A decent home made pizza in conventional oven, is it possible?

[JDTTO]

So far, all my attempts to make a decent pizza from scratch have failed (apart from pizza with a pre-fried base which is highly recommended if you have not tried).

I usually have a base which is a bit mushy and undercooked because the sauce and toppings soaked too much into it.

Has anyone here any tips for baking a decent pizza in a conventional electrical oven?

I guess a pizza stone would help but I am not prepared to buy one just yet.

 

[Commander Quan]

Someone else will have to help you with the question.

I just wanted to let you know you can go to the home improvement store and get an unglazed ceramic tile for cheap and it's the exact same thing as a more expensive pizza stone.

 

[jpakstis]

I just wanted to let you know you can go to the home improvement store and get an unglazed ceramic tile for cheap and it's the exact same thing as a more expensive pizza stone.

That's what Alton Brown on Good Eats recommended. We ended up with a leftover gift card from Crate & Barrel that we used on a pizza stone. I've made half-way decent pizzas on them, but you need to get the oven cranked with stone in there. I put mine on as hot as it goes (550 degrees?). Plus it gets more crispy the longer its pre-heated; I read some recipes where oven should be pre-heated for at least an hour prior to cooking. Also, you definitely need a peel. After all this its just easier to order in!

Another great, and I think faster, way is to grill it, if you can. The grill gets routinely up to, and beyond, the hottest oven temps, and does so much faster. I've grilled a pizza in about 15 mins, from when the grill is turned on until when the pizza is taken off. Also, you need a peel for that.

 

[toyman]

Absolutely!!! You can make great pizza in a conventional oven. Try to find a few extra bucks to buy a round pizza stone or this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IF2YOW/ref=oh_details_o04_s02_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This takes up the bottom shelf of my oven and has resided there for over a year. It helps with everything you bake. You do need to pre-heat your oven and depending on the type of pizza you're cooking you'll need to bake at anywhere from 425*-550*. The lower the temp, the thicker the dough. If you're doing a sicilian style or Chicago style, you'll want to bake at 425*-450*. If you're doing a thin crust or New York style pizza, you'll want the oven cranked to 500*-550* for at least 1/2 hour to get everything charged. A peel is nice to have, but not totally necessary. Parchment paper is an excellent crutch and has no ill effects on your final results. You can build your pie on a piece of parchment on the bottom of a cookie sheet and slide it right on to the stone in your oven. With no stone, spray a cookie sheet with Pam and build the pie right on the cookie tray to bake. Not the optimal situation but doable.

A few other things to think about:
1) Dough recipe. Higher temps require less oils and/or sugars. (if you use them) They will burn at the higher temps
2) Toppings. If you are cooking thin crust at higher temps, don't over do the sauce or toppings. The moisture keeps the crust from getting crispy (unless you par bake for a minute or two).
3) Chicago style pizza is great in a cast iron skillet as are pizza's with regular dough, with or without a stone.

Are you making your own dough? If so, what's your recipe? Are you using volume or weight? Pizzamaking is similar to shaving and collecting razors. So many choices to get the best outcome, it's easy to fall down the rabbit hole. I know I did a long time before I found RAD. I built a wood fired pizza oven in 2006 when I jumped in with both feet. I've honed a few recipes for different styles of pizza and get excellent results in my indoor oven as well as my WFO. Good Luck.

 

[Alacrity59]

If you are using parchment 450 is as hot as you will want to use. Paper burns at 451. For me a pretty thin layer of sauce prevents the mushy effect. Some people put a little olive oil on the dough before the sauce to limit the spread of moisture. If I'm using tomatoes I will slice them thin and let them rest on paper towel to reduce the moisture. Sun dried reconstituted with a little boiling water are great. Thin sliced for every other topping as well.

 

[langod]

I make pizza in my oven every week -- friday ritual in my house for 15+ years.

To make even a halfway-decent crust you need:
- A pizza stone, preheated in a 500 degree oven for 30 minutes
- a peel or a rimless cookie sheet. (That's what I use, never owned a peel)
- cornmeal. You spread the dough, then move it to a peel sprinkled heavily with corn meal. The cornmeal acts as ball-bearings to let you slide the pizza into the oven in one movement, which keeps your toppings in place.

I don't oil the dough before saucing it. If you are cooking at the high temperature (and have the right dough recipe), the pizza will be cooked before the sauce can soak in. (mine cooks in about 12 minutes.)

As Josh said above, grilling is also a fantastic way to make pizza. But it happens fast! Because of the speed, I find it better to slightly precook the "topping side" of the dough. Spread the dough and transfer to the hot, well oiled grill (or use a pizza stone). Grill for a minute and flip the dough. Top as desired, close grill and give it 3-4 minutes. Your times will be completely dependent on your grill.

Try different dough recipes till you find one you like and that works for you.

 

[Mick]

I like EXTRA sauce on mine and I always get a crispy crust.

The trick is to bake it on a brick/stone and turn the oven on early enough to let the stone heat completely through. You can start at a VERY high temp like 450+ then turn it down when you put the pie in.. About half way through the cooking time stick your peel under it and rotate the pie or if you have a big enough brick, move it over to a hotter area

 

[red zeppelin]

Friday is pizza and movie night with my wife and the girls. I have recently been trying to make pizza as opposed to ordering it. Do you have any good dough recipes you are willing to share? I have the other necessary items. Thanks!

I make pizza in my oven every week -- friday ritual in my house for 15+ years.

