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Pizza puzzle
By Ann | February 12, 2008
I wish I had a wood-burning pizza oven like the one above, which is in Bologna. During my 2005 Italian cooking class we were lucky enough to bake pizzas in this special oven, which heats to over 700 degrees Fahrenheit. As you might imagine, pizza cooks in about .08 seconds at that temperature.
Sadly, I just have a regular gas oven, and its highest temp is only 525 degrees. I made pizza last night using Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough, topped with homemade tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella. The result was… decidedly mediocre. I’m not sure what went wrong, but the dough was extremely leaden. I cooked the pizza for about 20 minutes, but the bottom never got crisp. Was my sauce too watery? Should I have drained the mozzarella? Or, was it the dough, which admittedly had been sitting in the freezer for a few months? Please help!
Above is the pizza I made in that Bolognese pizzeria, with the help of Ramon (pictured in top photo), an expert pizza chef from Bangladesh by way of Germany. Isn’t it sweet? Here’s what I wrote about it in my food journal: “I topped my pie with buffalo mozzarella and olives (unfortunately canned) and Ramon even pinched the edges to make it into a heart, which I found sweet but embarrassing. Cooked at about 700 degrees Fahrenheit in a wood-burning oven, my pie was baked to crisp perfection after only two or three minutes. I loved the thin crust.”
Topics: Recipes gone wrong |
7 Responses to “Pizza puzzle”
Comments
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February 12th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
When it comes to homemade pizza, there is no source more expert than one Lindsay Sobel. She even makes her own dough! The whole thing is very delicious.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Terry,
I hope Lindsay Sobel will come share her expert advice!
February 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I really liked the flavor of the pizza in last night’s “recipe gone wrong.” The consistency and flavor of the sauce were perfect; I loved the chewy gooeyness of the cheese. But I completely agree about the crust. Hey Terry, do you ever stop in at Armando’s Pizza in Cambridge? CtB and I went to Two Amys on Wisconsin here in DC on Saturday night; CtB’s pizza margherita (with very nice basil) was better than my salty, not melty enough meatball pie. But overall a good dinner.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Before I had a wood burning oven built at home, I had very good success with a pizza stone inside of a weber gas grill. If you pre-heated the grill and stone, on high, for an hour or so, the temp got pretty near 700F, I believe.
I think a gas grill can far outperform any indoor electric or gas oven. Maybe give that a try?
February 13th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I’ve heard with the Trader Joes crusts you need to cook the crust alone on a stone for 20 minutes, then add sauce,toppings etc, and cook. This will help get the moisture out of the crust, making a more crispy pizza.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Mark,
Thanks for the idea — sounds like a good way to replicate the intense heat of a pizza oven. Unfortunately, I don’t have a weber gas grill… ah, the joys of urban living. I am green with envy at your own personal wood-burning oven — you are one lucky pizza connoisseur!
Dan,
After my soggy/leaden crust disaster, I’d been considering pre-baking the crust first; now I’m definitely going to go that route. Thanks for the tip.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Dan is right. You need a pizza stone. Roll out the pizza dough on the stone so you don’t have to transfer it. [When it’s rolled thin, it’s difficult to transfer unless you have a big flat wood paddle (which I don’t).] Pre-bake the crust before adding your toppings.