Serving up pan pizza - soggy crust woes.

[gamblersruin]

Heya - Will here from the UK, just making pizzas at home for me and my girl.

One of the few issues I'm having with my thicker, pan pizza is service. If the pizza remains in the pan then it gets soft - still delicious but without that crunch you really want.

I've tried serving on a wire cooling tray above the pan - but there's still a bit of softness.

This Saturday I'm planning to bake my pizza, allow it to cool, cutting and then re-heat at dinner time. I've seen that work in the slice shops in NY that I'm trying to re-create the experience of. Is that what most people are doing?

I also feel like it'll be easier when making lots of pizza for guests as I'm not fussing with different times for rises/ensuring browning.

[The Dough Doctor]

Be sure to remove the pizza from the pan IMMEDIATELY after you remove the pizza from the oven and place it onto a wire cooling rack for a minute or so to allow the toppings to set-up, then transfer to a cutting surface and cut into desired slices, serve immediately.
Additionally, can you share your dough formula as well as the dough management procedure and baking procedure with us? Perhaps there is something there that we can help you with to achieve a crispier crust.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[gamblersruin]

Thanks Tom - I think I may be making a mistake in going straight to a cutting board rather than taking a couple of minutes on a rack to let some of the steam out. I'm going to try that out this weekend.

I've been using the following:

Flour      100%
Water   65.00%
IDY Yeast   0.50%
Salt      1.80%
Olive Oil   4.00%

I've also had a similar experience using 0.77% IDY on a shorter, 4 hour surface ferment.

This has given me usually a 22oz ball that I've been using in a 15.5x12" pan - I think that's a thickness of 0.57.

Method is:

• combine all dry ingredients,
• stir to combine inwet ingredients for 1-2m
• knead with dough hook for 8 minutes.
• remove to oiled bowl and store in fridge for up to 48hr
• remove from fridge for 1 hour
• place in oiled baking pan and stretch, leave for 30m and then stretch, repeat and then take a final gentle stretch before topping.
• top with sliced mozerella, sparing amount of sauce and any toppings.
• cook for 12-15m in a 280c/520f oven

[The Dough Doctor]

You might try this for your mixing procedure, put water in mixing bowl first (65F), then add the flour and all of the dry ingredients and mix at low speed just until you don't see any dry flour in the bowl, add the oil and mix at low speed for 1-minute, change to the highest speed your mixer will handle the dough at and mix 8 to 10-minutes, or until the dough just begins to look smooth. then scale/ball and cold ferment for 24 to 48-hours, after CF allow the dough to warm to 55F at room temperature (this is the INTERNAL dough ball temperature), it will take about 90 to 120-minutes. Then proceed with your usual process. Keep us posted.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[Jackitup]

Just to add, when I do a pan or Detroit style, towards the end of the bake I slide out and on to the stone directly for a few minutes. Of course, I am already baking the pan on a preheated stone! Works great for me!

[The Dough Doctor]

Thickness Factor/Dough Loading = dough weight divided by pan surface area in square inches.
15.5 X 12 = 186
22-ounces divided by 186 = 0.1182795
Dough Loading Factor: 0.1182795 or to put it another way, you have 0.1182795-ounces of dough per square inch of pan surface area.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[gamblersruin]

Heya - reporting back on this.

So the technique Tom suggested had great results for the dough - but my 72 hour proofing period was a bit much. At 48h the dough was beautiful. I'm going to re-try soon but follow instructions better.

I've also realised that some of my problem is that the pans I'm using aren't helping me get my dough out quickly enough. Combination of the height of the pan and potentially me not having seasoned them enough.

I got a much better bake out of the above method - but I still need to refine things. I'm going to try a different pan, slightly more oil and a 48h proof time vs 72.

[The Dough Doctor]

Gotta admit, that's a good lookin' pizza!
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[Jose L. Piedra]

Bake it twice. First time with a little of the sauce only for a few minutes, then take it out of the oven, let it cool off, apply rest of sauce and the toppings, and back in it goes until ready.