dough didn't rise in the oven using my new Fibrament stone

[BigT]

After breaking a couple cheap stones from Target/Bed Bay&Beyond, I finally upgraded (or so I am hoping) to a Fibrament stone after reading reviews on this forum and elsewhere. I have typically made pizza with dough from Trader Joe's and have had solid results using the cheap stones. Last night was the first time I made pizza using the TJ dough and the Fibrament stone. As I have worked with the TJ dough numerous times before, I feel like I have a good idea of how it should turn out.

First, I turned my oven up to 550 and let the Fibrament stone heat up for a little over an hour on the bottom rack. I prepared the pizzas like I normally do and tossed it on the stone for about 6 minutes. Typically, I get some good puffing action around the edge of the pizza. This time, the pizza did not puff up at all and the dough did not cook all the way through. It appeared to me that the stone must not have been hot enough. I wait for another 20-30 minutes before making my next pizza to let the stone heat up some more and the second pizza had similar results. The crust was flat with no airy holes like it usually has. Anyone have any thoughts? The only thing I can think of is that I just need to let the stone heat up more, although I had it in there for about an hour.

[Matthew]

After breaking a couple cheap stones from Target/Bed Bay&Beyond, I finally upgraded (or so I am hoping) to a Fibrament stone after reading reviews on this forum and elsewhere. I have typically made pizza with dough from Trader Joe's and have had solid results using the cheap stones. Last night was the first time I made pizza using the TJ dough and the Fibrament stone. As I have worked with the TJ dough numerous times before, I feel like I have a good idea of how it should turn out.

First, I turned my oven up to 550 and let the Fibrament stone heat up for a little over an hour on the bottom rack. I prepared the pizzas like I normally do and tossed it on the stone for about 6 minutes. Typically, I get some good puffing action around the edge of the pizza. This time, the pizza did not puff up at all and the dough did not cook all the way through. It appeared to me that the stone must not have been hot enough. I wait for another 20-30 minutes before making my next pizza to let the stone heat up some more and the second pizza had similar results. The crust was flat with no airy holes like it usually has. Anyone have any thoughts? The only thing I can think of is that I just need to let the stone heat up more, although I had it in there for about an hour.

An hour is plenty of time for the stone to heat up, did you check the stone temp?  My guess is  that the problem lies with your dough & not the stone. 

Matt

[BigT]

An hour is plenty of time for the stone to heat up, did you check the stone temp?  My guess is  that the problem lies with your dough & not the stone.

I did not check the stone temp (I still haven't bought one of those infrared thermometers). The thing that leads me to think it was not the dough is that I've used the Trader Joe's dough dozens of times with the old stones and had good results; the dough was the the constant, the only thing I changed was the new stone.

[sourdough girl]

I did not check the stone temp (I still haven't bought one of those infrared thermometers). The thing that leads me to think it was not the dough is that I've used the Trader Joe's dough dozens of times with the old stones and had good results; the dough was the the constant, the only thing I changed was the new stone.

Actually, the dough wasn't as constant as you might think.... did you buy this dough at a different time than the previous dough balls?  It could be that there is a bad batch of dough at TJ's... perhaps the dough was not handled/held properly before it was sold to you..

Also, if you bought the dough all at the same time, how did you store it?  It could be that the dough (specifically, the yeast) suffered while in storage, whether it was in the fridge or freezer.  It sounds to me more like the yeast was compromised.

The fibrament stone is a good one, and it is static (mostly... I suppose there also could be a "bad batch" of stones, but that's much less likely) whereas the dough is a living thing.  I would be more inclined to blame the batch of dough than the stone itself.

JMHO...

~sd

[BigT]

Actually, the dough wasn't as constant as you might think.... did you buy this dough at a different time than the previous dough balls?  It could be that there is a bad batch of dough at TJ's... perhaps the dough was not handled/held properly before it was sold to you..

Also, if you bought the dough all at the same time, how did you store it?  It could be that the dough (specifically, the yeast) suffered while in storage, whether it was in the fridge or freezer.  It sounds to me more like the yeast was compromised.

The fibrament stone is a good one, and it is static (mostly... I suppose there also could be a "bad batch" of stones, but that's much less likely) whereas the dough is a living thing.  I would be more inclined to blame the batch of dough than the stone itself.

Fair enough, there is a chance my dough had been compromised somehow, although it would be quite an outlier since I've used the TJ dough so often over the past two years or so. I will pick up another batch this weekend and try it again.

[BigT]

I made pizza again last night and had slightly better results as I let the oven heat up for a bit longer. I put an oven thermometer on the stone and it read 550 for about an hour, so I assume the stone was sufficiently heated up. I made two pizzas and tried two different things - the first I had the stone on the bottom rack and the second I put the stone on the top rack. I seemed to have better results (i.e. the dough puffing up a bit more) with the stone on the top rack. I wonder if the stone is too big for my oven and is restricting the airflow so that air is not sufficiently flowing over the top of the pizza (the bottoms of the pizza seem to cook just fine). There is about an inch of space between the stone and oven walls on each side of the stone but maybe that isn't quite enough room. I am thinking about placing the stone on the top rack and preheating the stone and ten cooking with the broiler.

[ThunderStik]

I think your running into the same problem many folks around here run into, which is the bottom is cooking but not the top.

That is the reason I use the big black cast iron skillet, as black absorbs and radiates so much more heat. Plust the cast iron is dense so it holds heat well. Believe me without that skillet the pies suck. They dont get brown/done on top and only the bottom cooks.

The cool thing is, if you look at some of my pies you will see some of the charred/singed edges on top. As the pizza rises it gets closer and closer to the bottom of the skillet making the more intense.

This is why some folks bring the broiler into play to get the pie done on top.

[smarttowers]

Can you post your dough formulation. I know I tried the Papa John's clone and really screwed it up because the top was done but the bottom was too done. Turns out that there is just too much sugar in the Papa John's crust to do it on a stone. So if you post the dough recipe you are using others who are much more knowledgeable then myself may be able to help with solving the problem you are having.