What's wrong Pizza Discuss What's wrong in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; We have made pizza dough twice using a pizza stone. Both times the pizza crust came our very hard- not ...

[jimb]

We have made pizza dough twice using a pizza stone. Both times the pizza crust came our very hard- not crispy ! Any ideas. The first time we merely used our hands to form it, the second we used a rolling pin at the end. We tried to get it very thin as required. Thanks for the help !!

[dmun]

If you want a cracker like consistency, the rolling pin is the way to go. Otherwise you want to handle the dough as little as possible, after it's been individually balled. You never want to kneed or reform the dough before you stretch it out.

Tell us about your recipe, and your dough handling method, and we may be able to help.

[james]

I would also look at dough hydration. I'll bet your dough is too dry.

If you can give us more details, I think you get a lot of good advice from this crowd.
James

[ERASMO]

Jimb,
I am no expert by far but I had a similiar experience with my pizza stone. I was doing the tipo 00 recipe from forno bravo and cooking on my pizza stone on a 550 plus degree grill. It worked fine---then one night it was extremely windy and my grill could not get the temp. above 390 degrees. Needless to say the pizza tooK a very long time to cook and it was like a rock. I attributed it to the extra long cooking time and the lower temp. I hope this will be helpful.

[jimb]

Thanks for the help- a little more information- the oven was at 450- cooking time was 9 to 10 minutes- AND the crust was not over done. We may have over handled it- the first time I tried to get it as thin as possible by hand- a fair amount of handling-and it was not being hand tossed over my head to make it bigger !
We will try to turn the oven up higher- 500 or so and use a little more water-and a rolling pin. We probably are consistant in doing something wrong- the crust comes out very hard-really need a knife to cut it.
Thank you all for your help !!!!

[james]

Jim,

Set your oven as high as it will go -- probably 550ºF. Also, preheat your stone for at least an hour. You want all the heat you can get, and you should be able to bake a 5 minute pizza. The crust will dry out less, when you bake faster, which will help.

Try touching the dough and little as you possibly can -- and measure your water. You want a wet dough.

Have fun!
James

[Dutchoven]

Generally, speaking in terms of bread, lower cook temperatures and longer bake times equal crisper crusts because it tends to dry out...that could be part of the problem also...sounds like you need a WFO
Best
Dutch

[james]

Hey Dutch,

Makes sense. I've been experimenting with different temperature ranges and how they change the thickness and texture of the bread crust. Baguette -- hot, fast and thinner, crispier crust.

Pizza, on the other hand, likes it hot, hot, hot. Lower temperature pizza is just plain tough and hard. :-)

James

[arevalo53anos]

Nothing better than a WFO.
However, in lack off one, increasing the oil, the hydration and the sugars in a pizza dough, could help in obtaining better results (see foccacia recipes) when using home ovens.

Luis