Parbaking Stuffed Pizza?! - HELP:)

[PizzaGuy37]

Hey guys,

Ok, I think I have made up my mind on making the chicago style stuffed pizza in my cafe.  I have read 3 articles from the Pizza Today Magazine on the making of them.  It says that the normal cook time for a stuffed pizza is 25-30 minutes.  But it says if you parbake them, that would cut the finish baking time in half - roughly to 15 minutes.  How would you go about parbaking a stuffed pizza?  Just put the lower crust, the cheese and the top crust on and parbake it for 15 minutes?  Just have one cheese, one sausage and one peperoni parbake and then make the pizzas from those 3 parbakes?  How long would they be good for after they are parbaked then? 36 hours if they were put back into the cooler until needed?

Thanks for all of your help as usual  

[lilbuddypizza]

Well, parbaking has its purpose, but it won't be exactly the same. Nancy's uses a parbaked crust, as well as most Gino's East chains. That is to make sure it is done within 20-30 minutes.
I would suggest the following when making a stuffed. Pre-heat the oven to at least 350. Bake the pizza at that temp, or 325 to ensure everything is cooked without being burned. Keep the top layer of the stuffed crust bare (no sauce) until at least half way through the cooking process (50 -65 MINUTES). My peeve with most places is that having the sauce on top from the beginning, prevents the top layer of dough from cooking properly, no matter how long in the oven. The result is a layer of dough that most people mistake for CHEESE! Too gooey, and it does a number on my stomach. Uncooked dough...YECHHH!
Also, do not use precooked sausage. This pizza takes time, and if you aren't willing to invest that time, you might as well use a microwave.
just my thoughts.