Need some pizza help

bccomstock · April 2013

This was my second attempt at pizza.. It was somewhat of a rush job/last minute decision to make pizza.

I had some pre-made dough (Pepe's) which needed thawing out (ran warm water over it and then a couple minutes on defrost).. Seemed like the dough cooked a little in the microwave, but it was still very pliable. I was able to roll it out with a rolling pin pretty well.

The last time I did a pizza I put the dough on the stone first to crisp it up some, and then put the toppings on.. I went with that method again this time. But something went wrong.. The dough ended up sticking to the stone once it was cooked. Anyone ever have that happen? Maybe I needed to coat the stone?

Anyways, it still had great flavor.. So so pizza is still pizza, right?!

Any tips for better results would be appreciated!

SmokeyPitt · April 2013

I'm no dough expert- but I think you are probably right on that the dough started pre-cooking a little in the defrost stage and got sticky. I guess my tip would be try to defrost the dough naturally next time

. You can also throw some flour or corn meal on the stone...or use parchment paper.

One more thing comes to mind...did you roll it out on the stone? You may have sort of smashed it onto the stone. Perhaps next time try stretching it out instead of rolling, or roll on a different floured surface and then transfer to the stone.

Pie still looks great. I would scrape it off and eat it

.

Solson005 · April 2013

Was your stone preheated? What kind of temperatures were you working with?

I make my own dough so I don't exactly know, but it seems like the stone wasn't hot enough. I left my egg at a friends to cool off after a pizza party and she used the stone to make a pizza with the leftover dough the next day in the oven and it stuck to the stone, it took a few questions but we finally realized not preheating the stone was the issue.

If that wasn't the case I'll try to help figure out the issue. To get you back to making great pizzas on the egg.

bccomstock · April 2013

SmokeyPitt said:

I'm no dough expert- but I think you are probably right on that the dough started pre-cooking a little in the defrost stage and got sticky. I guess my tip would be try to defrost the dough naturally next time . You can also throw some flour or corn meal on the stone...or use parchment paper.

One more thing comes to mind...did you roll it out on the stone? You may have sort of smashed it onto the stone. Perhaps next time try stretching it out instead of rolling, or roll on a different floured surface and then transfer to the stone.

Pie still looks great. I would scrape it off and eat it .

Yeah, usually I do defrost it naturally by letting it sit in the fridge overnight.. And I did throw some flour on the stone before rolling it out. I did roll it on the stone. Maybe you're right that I pressed it into the stone. I don't recall how I did it the first time to be honest, so maybe that was my screw up.

It was still tasty and fun to make, which is what counts..

bccomstock · April 2013

Solson005 said:

Was your stone preheated? What kind of temperatures were you working with?

I make my own dough so I don't exactly know, but it seems like the stone wasn't hot enough. I left my egg at a friends to cool off after a pizza party and she used the stone to make a pizza with the leftover dough the next day in the oven and it stuck to the stone, it took a few questions but we finally realized not preheating the stone was the issue.

If that wasn't the case I'll try to help figure out the issue. To get you back to making great pizzas on the egg.

No, I didn't preheat the stone.. I was in the 450 - 500 degree range for the whole cook..

SWVABeanCounter · April 2013

If you rolled it out on the stone, it couldn't have been pre-heated enough. Roll out on something else and let the stone pre-heat in your egg.. Other than that, it really looks good. I'd have scraped it off and eaten what I could.

Solson005 · April 2013

I bet that was the issue then. Once I know my fire is going I get everything all setup in the egg including the stone and make sure the stone is in there for at least 20 mins, I use a IR thermometer but it is not necessary to get one just for pizza.

Focker · April 2013

Quite often the dough sticks with stone. That is why I use and recommend two peels for pizza. One wood for assembly and launch, and one metal for turning and removing. The thin metal peel helps free up the pie midway, and turning at least once helps even out the cook.

Recently been experimenting with seasoned steel. Of the eight pizzas, none have stuck and slide around almost effortlessly on the steel. I have rotated them by hand at times when the crust has set.

Solson005 · April 2013

I am with @Focker I use a Super Peel to get the pizza from the counter to the egg and a metal peel stays outside to spin and remove the pizza from the egg. I usually do pizza parties and this works well to keep the rotation going.

Focker · April 2013

Also two techniques that took my pizza to a whole new level.

1. Ditching the rolling pin and stretching by hand.

2. Making your own dough. Super easy, four or five ingredients. And can be made in short

order with a food processor.

bccomstock · April 2013

Thanks for all the input guys!

I do have a pizza peel that I got a couple months ago for my birthday.. First attempt at using it was yesterday, but obviously, my dough was sticking to the stone and didn't want to cooperate.. Luckily I didn't knock the stone off the ceramic feet.

So preheat stone, stretch dough by hand, consider using parchment paper or multiple peels.. I'll have to find some dough recipes so I can try making my own. Definitely want to do that at some point.

Focker said:

Quite often the dough sticks with stone. That is why I use and recommend two peels for pizza. One wood for assembly and launch, and one metal for turning and removing. The thin metal peel helps free up the pie midway, and turning at least once helps even out the cook.
Recently been experimenting with seasoned steel. Of the eight pizzas, none have stuck and slide around almost effortlessly on the steel. I have rotated them by hand at times when the crust has set.

I assume you flour the wood assembly/launch peel?

Focker · April 2013

Yes. No parchment paper. Thin coating of flour, followed with a small amount of semolina. Transfer stretched dough to wood peel, shake. Apply EVOO and sauce, shake. Apply cheese and toppings, shake. Shake, then launch. Works great.

bccomstock · April 2013

Thanks!

Need some pizza help

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