Crispy Bottom Pizza

[ERASMO]

I have been using the Caputo Flour Recipe for my wood fired pizza and am very happy with it. But I have had some people asking about making a pizza with a crispier bottom. I prefer the more flexible bottom of the VPN recipe but I would like to accomodate the others also. Can anyone make a reccomendation?

Thanks

[Dutchoven]

Re: Crispy Bottom Pizza

Could add a bit of egg white...the extra protein will help it stand up
Best
Dutch

[asudavew]

Re: Crispy Bottom Pizza

I lost my first post... ugh. but I will try again.

My son loves crunchy pizza..... here is how I do it!

1. Roll out a dough ball with a rolling pin. Start with a 125 grams or so. Roll it out till it is about an eighth of an inch thick.

2. Poke lots of holes in it with a fork. (Helps to eliminate bubbles)

3. Don't put sauce or toppings on it.

4. Place it on the oven floor near the entry way. (It's cooler there)

5. Flip it a few time and poke any bubbles.

6. Cook it until it is crunchy like a big cracker!

7. Once it is crunchy, take it out, and let it cool.

8. Now sauce the "cracker", add cheese, and toppings. (Sauce the whole thing! All the way to edges...)

9. Place the "finished" pie on your pizza peel.

10. For cooking, simply hold the pie up near the apex of your dome. It should be nice and hot up there. Watch carefully because the toppings and cheese will cook quickly!

It shouldn't take long. When it is brown and bubbly, pull it out, and slice it in a tic-tac-toe shape. That's called a Chicago cut.

Good luck, and let me know how yours turns out!

Dave

[dmun]

Re: Crispy Bottom Pizza

2. Poke lots of holes in it with a fork. (Helps to eliminate bubbles)

This technique is called docking. The idea is not to poke holes in the dough, but to create connections between the top and bottom layers of the dough. There is even a tool for this purpose:

If you just cook your pizza skin without toppings, it will often blow up like a balloon.
Sheeting (dough rolling) and docking are commercial pizza shop techniques: you won't hear too much about them on this site.
Here's a video that shows the dough docker at work:

Obviously they are using harder flours and lower hydration than we use for the classic Caputo neopolitan dough.