The local pizza shop down the road your home has a some advantages when it comes to preparing their pizza's tasty and wafery. But, with a couple of alterations to your kitchen instruments and techniques you can make a awesome tasting, homemade crispy crust pizza for your friends and family also.
The pizzeria down the lane operates a commercial hearth that reaches temperatures of 800 degrees or hotter. This provides them an benefit of baking at high temperatures for a short duration of time... giving a crisp crust.
Most of the times when we make pizza at home we keep the oven at 350 degrees either because that is always what we do, or because the "recipe" calls for this temperature.
Here is the first secret. Turn up your oven as hot as it will operates! Our home oven displays 550 degrees and reaches a little hot, so we maybe are pushing 600 degrees.
The commercial ovens also use a stone deck, or some type of heat conducting medium. These surfaces get very hot and snare the ovens heat, ending in a surface that is actually baking the crust from the below, as the oven heat is baking the toppings and top of the dough.
We have all experienced one of those take-n-bake pizza's with the soggy bottom crust. They usually use some type of paper tray as a medium to take the pizza home and to bake the pizza in. The trouble is that the paper can't get hot enough to bake the bottom of the pizza, and worse, traps the moisture in the dough.. .not allowing for the base to be baked, let alone turn crispy.
Now comes the second secret. Get yourself a baking rock. These are comparatively inexpensive items that you place into your oven, pre-heat to as hot as your oven will reach, and then place your pizza (or bread) directly onto the surface to bake. These ensures even heat dispersion and their porous property allows the moisture of the dough to escape, resulting in a absolutely crisp crust.
One final tip. Since we are baking at a higher temperature, we will not need to cook the pizza as long. In some cases we may only need to bake it for 10 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the crust.
The pizzeria down the lane operates a commercial hearth that reaches temperatures of 800 degrees or hotter. This provides them an benefit of baking at high temperatures for a short duration of time... giving a crisp crust.
Most of the times when we make pizza at home we keep the oven at 350 degrees either because that is always what we do, or because the "recipe" calls for this temperature.
Here is the first secret. Turn up your oven as hot as it will operates! Our home oven displays 550 degrees and reaches a little hot, so we maybe are pushing 600 degrees.
The commercial ovens also use a stone deck, or some type of heat conducting medium. These surfaces get very hot and snare the ovens heat, ending in a surface that is actually baking the crust from the below, as the oven heat is baking the toppings and top of the dough.
We have all experienced one of those take-n-bake pizza's with the soggy bottom crust. They usually use some type of paper tray as a medium to take the pizza home and to bake the pizza in. The trouble is that the paper can't get hot enough to bake the bottom of the pizza, and worse, traps the moisture in the dough.. .not allowing for the base to be baked, let alone turn crispy.
Now comes the second secret. Get yourself a baking rock. These are comparatively inexpensive items that you place into your oven, pre-heat to as hot as your oven will reach, and then place your pizza (or bread) directly onto the surface to bake. These ensures even heat dispersion and their porous property allows the moisture of the dough to escape, resulting in a absolutely crisp crust.
One final tip. Since we are baking at a higher temperature, we will not need to cook the pizza as long. In some cases we may only need to bake it for 10 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the crust.
About the Author:
Bary Drake Whyde is a professional writer and an expert on pizza stone and related topics.