. Construct pizza with favorite toppings
  8. Bake at 425°F for 15min or until cheese is sufficiently browned

Step 7 usually has jarred marinara, meats (except pepperoni), spices, and cheese, and all the veggies (and pepperoni) go on top.

Still, the very middle part of the pizza ends up a little doughy, just where the sauce meets the crust. The outside of the pizza is just fine, but the only thing I can think is that the sauce is adding too much water. Do I need to add a layer of oil before the sauce, or should I try to reduce the sauce before adding it? Should I reduce the temp and increase the time?

Thanks!

Edit: Everyone has had some great ideas. I’ll have plenty to try!

  • 0ops@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    2 days ago

    Lots of good advice in this thread, here’s one more that I discovered: spread the sauce thinner in the center of the pie. As the pie cooks the fluids will often pool in the center, so intentionally leaving the middle dry-ish can help compensate for that. I like my pizza really saucy, but I’ll leave the center barely wet with sauce, and that’s fine because it’s only the first couple bites of the slice anyway.

    Also just mind the fluids you top the pizza with. If you’re doing pepperoni, then you really don’t need olive oil on top of that.

  • skribe@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago

    The olive oil might be causing it to become too doughy. You don’t need it (or the sugar). Both are for taste and texture. You’ll likely need to fiddle with the water if you lose the oil.

    I’d also recommend measuring by weight and not volume. It’s more accurate. Buy yourself some cheap kitchen scales.

  • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago

    425 is a little low. Pizza is all about heat, I pre-bake my crust for 7 at 450 to firm crust, then add sauce, cheese and toppings. Like many others said, a pizza stone is a huge help.

  • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago

    A lot of people have mentioned getting a pizza stone or steel and cooking at higher temps, and they’re 100% right.

    I just want to add that steel is definitely the way to go if it’s in the budget - specifically, steel has more thermal mass and conducts heat better than stone.

    Crust crispness is entirely a function of how much heat you’re able to supply to the surface, and when baking in a standard oven (max ~500F) instead of a pizza oven (700+ F), you need all the help you can get - which means steel, preferably at least 1/4" thick.

    Sticking with the tools you have, you can try preheating your pan, like you would a stone/steel, before putting the topped pizza on it.

    • Telorand@reddthat.comOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 days ago

      Thanks for the advice! I had a stone once, but it cracked (from heat), and I just never replaced it. A pizza steel is something new I’d never heard of until people mentioned it in the comments, so I’ll have to look into that.

      I have a double-layered, perforated pan that’s maybe 16ga altogether, but I can try preheating that.

      • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 days ago

        For sure look into the pizza steel.

        Stones often crack not because of heat specifically, but because of moisture.

        They should really only ever be exposed to moisture once fully heated, and allowed a little extra time after the pizza bakes to dry out before turning the oven off.

        A pizza steel will be more resilient, though it can rust if washed regularly without seasoning (just like a cast iron / carbon steel pan)

        A big oven safe pan is a good start, the heavier the better.

  • froh42@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    I’ve never eaten good pizza out of a household oven, so I’ve bought an electric pizza oven for 200 Eur.

    By weight I use 60% of water compared to the flour (i. e. 500g of high protein pizza flour to 300g of water), 7g of salt and a very low amount of dry yeast. Overnight proofing in the fridge, next day I ball the dough (around 270g per pizza) and let it proof at room temp for a few hours.

    Baking 3 minutes at 400°C (740F)

    The investment for the oven has well paid off, as I don’t order any pizza to my home, anymore. You can freeze dough balls or use more yeast for “same day dough”.

    Edit: Ah what nobody mentioned in the other comments (I think): The choice of flour makes a huuuuuge difference. Use pizza flour or at least a high protein flour (which has at least 12% of protein)

    • Telorand@reddthat.comOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 days ago

      The choice of flour makes a huuuuuge difference. Use pizza flour or at least a high protein flour (which has at least 12% of protein)

      I’m with you, here. I sometimes do a 1:3 whole wheat to white all-purpose flour. However, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of pizza flour or high protein flour (that isn’t terrible for baking bread, anyway). What kind/brand do you use? I might be able to find an equivalent.

      And thanks for sharing the weights you use. My recipe is a family one, and I should probably take some time to convert mine. Might help me find where extra water is coming from.

    • Defectus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 days ago

      You could get pretty good results with a pizza steel. Crank the oven to max and preheat the steel for about an hour. Then you get 2 pizzas with leoparding on the bortom. After that the heat in the steel is gone and they do not turn out so great anymore.

