I made the foolproof pan pizza recipe from the website. Kenji’s YouTube video suggests cooking on the bottom rack to crisp the bottom, so I did that. For my taste, the top was perfect, the dough had a great flavor and cooked throughout, the sides had some crunch. The bottom was not as crunchy as i wanted and had more bubbles than i expected. I did my best to get air bubbles out and try to get good contact with the pan. Next time I may do some pre-heating and/or post-heating on a burner to try to target the bottom better. Anyone got any other tips? Thanks!
by saltthewater
20 Comments
Throw it on the stove top and crisp up the bottom. Pretty sure Kenji suggested that too.
I’ve put them on the burner after the oven to help it crisp up more.
My hesitation to preheating the pan would be trying to move the dough back into there later (especially after adding toppings).
I dont actually like the cast iron pan for this recipe, I use cake pans instead and they come out perfect every time.
Like others… and Kenji said though, just heat over the stove for a minute.
How much oil did you use in your skillet?
Maybe obvious but getting a steel will solve this. Before I got one I made this by placing it on the bottom of my oven rather than the bottom shelf. Hopefully it was still nice even if a little pale.
I throw mine on the stovetop with the flame on high. Only takes a minute or so, but you have to keep an eye on it. It will crisp up without issue.
So….
…found the fool?
[deleted]
I am legitimately copying and pasting this from the recipe on serious eats dot com.
> Using a thin spatula, loosen pizza and peek underneath. If bottom is not as crisp as desired, place pan over a burner and cook on medium heat, moving the pan around to cook evenly until it is crisp, 1 to 3 minutes.
It’s right in there. Follow the recipe.
As others have said, and from the recipe,
> If bottom is not as crisp as desired, place pan over a burner and cook on medium heat, moving the pan around to cook evenly until it is crisp, 1 to 3 minutes
1-2 minutes on medium-high heat on your burner as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Use some oil on bottom of the cast iron
I put mine on the burner at med for exactly 5 minutes.
Your stove heat may vary.
I put the dough in a hot pan, somehow works for me.
I found that if I put too much cheese/oil in I create sort of a vortex causing the bottom of the pizza to not touch the bottom. This a rare occurrence
Adding on to the more oil than you think suggestions. Plus the stovetop blast at the end pushes it over the top.
Also, make sure you’re preheating your oven long enough. You really do want to preheat for the hour Kenji suggests, just like when you’re making bread. Any time I cut down the long preheat for bread or pizza, I regret the results. If you’ve got a commercial oven you can probably get by with less time, but home ovens just don’t have the same fire power.
After you achieve crispy pizza you can get it to stay crispier by putting it on a wire rack to cool before cutting so the bottom doesn’t stream while it is still oven hot. Little tip for all pizza styles.
If you have a pizza stone put it on that, preheated one hour in advance. If you have a gas oven put it on the floor rather than the rack.
You can also try pre-hearing the pan— leave it in the oven for 30 minutes or so, then your dough starts to crisp up against the hot pan right away.
I do a toss of cornmeal. That lifts up the dough just ever so much to allow air to circulate around, wick off trapped moisture and crisp up the bottom. And I love that nutty flavor… There is a pizzeria near me that uses panko instead of cornmeal – so good!