To make even a halfway-decent crust you need:
- A pizza stone, preheated in a 500 degree oven for 30 minutes
- a peel or a rimless cookie sheet. (That's what I use, never owned a peel)
- cornmeal. You spread the dough, then move it to a peel sprinkled heavily with corn meal. The cornmeal acts as ball-bearings to let you slide the pizza into the oven in one movement, which keeps your toppings in place.

I don't oil the dough before saucing it. If you are cooking at the high temperature (and have the right dough recipe), the pizza will be cooked before the sauce can soak in. (mine cooks in about 12 minutes.)

As Josh said above, grilling is also a fantastic way to make pizza. But it happens fast! Because of the speed, I find it better to slightly precook the "topping side" of the dough. Spread the dough and transfer to the hot, well oiled grill (or use a pizza stone). Grill for a minute and flip the dough. Top as desired, close grill and give it 3-4 minutes. Your times will be completely dependent on your grill.

Try different dough recipes till you find one you like and that works for you.

 

[toyman]

If you are using parchment 450 is as hot as you will want to use. Paper burns at 451. For me a pretty thin layer of sauce prevents the mushy effect. Some people put a little olive oil on the dough before the sauce to limit the spread of moisture. If I'm using tomatoes I will slice them thin and let them rest on paper towel to reduce the moisture. Sun dried reconstituted with a little boiling water are great. Thin sliced for every other topping as well.

Technically those numbers may be correct, but I've been using parchment almost every Friday for years in a 550* oven and its never burned. Now, understand that the parchment is removed once the dough sets up on the stone, which is a few minutes, but again, there's no ill effects from using parchment in this manner.

When the garden is producing tomatoes, I'll slice them in the morning and put them on a drying rack over a cookie tray, then salt and season them to sit on the counter until it's time to cook. For sauce I will either hand crush fresh roma garden tomatoes or canned San Marzano tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and other spices and let sit. If the sauce is wet, I'll normally drain in a seive before I put it on the skin.

 

[YetiDave]

Yes, it is possible, and you can pick up stones for under $20. The key is just to get your oven as hot as it can possibly get and cook on the highest shelf you can. This recipe will give you a fairly thick crust for a 30cm or so pizza -

250g strong bread flour (preferably Canadian, you want a protein content of over 12.5 or 13%)
156ml room temperature water
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt (don't let the yeast and salt make contact if you're putting the dry ingredients in first)
A few tbsp of olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and knead for 5-10 minutes, form the dough into a ball and rub it with olive oil, put in a container and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size. Then simply roll out to a pizza shape and use! When you're kneading you should absolutely avoid adding any flour to your work surface, the dough may be sticky at first but that will lessen with kneading. Any extra flour will only lower the hydration of the dough and prevent the crust from rising as high as it should

 

[YetiDave]

Also just to give you an idea of how hot I bake pizza - it's about 520f. It usually takes no more than 10 minutes to cook at that temperature

 

[Dusty1]

If you put a lot of veggies on your pizza all the moisture coming off can make the crust soggy. Just half cook them in the fry pan beforehand at a high temp, problem solved. I do this all the time because one of my favorite toppings is fresh tomato which is very wet. Also, sometimes I will make the sauce with tomato paste and use barely any water with no adverse effects.

 

[Shave_Rat]

Small side note, if you get a stone, it's also really great in a super hot oven for making your own naan if you do Indian style food at home. As for the pizza, it's already been covered well by the others.

 

[Alacrity59]

There were a few recipes posted in this thread. I like the Peter Reinhart Neopolitan recipe.

 

[JDTTO]

Ok, I guess there is no way getting around getting a stone. Obviously I am on the wrong forum for finding shortcuts to real stuff .

What kind of non-dedicated-pizza-stone tiles are recommendable?

 

[Mick]

Ok, I guess there is no way getting around getting a stone. Obviously I am on the wrong forum for finding shortcuts to real stuff .

What kind of non-dedicated-pizza-stone tiles are recommendable?

If you had a gas oven you could put the pizza on the bottom enameled base (NO I don't recommend doing this as it WILL stick).

with an electric you have the lower heating coil down there so that is not an option.

You can "try" making it on one of those perforated pizza pans and cooking it on the lowest rack.

BUT... If you are going to go out and buy something just get the stone and do it right.

 

[dparish1952]

Dusty1 has a good idea, although I use reconstituted dried tomatoes to cut down on the moisture. Also second the suggestions to bake crust 80% in 500 deg. oven first, then oil top & add toppings, and rebake until top done. I have the stone and the holy pizza pans, and don't find them to be silver bullets.

Look at it as experimenting. Expectations are key.

 

[garyg]

I'd do the stone, mine turn out pretty well, I have a thick square stone for the inside oven, a round one for the Green Egg .. I've been mucking about with homemade pizza since circa 1969, the stones are the Oh Wow button

 

[Shady24]

I make homemade pizza all the time... A stone is the way to go...

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/homemade_pizza/

 

[Alacrity59]

Ok, I guess there is no way getting around getting a stone. Obviously I am on the wrong forum for finding shortcuts to real stuff .

What kind of non-dedicated-pizza-stone tiles are recommendable?

Too funny . . . clearly we know nothing about pizza here . . . not. Shipping might be very high to where you are. I use a pretty cheap one myself but I really liked the look of one I saw recently by Emil Henry . . . pizzas up to 14" for about $60 CDN. Some folk use kiln shelves from their local potter supply.