Soggy Bottoms

[dusty]

Well, we had pizza night #3 over the weekend and, I must say, they are getting progressively better and more creative. My oldest built a fine calzone, the middle one made an apple turnover, and the youngest, Kyle, made this "pop tart-looking" thing by spreading rasberry jelly on a half baked skin, topping it with cream cheese and then baking it. They were all delicious!One strange thing though.
The thin-crust pizzas that I have been making are soggy on the bottom - in the middle that is. They are browned nicely and they taste good, but I can't cut a wedge, fold the outer crust, and eat it by hand without it collapsing. And the leftovers, traditionally one of my favorite breakfast foods, are even soggier. My wife has been making her crust a bit thicker and cooking them longer in a cooler spot - close to the entrance. Hers are not soggy and are excellent the next morning.
I am wondering if my oven is too hot. If they are cooking faster than the dough can bake. Or might I be useing too much sause?
Has anyone else expirienced this?

dusty

[james]

Great topic. I've moved it to Pizza.
James

[Richard]

could be that the dough is too thin in the center

[dusty]

Originally Posted by Richard

could be that the dough is too thin in the center

Could be..., but I have tried to keep the thickness the same from edge to middle. Key word: tried!

dusty

[gjbingham]

My wife says I have a soggy bottom ;(

What are your oven floor temps like dusty?

[arevalo53anos]

Normally, soggy dough is signal of wet fillings.
Drain the tomatoes when doing sauce, protect your pizza disk with a thin layer of EVOO, before to add the sauce.
Do not use fat muzz or lots of filling.
Could your oven be unbalanced in temperature?
In charging the oven with a lot of wood, the dome temperature goes fast to higher temperatures while the hearth is still cold due to be protected from the heat by the wood over it.
Even if the dome walls are not embeded with heat, the surface of them are hot, and helped by live flames, burns the pizza toppings and the cornicione in less than a minute, while the center of the dough (on the not so hot hearth) is not cooked.
I hope this help.

Luis

[dusty]

Originally Posted by gjbingham

My wife says I have a soggy bottom ;(

What are your oven floor temps like dusty?

That's not very nice! Accurate, maybe, but not nice!

I can't recall the actual number, but I think hot- hot. I got the dome to go clear, I let the fairly good sized fire burn down for about 15 minutes, then raked it to one side, brushed and started cooking. I dunno. 750? I will make a note next time. Have you not had this problem?

dusty

[dusty]

Thanks Luis, that did help. I have not been draining the tomatos. I have just smashed them and been useing the juice too. Very moist.

BTW. What is EVOO?

dusty

[mfiore]

EVOO = extra virgin olive oil

[gjbingham]

Dusty,
Same problem I had for the first two pizza nights. I raked the coals over the entire floor for about 15 minutes, then pushed it all to one side and added several more pieces of wood to get the flame burning from that side all the way to the other.
Then it was way too hot for the first pizza, but the crust was done in the middle. I didn't use the thermometer the last time but I'm thinking the oven was above 850. I let it cool a bit and tried again, less burning, crusts still done. In my oven, I think the flames have to be crossing the midline of the dome to keep the oven to pizza temp.
Hang in there. Re-read the oven management tips. Learn how your oven works. I don't think its the dough being too thin. That would require less heat to cook. Too much sauce or too watery - sounds reasonable.