Burned pizza?

[donna s]

Sometimes I have a problem where the pizza crust burns on the bottom and ruins it. Is this a result of the oven being too hot or I am using the wrong dough? This doesn't happen every time so I am having a hard time identifying where my problem might be. I am also using flour under the dough so that it slides easier off the peel. Could it be the flour?
Also, what do some of you do when you have a portion of your pizza leak through while cooking and make a mess of the oven floor?:

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Burned pizza?

Some flour will always burn and you do want SOME char on your crust...

Are you using a lot of olive oil, or any sugar in your dough? These items help pizza crust brown in a regular oven, but are not really needed (though i use some olive oil) in a wood fired crust...

When I dump a pizza on the cooking floor, I generally scrape it out with the peel, then let it just burn off, hit it with the scraper side of my brush, then go again. It does slow everything down and cool the oven off a bit...

Drake

[krosskraft]

Re: Burned pizza?

It sounds to me like the fire is too hot. I had trouble with charring and I found that if I let the fire just sit for about 15 minutes it evened the temp. My temps get up to 1000 and my pizzas cook best around 750. If the temp is not high enough you may have cooked tops with gooey centers. Good luck.

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Burned pizza?

Too hot is possible. Usually if your dough ingredients are proper (no oil or sugar) and it still burns, check your hydration. 60 - 62 percent is about right.
Screw around with it but take casual notes. One day you'll get it perfect. The next time you'll forget what you did right.

[rlf5]

Re: Burned pizza?

What kind of flour are you using? The Caputo 00 can take the heat a bit better than other flours. I usually cook at different temps for different flours. If I'm using caputo 00 then I let it get to about 800+ in the oven. If i'm using bread flour then 700 usually does it...otherwise I get overly charred bottoms.

[jcg31]

Re: Burned pizza?

I had some miserably burned crust until I started getting real aggressive with the hydration. I went with slop and worked my way backwards. Slop made a great pizza, but was stupid-hard to handle so I looked for a balance of good spring, minimal char and ability to be shaped. I ended up at 65% on King Arthur's bread flour and 63% on Caputo 00. This will be heracy on this forum, but I actually prefer the KA flour-based recipe - - I grew up on the deviant 23" New York Style pizza.

Recently I took Telehort's advice and tried Peter Reinharts Neo-Neopolitan recipe from his American Pie book. Worked out very nicely (at 65% hydration).

Jim

[rlf5]

Re: Burned pizza?

I burned my first pizza last night. Seems the dough was just a bit too thin. When I went to turn it, it broke in the center and it was all downhill from there. Once I finally got it out of the oven, it resembled a calzone with a cheesy coal center.

[asudavew]

Re: Burned pizza?

Once I finally got it out of the oven, it resembled a calzone with a cheesy coal center.

Sounds tasty!!

Been there..... done that!

[telehort]

Re: Burned pizza?

there is nothing wrong with an "impromptu" calzone :-)
I have made a few myself

[rlf5]

Re: Burned pizza?

there is nothing wrong with an "impromptu" calzone :-)
I have made a few myself

Yea but they don't go down too well when you bite into the 1000 degree red coal center.

[Jim Bob]

Re: Burned pizza?

I hate to be a dummy, but when someone says they get aggressive with their hydration, are they just talking about wetting the cooking surface down? Or what?

Jim Bob

[asudavew]

Re: Burned pizza?

I hate to be a dummy, but when someone says they get aggressive with their hydration, are they just talking about wetting the cooking surface down?
Jim Bob

Nope.
It relates to increasing the proportion of water in the dough.

500 grams flour +
300 grams water = 300/500 or 60% hydration

More aggressive might be...

500 grams flour +
330 grams water = 330/500 or 66% hydration

66% is what I am currently using for my dough. It works great in the WFO.
But different flours have different protein contents that can require modifications in the amount of water.

I hope this helps.

Dave

[Jim Bob]

Re: Burned pizza?

I did purchase some Caputo flour from Forno Bravo store to try it out as soon as my oven is cured. Looking forward to it. The Caputo flour should take what 60% or maybe go higher?
Man, just didn't realize there was so much to cooking pizza right! But I am not too old to learn and want to know for sure the right way.
Thanks very much for helping me. I may end up writing "Cooking Pizza for dummies" book.
Jim Bob

[asudavew]

Re: Burned pizza?

The old recipe was for 60% hydration.
I think most our shooting for about 65% these days.
The extra water creates steam which helps with the spring of the crust or bread.
As for "so much to cooking pizza" I totally agree. This site not only helps with the building process, but the cooking as well.
I knew how to make pizza before I became a member of Forno Bravo, but now I understand more about the "behind the scenes" stuff.

Hang in there Jim.
It will come in time. It's so much fun continuing to learn, especially after the finality of the oven build!

Dave

[berryst]

Re: Burned pizza?

I've never even seen a wood fired pizza. I predict trial by fire! How did I get into this anyway?
Berryst