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Tonights cook; Pizza, and questions.

Cobra
Cobra Posts: 110
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Another attempt at pizza tonight, but first time on the XL, also first time with the feet under the piza stone. It was tasty, but the crust wasn't crispy enough in my opinion, but I couldn't get it as thin as I was aiming for, so I think thats why.

Does anyone pre-bake their crusts? I have been, and did tonight as well, 8 minutes at 450, then baked the whole pizza about 16 minutes at 525, after the toppings were applied.

Just wondered what baking method is most common, pre-bake? no pre-bake? What temperature and for how long? Is it good, bad or otherwise to use the feet to separate the pizza stone from the plate setter?

Thanks in advance.

The un-finished product.
fd106c1e.jpg

The finished product.
3e5874e5.jpg

Comments

  • Cobra,

    I've never pre-baked a crust, and mine usually come out fine. A couple of thoughts, though I'm certainly not an expert by any means...

    1) How long do you pre-heat your stone? Common wisdom found here is to let it heat for 60 minutes or more before putting the pizza on. There was an interesting post here earlier today or yesterday where someone measured temps with an IR thermometer and found that it took around 90 minutes to get the stone up near the dome temp (if I remember right). If you don't heat the stone enough, the bottom of the crust may not cook to your liking.

    2) You may want to try putting less 'stuff' on your pizza. From the pic, it looks like there is a pretty thick layer of cheese on that pie. The more toppings on the pie, the less likely the crust will fully cook before the toppings burn.

    3) Try going hotter. I usually do mine at 550 for 9-11 minutes and they cook well.

    In terms of the feed and plate setter, that's the setup I've generally used based on advice I found on the forum when I started doing pizzas, and it's always worked for me.

    -John
  • rzrrob
    rzrrob Posts: 162
    When I do my pies I cook at 525 to 550 make sure the stone has been in for at least 30 min

    If you are doing to pre cook the pie no reason to cook at a lower temp just do it for a shorter time

    Do a search under rzrrob and you will some of my pies


    I cook pizza for a living for years and I just out some of my best pies on the egg


    Good luck

    Ps

    It may be the dough what type are you using I have had great luck with publix if you have one around
  • Earp
    Earp Posts: 6
    I do precook my dough for about 1 min before applying the toppings. This is also great if you are having a lot of people make their own. Just make sure to fork the center of the dough to keep it from bubbling up. As far as the thin crust is concerned try to let your dough set up for a few days before using it. This will let you get a thinner crust. Hope this helps.
  • I always pre bake my crust. Good and crispy.
  • You have a good question, and I remember reading pre-cooking was recommended. However, I just got my BGE not too long ago, and when I first did a pizza, I didn't have a pizza stone - so I inverted the plate setter (feet up), and cooked the pizza on the grill, and this was perfect...The dough was fantastic! Everyone was very happy, and no pre-cooking.

    That being said, I just picked up a pizza stone and a Wilton pizza pan (with holes in it for making it crispier), and what I am planning on doing is to experiment with all the methods, and see what my family likes best.

    So far, we really like the pizza on the grill with the inverted plate setter, but that has been the only pizza we have done...this week we will use the pizza stone, and maybe the Wilton pan too.
  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
    Good to use green feet. Good to pre-bake. I just started to pre-bake the crusts, 500-550 degrees about 6 minutes. I roll the dough thin between (pam spray) oiled parchment paper, this way the soft sticky dough can be rolled out thin without sticking to the board or rolling pin. I skip the sauce, don't miss it, more flavor focused on the other toppings and more importantly I get a crisper crust.
    Have fun and enjoy your pizzzzzzaaaaaa! :woohoo:
  • BigBadger
    BigBadger Posts: 461
    Pizza is my specialty. I keep the stone (the thickeer the better) directly on the Platesetter. More mass means less instantaneous cooling when you dump the pie onto the stone. Let the egg get up to 500°+ and stay there for a good long while (30+ minutes). Don't precook the crust... :sick: ... have you ever seen a pizzaria precook a crust???? and make your own, it's so easy. If you make the crust several hours ahead you get the gluten formed properly and therefore are able to stretch the dough nice and thin hence the crisp you may be looking for. Also don't put too much stuff on top as this only increases the mass and moisture levels which could both increase cooking time as well as potentially soften the crust.

    The link from BBQMaven is a great example for preheating.
  • Cobra
    Cobra Posts: 110
    Thanks all for the input. I'll try some of these suggestions next time.