Secrets to making a crispy homemade pizza crust?

[Linda0818]

I make my own crust out of a basic recipe of yeast, salt, sugar, flour, warm water and a little bit (1 tbsp) of oil. It's a nice crust that my son and I love; I've been making it for years. But I normally just spray the pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray and while the edges of the pizza dough come out nice and crunchy, I'd love to be able to get the entire bottom of the pizza crispy/crunchy as well.

Do you use oil on your pizza pans? Butter? Shortening?

What do you use to make the bottom portion of your homemade pizza nice and crunchy?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

First, I make my pizza in my largest cast iron pan. I put about 4 tbs. high temp oil, or olive oil in the pan before putting in the dogh. I like to bake the pizza either in a 375 Degree F. oven, or over a hot bed of charcoal in my webber kettle, with the lid on. And remember, the key to cooking a good crust is to not put too many toppings on top, as the heat needs to cook the dough from both sides.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Andy M.]

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2017/02/detroit-style-pizza-recipe.html

 

[oldschoolkz]

Although it's not fried kind of crispy. I do get good results with the oven as hot as it can go 300c on a pizza stone for about 10 min.

 

[dcSaute]

both sugar and oil will contribute to softness - but the fairly minor amts in your recipe shouldn't be a big issue...

I preheat a baking stone at 500'F for 30 minutes after oven says it's up to temp.
shape the dough, move to parchment paper ("foolproof peel"), use a cookie sheet to move on/off the baking stone. an unhot baking stone makes for little help.....

another trick: preheat the sauce - ladle on hot sauce, then add toppings.

many people have a crisp crust when baked, then soggy it up by leaving the pizza in a pan / on on a solid surface! when it comes out of the oven, slide it out of the pan / off the parchment onto a cooling rack. this allows steam from the still cooking dough to escape rather than condense back into the crust. 5 minutes on the cooling rack, then to cutting board for slicing....

 

[Roll_Bones]

A pre-heated pizza stone sprinkled with corn meal should help a lot.

 

[Linda0818]

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I'm going to try some of them. dcSaute makes a great point as well, about letting air under the pizza to keep the crust crisp. Next time I'll slide the pizza onto a rack.

I actually prefer reheated pizza the next day. Anytime I make a pizza, I look forward to having what's left because I always heat the leftovers on a stovetop griddle or in a skillet. Gets the crust perfectly crispy, like I wish it would be when it comes out of the oven the night before.

 

[GimmeAnother1]

watched this guy's vid. he says he has better results on steel than stone for crusty pizza although one or the other needed to even attempt it (or something comparable like cast iron).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDpCzJw2xm4

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Made homemade bread today. The crust on the loaf came out very crispy, too much so for DW. I believe that combining this recipoe with what others have told you in this thread, you will get that crispy crust you are looking for. It even tasted like pizza crust. Feel free to use olive oil instead if vegetable oil. And add some herbs to the raw dough while kneading it.

Chief's Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups scalded milk
3 cups all purpose white flour
2 tsp.. Salt
7 tsp. honey or sugar
3 tsp.s. cooking oil
1 tbs. Yeast

Place ingredients into bowl, in order. Knead to form a smooth ball. Place on a floured pastry board and press into the shape and size you want. Transfer dough onto pizza pan, cast iron pan, or whatever you are baking the pizza on. top the pizza with toppings, then sauce and cheese. Bake as directed by the above posts.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Linda0818]

watched this guy's vid. he says he has better results on steel than stone for crusty pizza although one or the other needed to even attempt it (or something comparable like cast iron).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDpCzJw2xm4

Veeeeeeeeeeery interesting video. I like those ideas. Thank you.

Made homemade bread today. The crust on the loaf came out very crispy, too much so for DW. I believe that combining this recipoe with what others have told you in this thread, you will get that crispy crust you are looking for. It even tasted like pizza crust. Feel free to use olive oil instead if vegetable oil. And add some herbs to the raw dough while kneading it.

