Browned top, blonde bottom.

[MrH]

So I made two pizzas this week, the first in the middle of the oven for around 15 minutes and the pizza was nice and brown on top, but the bottom was underdone for sure and very blonde, the second one I did on the bottom of the oven for 10 mins, then the top for 10 mins, the bottom was a little more brown but still not right. I'm using a pizza crisper but it just won't brown properly. My dough is paper thin and I'm preheating the oven to 475 for 1 hour so I'm not sure what's going wrong.

I was thinking of two things to try next time, one is to pre bake the dough on both sides then add the toppings, the other was too cook the pizza in the oven then transfer it to a hot skillet/frying pan for like 1 - 2 minutes to brown up the bottom. Are either of these options viable?

Any advice would be great, the dough itself is really nice but the bottom ruins it. I've added a photo of the top of the pizza, but I forgot to grab one of the bottom (doh).

[ThatsAmore]

Try pre-baking your skin before you sauce and top.  I would stay at the lower rack level as well.  For cracker crust style, I pre-bake @450F my skins on a cutter pan on a pizza stone on lower rack for 5 minutes.  Then remove from oven let cool and then sauce & top and go another 10 minutes or so (depending on the amount of toppings I have).  Hope this info helps.

Edit: And I never remove from oven w/o lifting up the pie just a little to see the browning of the bottom.

[TXCraig1]

Can you get your oven any hotter? I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually cooler than it says. Baking directly on a good pizza stone would help. You might also try baking on a cast iron pan. Search for "cast iron" here and you will find a lot of information.

[MrH]

Can you get your oven any hotter? I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually cooler than it says. Baking directly on a good pizza stone would help. You might also try baking on a cast iron pan. Search for "cast iron" here and you will find a lot of information.

Sadly my oven is terrible and won't go any higher without the flame going out. I actually have a great pizza stone but once against my oven is terrible and is actually too small for the stone to fit so I use my pizza crisper as it's smaller.

Try pre-baking your skin before you sauce and top.  I would stay at the lower rack level as well.  For cracker crust style, I pre-bake @450F my skins on a cutter pan on a pizza stone on lower rack for 5 minutes.  Then remove from oven let cool and then sauce & top and go another 10 minutes or so (depending on the amount of toppings I have).  Hope this info helps.

Edit: And I never remove from oven w/o lifting up the pie just a little to see the browning of the bottom.

I think prebaking might be a good idea with my oven being so bad and all.

[ThatsAmore]

Sadly my oven is terrible and won't go any higher without the flame going out. I actually have a great pizza stone but once against my oven is terrible and is actually too small for the stone to fit so I use my pizza crisper as it's smaller.

I think prebaking might be a good idea with my oven being so bad and all.

Google how to calibrate oven temperature for your oven model.  Usually a gas oven has an adjustment screw in behind the temp control knob if you're comfortable doing this.

[AimlessRyan]

What's a pizza crisper? Is it a pan? If you're using a pan, that's a big reason why the top is getting done before the bottom. Pans create a cold barrier between the oven heat and the bottom of the dough, thus keeping the dough from baking until the pan gets hot, which takes several minutes after you put it in the oven.

As That'sAmore said, I'd lower the stone (to the bottom rack). However, I wouldn't parbake. That's your choice, though; you should try it both ways. If you're using a pan, what I'd do instead of parbaking is bake directly on the stone.

[AimlessRyan]

Or, of course, start baking in the pan, then remove the pizza from the pan when the top is nearly done and finish directly on the stone for the last minute or two.

[MrH]

What's a pizza crisper? Is it a pan? If you're using a pan, that's a big reason why the top is getting done before the bottom. Pans create a cold barrier between the oven heat and the bottom of the dough, thus keeping the dough from baking until the pan gets hot, which takes several minutes after you put it in the oven.

As That'sAmore said, I'd lower the stone (to the bottom rack). However, I wouldn't parbake. That's your choice, though; you should try it both ways. If you're using a pan, what I'd do instead of parbaking is bake directly on the stone.

This is what I'm using.