whats wrong with my pizza recipe?

[vanwingen]

I made this tonight at home and I thought it was going to be awesome, however I am not happy with the results. I am thinking it's my oven and my cookie sheet that was the problem, but please look over my recipe and tell me if I have some conflicting ingredients or steps. Thanks.

1- Use one BOBOLI 12" pizza crust. Turn crust over and brush on OLIVE OIL on bottom. Take CORN MEAL and lightly coat bottom of crust.
2- Flip crust over and lightly coat top side of crust with OLIVE OIL.
3- Apply pizza sauce. I used BOBOLI pizza sauce. (really good sauce).
4- Sprinkle PARMESAN CHEESE over pizza sauce.
5- Put on MOZZARELLA CHEESE.
6- Put on toppings. I put on PEPPERONI, HAM, FRESH MUSHROOMS, ONIONS, BLACK OLIVES.
7- Light sprinkle of left over MOZZARELLA CHEESE.
8- Sprinkle McCormick Pizza Seasoning combined with light amount of crushed FENNEL
9- Put on cookie sheet, baked at 500 degrees for 15 minutes.

Couple points.
-I dont have a pizza cooking stone. I had to use a generic cookie sheet.
-I have a generic gas conventional oven that I am not happy with.
-Is FENNEL a good pizza spice?
-I'm thinking I should have used Italian Seasoning instead of Pizza Seasoning

 

[pdswife]

Hi!
Try this sauce instead of the bottled stuff.
It's very easy and tastes really good!

My Sauce
Feel free to add more or less of each item.

5 cloves diced garlic
1/2 onion diced
1 can diced tomato
1 can tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Greek Oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel
1 -1 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
dash salt

Dice onion and garlic and saute in EVOO
Add tomatoes and tomato sauce
add Oregano and fennel and sugar and salt
Let simmer until flavors all meld together.

If you like your sauce "unlumpy" you can throw the tomatoes, garlic
and onion into a food processor before or after cooking.


What didn't you like about your pizza?

 

[Michael in FtW]

I'm with pdswife - what was it about your pizza that you didn't like? Knowing that gives us a starting point to troubleshoot.

 

[vanwingen]

It tasted exacty like those pizza's you buy out of a vending machine. You know those square Tony's brand pizzas that cost one dollar and you nuke it for 30 seconds. It just tasted total processed all the way.
This is the first time I have used the BOBOLI crust and sauce. Maybe I should stick to making my own crust like I used to.
But this recipe (above) was highly recommended to me and I also have been having cooking issues with my oven lately. It just dosent seem to be living up to it's standards. Just seems weak. But since this was a new recipe, I thought I would post the question.
~thanks

 

[purrfectlydevine]

A "weak" oven could be a problem. I realize the Boboli crust is pre-baked, but in my limited experience with a pizza oven, a pizza bakes at about 500* for 5 minutes on a "screen".

 

[college_cook]

i don't know about anyone else, but i always bake my pizzas directly on the oven rack.

Also, i'm not sure that i've ever used fennel on a pizza, i thought that was generally an ingredient used with fish? I like to top off my pizzas with some oregano, and i always add a little basil to any pizza sauce that i use.

I use boboli crusts every now and again, and i like them well enough.

if you think you've been having problems with your oven lately then i certainly wouldn't discount that as the source of the problem. i would try making a tried and true favorite of yours that requires your oven... and if it doesn't come out right, then your oven just might be the problem.