Dough!! Please help.

[mauro ciarmoli]

I am using all the right ingredients and cooking my pizza at 500 degrees on a stone in my oven. The pizza comes out way too hard/crunchy on the outside and undercooked in the middle. It's not even edible! What am i doing wrong? Thanks for any advice.

[PizzaPolice]

If you are making pizza in your home oven, I suggest you trip over to pizzamaking.com. There you will find a repository of fine posts of basic to advanced pizza making skills. After a lot of practice, you will think your home oven is a magic box. Crawl, walk, RUN. Good luck.

[james]

Ciao Mauro,

Have you read the FB eBook on wood-fired pizza? I tried to include just about everything I know there, and the dough preparation section works the same for pizza stone and pizza oven baking. You can find it here. Let me know if that helps.

Wood-Fired Pizza e-Book (pdf) :: eBooks & CD ROMs :: Forno Bravo Store

James

[mauro ciarmoli]

Thanks! I will do it.

[PizzaPolice]

Sorry about your toes, James.
I consider your place an advanced pizza site relating to wood fired ovens.
Mauro is asking questions about basic fundamentals. His 2 posts aspire to a WFO restaurant. I just thought he needed to paint a few fences before he tackles the Sistine chapel. My apologies.

[mauro ciarmoli]

Yes, I need lots of practice with the pizza making. I already have experience running a business...I am considering purchasing an oven to practice with at home. I am also very close to Marina del Rey where they offer the one week class, so I will sign up for that too. My parents were born about 2 hours away from Naples, so cooking/food is in my blood!

[james]

No toes stepped on at all.

I like to think we have some good pizza making expertise at FB and on the FB Forum -- I worked hard on that dough chapter. Hah hah. :-)
James

[krosskraft]

I read somewhere that it is good to use two stones in the oven....one to set the pizza on and one on the shelf right above it. Also, be sure and preheat both stones about 45 minutes so they absorb the heat well. I have had a decent pizza made this way....although not quite as good as the WFO, but it is a good substitute.

[PizzaPolice]

Absolutely! ...Not a substitute for a woofer.
The unglazed quarry tile set up attempts to mimic a narrow slot gas or electric oven.
It works very well. The top tiles act as a heat sink and reflect / heat the top to insure a well baked NY style pizza. Tons of posts on this subject. Dig it up.

[Thirties]

Originally Posted by mauro ciarmoli

I am using all the right ingredients and cooking my pizza at 500 degrees on a stone in my oven. The pizza comes out way too hard/crunchy on the outside and undercooked in the middle. It's not even edible! What am i doing wrong? Thanks for any advice.

I suggest placing the stone on the very bottom rack position. I do that in my oven @ 555 deg. F. and pizza comes out perfect in 6-8 minutes depending on the topping.

If you place it higher in the oven the top will burn before the dough is fully baked.

Let me know if this works for you.