Pizza toppings done before the crust in our electric oven.

[Jackie_Treehorn]

Hello everyone.  First post after lurking for quite some some.

My wife and I are pizza nuts.  We make pizza at least once per week experimenting with crusts and cooking techniques.

We've finally found the perfect crust for us - a chewy NY Style and we love it.  Now we are focusing on the cooking technique.  We have an builder grade electric oven from Whirlpool.  It has a baking element and broiling element.  Without modification, the oven maxes out at 500 degrees. We currently cook it on a pizza stone that is placed on a rack at the lowest spot in the oven.  We've also tried the same setup with the pizza screen.

Our goal is to get the crust a bit more "done" or a little more crispy.  The problem is that we can't leave the pizza in the oven as long as we'd like because the toppings start to burn.  Just last night, we tried using a baffle if you will - we placed tin foil on the bottom rack cutting out a round hole for the stone to sit in.  In one of my pizza books, it suggested doing this if your toppings were cooking before your crust was finished.  While that was a bit better, it's still not getting us to where we want to be with the crust.

Could someone offer other suggestions to get the crust a bit more crispy?

[PizzaHog]

Welcome Jackie

Could someone offer other suggestions to get the crust a bit more crispy?

Sure, but it would help if you could detail more about your current dough formula, methods, oven, stone, and bake time since there are many ways to attack this from.
You could parbake the bare crust for x minutes, then pull and top it, then return to the stone so the toppings don't burn.
Are you preheating the stone for a least an hour or can you get your stone any lower and closer to the heating element?  Getting the stone to the max temp your oven will allow may help to even out the top and bottom, and overall bake time.
Using less dough for a thinner crust might speed up the dough's bake time compared to the toppings.
Using cold vs room temp toppings might delay their cooking, and burning, a bit.
All these are just general ideas using your present dough formula.  Sometimes the best improvement comes from an adjustment in your dough, which can be minor but have a major efffect.  There are some very knowledgable NY style folks here that can chime in once your methods are known that I'm sure will help your efforts.
 

[Jackie_Treehorn]

I had just started another post about the problems I've been having getting my dough to stretch out.  That post is here: pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12671.msg122209.html#msg122209

In it I posted my dough recipe and process:

11 oz All Trumps flour
3/4 tsp. instant dry yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. olive oil
4 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water

Everything is placed into a food processor and mixed for approximately 60 seconds.  Then lightly floured, shaped into a ball and placed into a 1 gallon zip lock bag that's been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  The bag is not sealed, just flipped over on its self.  The dough rises on the counter, covered for 90 minutes then into the fridge for about 24 hours.

[Mick.Chicago]

How long are you heating the stone up before you put the pizza on it.

[Jackie_Treehorn]

How long are you heating the stone up before you put the pizza on it.

45 minutes.

[Mick.Chicago]

Is top element on while cooking or just a bottom element. 

There may be more than one reason you are not getting the pizza you desire and it might take some tinkering with the, recipe, oven placement/ pre-heating, thickness of the skin/dough before cooking or any number of things. You might want to try a bit of olive oil brushed around the edge to see if that improves it any.

It can be frustrating but I'm sure you'll get there.  Post up a picture of the undesirable pie, it will help people help  you!

[buceriasdon]

One thing I would tinker with is using less water, that might help with a crisper crust.
Don

[Pete-zza]

One thing I would tinker with is using less water, that might help with a crisper crust.

Don,

Actually, to get a crispier crust you want to increase the amount of water (hydration), not reduce it, as was recently discussed in the last paragraph of Reply 117 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9989.msg120565.html#msg120565 (see, also, the last paragraph of the first Q&A of Tom Lehmann's piece at http://digital.pmq.com/pizzamagazine/200810/?folio=22). Unfortunately, in Jackie_Treehorn's case, if a higher hydration and a longer bake time are used to get a more crispy crust, the problem with the toppings burning is exacerbated rather than alleviated.

Peter

[buceriasdon]

Point taken Peter. At this time I'm working on a square thin and crispy appetizer pizza baked on a steel plate in my toaster oven for this month's challenge. One thing that seems to stand out in all the recipes is a low hydation ratio. Some as low as 35%.
Don   

Don,

Actually, to get a crispier crust you want to increase the amount of water (hydration), not reduce it, as was recently discussed in the last paragraph of Reply 117 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9989.msg120565.html#msg120565 (see, also, the last paragraph of the first Q&A of Tom Lehmann's piece at http://digital.pmq.com/pizzamagazine/200810/?folio=22). Unfortunately, in Jackie_Treehorn's case, if a higher hydration and a longer bake time are used to get a more crispy crust, the problem with the toppings burning is exacerbated rather than alleviated.

Peter

[Pete-zza]

Point taken Peter. At this time I'm working on a square thin and crispy appetizer pizza baked on a steel plate in my toaster oven for this month's challenge. One thing that seems to stand out in all the recipes is a low hydration ratio. Some as low as 35%.

Don,

Also a good point. However, with a very thin crust thickness, with a thickness factor that can be around 0.05-0.07 for a crust that is to be crispy rather than tender, most of the heat directed to the bottom of the crust will pass through the crust and cause the moisture in the dough to hit the sauce and evaporate. The hydration isn't high enough to allow the crust to expand enough to behave like an insulator. But your thinking for the style of pizza you are trying to make is correct. For other styles, it is somewhat counterintuitive to use more water to get increased crispiness. In Jackie_Treehorn's case, the hydration is, by my estimate, around 55.6%. That is too low for a NY style, as scott123 noted recently at Reply 1 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12671.msg122212.html#msg122212. So, Jackie_Treehorn's recipe is a good candidate for more water.

Peter

[marcusbrasil]

Best thing to do in this case is pre cooked the dough with sauce for 4 minutes , then u put the toppings on and finished to cook your pizza. Bom apetite from Brasil.

[c0mpl3x]

place your oven on highest broil setting for 30mins since you are more than likely intending to continue using the stone, with the stone on the bottom most rack

place the pizza on top of the stone, with the other rack in the uppermost position.  place a small metal sheet (cookie sheet) on the top rack above the pizza, and continue baking.