Lighter Crust on "White" pizzas?

[rsandler]

A puzzle: My crusts turn out lighter and softer when I fix a pizza as a "white" pizza (typically with olive oils, though sometimes with a pan sauce from the previous week's leftovers). At first I thought this was because I tended to bake the white pizza last in a series of three or four, and the oven floor was cooler. So a couple weeks ago I tried making the white pizza first, but got the same result (see pictures, attached).

I don't consider this a bad thing necessarily--the soft, bready crust makes for a nice change of pace--but I do find it puzzling. I see why the bottom crust would behave differently with olive oil vs. a tomato sauce, but why would the edges bake up differently?

[v12spirit]

Re: Lighter Crust on "White" pizzas?

That is an interesting observation. I don't have to ask you if you have cooked both for the same time in the same conditions. You must have done. I'm trying to figure out why this happens.

One first thought: White pizza is olive oil based, while sauced pizza is tomato based or in other words water based. The specific heat of water is as much as twice the specific heat of olive oil. This must have something to do with the results.

PS: The specific heat of a material is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by one degree Fahrenheit. Unit: Btu per lb per degrees Fahrenheit
Specific heat of fresh water: 1 (Btu/lb.F)
Specific heat of of olive oil: 0.47 ((Btu/lb.F))