Chief's Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups scalded milk
3 cups all purpose white flour
2 tsp.. Salt
7 tsp. honey or sugar
3 tsp.s. cooking oil
1 tbs. Yeast

Place ingredients into bowl, in order. Knead to form a smooth ball. Place on a floured pastry board and press into the shape and size you want. Transfer dough onto pizza pan, cast iron pan, or whatever you are baking the pizza on. top the pizza with toppings, then sauce and cheese. Bake as directed by the above posts.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Ooooo yes, that may work for pizza crust. Dang, I need to get started using all these different recipes and trying all of the suggestions. Perhaps I can find my own balance between them all and come up with something that satisfies me.

 

[GimmeAnother1]

Oh and btw I was told to always use OO flour (I use tipo) for pizza dough. Works great.

 

[medtran49]

Oh and btw I was told to always use OO flour (I use tipo) for pizza dough. Works great.

I used 00 the last time I made pizza dough that we use for thin crust/over wood on the grill. We couldn't tell the difference between the 00 and AP flour dough, so I'll save the 00 for pasta.


We usually pre-cook our crusts when we use the wood fired grill on 1 side to pretty much done, the other side just enough to finish setting, then top the mostly cooked side. We use the BGE so can really crank the heat up around 600 or so.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

Veeeeeeeeeeery interesting video. I like those ideas

BTW... if you don't have a stone/steel, he has another vid using cast iron...

https://youtu.be/uYxB4QBlrx4

 

[dcSaute]

semolina does a good job -
115g Bob's Red Mill semolina
165g KA Bread Flour
148g water

 

[GimmeAnother1]

https://www.thespruceeats.com/best-flour-for-making-pizza-dough-2708766

https://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Best-Flour-for-Making-Pizza/

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I watched the video for the cast iron pizza, as well as the other video. The cast iron cooking method used works. But I get the same results with my cast iron skillet pizza by spreading the dough in the pan, with slightly raised edges, putting on the sauce and toppings, and throwing it onto my Webber kettle, over a solid bed of screaming hot charcoal. I leave all the vents wide open, and cover. Cook that pizza for about 8 minutes and remove the pizza from the pan, to a coiling rack. The crust is crispy, and absorbs some of that wonderful fire-grilled flavor that I love. Tho the oven method makes a very nice pizza on days that I can't use the Webber Kettle, i.e. snow or rain storms, it can't match the flavor of wood fire cooked pizza.and yes, there are wood chunks on the fire.

I also watched this video for making pizza in cast iron - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSBj2--LOww the method is similar, but slightly different. The key to both of the videos is cast iron, and gett the crust going on the stove top first.

Though I love my Gtiswold cast iron, for pizza, I like my Wagner and Lodge pans better, as they are heavier, and so retain heat better. They are less prone to hot spots for the same reason. In the video I posted, You can here the crunch as one of the cooks takes a bite out of the marghertta pizza that they make.

I hope this is helpful.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[DaveSoMD]

Agree! I always use a pizza stone
They work great. I stretch my dough on a peel dusted with come meal.

A pre-heated pizza stone sprinkled with corn meal should help a lot.

 

[Linda0818]

Thanks for more great suggestions! I didn't know what 00 flour was, so I had to look that up.

 

[GimmeAnother1]

Thanks for more great suggestions! I didn't know what 00 flour was, so I had to look that up.

Yep. It’s a staple for pizza dough especially if you want a Neapolitan kind. Gives that bubbled outer edge and nice flaky crispness. All flours work. But I’ve check with pizza shop owners and for this type of pizza that is the best option. I haven’t look into the specifics of it other then it is finer milled and has different gluten %.

 

[Linda0818]

Yep. It’s a staple for pizza dough especially if you want a Neapolitan kind. Gives that bubbled outer edge and nice flaky crispness. All flours work. But I’ve check with pizza shop owners and for this type of pizza that is the best option. I haven’t look into the specifics of it other then it is finer milled and has different gluten %.

I'll have to find some and try it