  • Fondots@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    Pizza stone or steel is gonna be your friend here. Let that stone get nice and hot before you put the pizza on it (probably going to want to get a pizza peel too, personally I like a 2 peel system, I build my pizza on a wooden peel, I feel like the raw pizza slides off better, and pull it out with a metal peel which is thinner and easier to slide under the pie)

    EDIT: for a little explanation, the idea with pizza stones/steels or brick ovens is that the surface you’re putting the pizza on is ripping hot, and heat is going to transfer from that hot surface to the crust much more efficiently through conduction than it would on a tray in an oven rack where most of the heating is happening though convection of the hot air inside and radiation from the heating elements/burners. The stone/steel/bricks are hefty and have a lot of thermal mass so there’s a lot of heat there that can transfer directly to the pizza dough, cooking it fast and getting it nice and crisp. This is also the same idea as making it in a preheated cast iron pan that someone else mentioned. Depending on the size, if you have a nice heavy griddle that would probably also work well too in place of a steel or stone. You might get some improvement preheating a baking sheet and making your pizza on that, but there’s going to be a lot less mass there so it’s going to lose its heat much faster.

    If your stone and oven can do it, also consider cranking up the temperature even higher, pizza ovens cook at pretty high temperatures, 500-700 degrees or even higher aren’t unheard of. A dedicated pizza oven is amazing if you have the space/budget for one. I have a breville pizzaillo (nice oven, probably not worth the price, I got it on a very steep discount) and it can go up to about 700 degrees, I don’t usually go quite that high but I definitely set it way higher than my normal oven goes, and it cranks a pizza out in like 2 minutes.

    Before I got that, I also had pretty good luck with a pizza stone on my grill, grills can also reach pretty ludicrous temperatures. I think I’ve also seen some dedicated pizza oven accessories come out in recent years meant to go on a regular grill. I haven’t tried those myself, but they sound like a solid idea in theory.

    Most jarred marinara sauce is probably a bit too wet for pizza use, you may want to try a pizza-specific sauce or make your own, or else maybe try cooking your sauce down a bit or maybe straining it depending on how watery/chunky it is.

    Also be aware of what toppings you’re adding that might be adding a lot of moisture and think about do what you can to minimize that. Fresh mozzarella should be used sparingly for things like a margarita pizza, for regular pizza use you want to use low moisture mozz (or a blend of other cheeses if that’s your thing.) Mushrooms have a lot of moisture in them and that’s often not immediately obvious to a lot of people. Some ingredients are obviously wet like pineapple (I strongly recommend grilling your pineapple if you use it, drives out some of the moisture and also tastes great) a lot of veggies have a lot of moisture and might benefit from a quick roast or saute first to dry them out a little.

    You can also consider doing a red top pizza with the cheese under the sauce to act as sort of a moisture barrier. There’s a couple places around the Philly suburbs I’ve been to that do a spiral of (usually very sweet) sauce over top of the cheese, which looks very cool if nothing else, or perhaps a layer of cheese, then sauce, then more cheese if you don’t like that look

    And try to avoid going too heavy on the sauce/cheese/toppings, you can definitely ever load a pizza doing that.

  • moody@lemmings.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago

    Cover the crust in cheese, put sauce on top, cover the sauce in a thin layer of cheese, add other toppings on top.

    If you can, cook the toppings separately and put them on the pizza a few minutes before it’s done, but the cheese being on the bottom does a good job of keeping the sauce from soaking into the crust.

  • Pax@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago

    You should dry your vegetables and press all the water out of them with a paper towel. And I mean you need to press them pretty hard and get the maximum amount of water out. You could par bake your crust if it’s still soggy even after drying your veggies. Another way is to make a cast iron pizza where you start the pizza for the first two minutes on the stove top while it’s in the cast iron pan and put it in the oven for the remainder of the time (15min at 500)

    Hope this helps

  • kokope11i@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago

    “all the veggies” bring all the moisture. Cut back or precook the wet stuff. Go easy on the sauce.

    • monomon@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 days ago

      I agree. Since I usually make the sauce myself, if I don’t cook it long enough, it may lead to moist crust. But it rarely happens anymore. Same for the toppings.

    • Telorand@reddthat.comOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 days ago

      Go easy on the sauce.

      Only as a last resort. I’m pretty sure my SO would cook me alive, otherwise!

      • ElderReflections@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 days ago

        You’ve just got to do what works for you. I use a yeast I’ve kept from a bottle of live beer, put 10% semolina in the dough mix, and use blood sausage, apple & preserved chilis for toppings. No rules at my house

  • Zen Zero ☯️ ◯@sfba.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    @Telorand Soggy crust is usually from the toppings. Try using less marinara. Also experiment with pre cooking veggies, especially mushrooms.

    Your oven temp looks a little low. I bake at 550° convection for about 6:30. Finally, if you don’t have a pizza stone or (preferably) a steel, you might consider that. It really helps get the crust done better.

  • truthfultemporarily@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 days ago
    • Dough should use x/2 water for x amount of flour, in weight. And no sugar. So for example 300 g flour, 150 g water, 3 g salt. You can feed the yeast some of the flour instead. But don’t mix yeast and the salt.
    • Boil the sauce so it’s as thick as possible. Should be very big, slow bursting bubbles.
    • Preheat oven as high as it can go. It will still be colder than a real pizza oven.