Baking Pizza in a Home Oven

  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #1535. The revision addresses ideas #1513, #1536, #1537, #1544, #1545, and #1549.

Fourth try

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 114g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 4g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere around 450°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 630°F.
  3. Rest dough until it reaches room temperature.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Turn off broiler.
  13. Place dough on steel; still on top rack.
  14. Bake for 6 minutes.

Results:

Not quite as good as last time. I overcompensated and the bottom wasn’t thin enough. The crust is my weakest skill, it tasted doughy and solid, not light and crispy.

The dough was nice and circular this time until I placed it on the pizza steel. It got kinda skewed, not sure why.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1535.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

#1535·Dennis HackethalOP revised 6 months ago

The dough ended up too spread out, too big, so I tried to ‘compress’ it a bit, which creates wrinkles.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1534.

Adding more salt as a ‘topping’ helped improve the taste of the pizza overall. Decent workaround for now.

#1534·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

I learned in #1535 that mixing the salt into the tomato sauce is a far better approach. It spreads the saltiness evenly across the pie.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1535.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

#1535·Dennis HackethalOP revised 6 months ago

The crust could be crispier.

  Dennis Hackethal revised criticism #1537.

During parbaking, the pizza burnt slightly in the middle, on top. Next time, I can probably reduce the parbake time to 2 minutes. Or I could just move the steel to the middle rack before placing the pizza on it and doing a single bake for about 5 minutes.

During parbaking, the pizza burnt slightly in the middle, on top. Next time, I can probably reduce the parbake time to 2 minutes. Or I could just move the steel to the middle rack before placing the pizza on it and do a single bake for about 5 minutes.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1535.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

#1535·Dennis HackethalOP revised 6 months ago

Too much salt. Try 3 or 4g next time.

  Dennis Hackethal revised criticism #1507. The revision addresses idea #1541.

The dough was bland and not very crispy.

The dough was bland and hard/tough.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #1507.

The dough was bland and not very crispy.

#1507·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Describing it as “not very crispy” is vague. That could mean it was too soft or too hard. In reality, it was too hard.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1508.

Presumably, I need to get the oven hotter. I could try moving the steel right underneath the broiler while preheating.

#1508·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

I now think that heat wasn’t that big of a problem; I believe I overcooked the dough.

  Dennis Hackethal commented on idea #1508.

Presumably, I need to get the oven hotter. I could try moving the steel right underneath the broiler while preheating.

#1508·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

In #1535, I learned that my steel reaches around 620°F under the broiler. That’s plenty hot to make pizza at home.

  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #1518.

Improved in #1515 but could still be better.

Improved since #1515 but could still be better.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1535.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

#1535·Dennis HackethalOP revised 6 months ago

During parbaking, the pizza burnt slightly in the middle, on top. Next time, I can probably reduce the parbake time to 2 minutes. Or I could just move the steel to the middle rack before placing the pizza on it and doing a single bake for about 5 minutes.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1535.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

#1535·Dennis HackethalOP revised 6 months ago

The center of the dough got a touch too thin and I ripped a small hole in it.

  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #1524. The revision addresses ideas #1507, #1511, #1519, #1521, #1522, #1525, and #1527.

Third try

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 3-4 dashes of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 1 hour on gas range (biggest burner). Reached about 565°F in the center.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 50 min.
  4. Stretch the dough.
  5. Add tomato sauce.
  6. Add cheese.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour and place pizza on peel.
  8. Place pizza on steel and put in oven.
  9. Bake for about 5 minutes.
  10. Move to bottom rack, bake for 3 more minutes.

The main challenge with baking pizza at home is that home ovens don’t get hot enough for the dough to bake properly. The pizza steel is supposed to help with that.

Results (markedly better than last time):

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 5g of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 30 min on top rack underneath broiler, reaches about 620°F.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. It felt like it had reached about room temp.
  4. Add salt to the tomato sauce.
  5. Grate cheese.
  6. Stretch the dough.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour.
  8. Remove excess flour from dough.
  9. Place dough on peel.
  10. Add the tomato sauce.
  11. Add cheese.
  12. Place dough on steel; still on top rack with the broiler on.
  13. Bake for 2.5 minutes.
  14. Take out to add cheese.
  15. Move to bottom rack for another 2.5 minutes.
  16. Move back to top rack for 1 min.

Results (markedly better again than last time):

Got the thermo gun today and played around with it. If I put the steel on the bottom rack (which is directly above the heat source), it hovers at around 450 after about 40 min. But on the top rack with the broiler on, it hovered at around 620 after another 30 min. (It may reach that temp sooner, I didn’t check.) 620 is plenty hot to make pizza.

The dough came out really good this time. It was light and fluffy in most places, even had some crispy air bubbles. I had previously overcooked it – I think that’s why it got so hard last time.

I found myself moaning as I ate this pie and wanting more afterwards.

  Dennis Hackethal commented on criticism #1507.

The dough was bland and not very crispy.

#1507·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Adding more salt as a ‘topping’ helped improve the taste of the pizza overall. Decent workaround for now.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1532.

Might be better if I made my own dough.

#1532·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

I don’t think I’m ready for that. It’s an added difficulty, another task to master; let’s get the other stuff right first. Once I’ve gotten pretty good at that, I can make my own dough.

  Dennis Hackethal commented on criticism #1507.

The dough was bland and not very crispy.

#1507·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Might be better if I made my own dough.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #1528.

Why not because of the increased heat?

#1528·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Because then I would have expected burning on all sides of the undercarriage but only one side was burnt.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #1529.

Because then the center should have been burnt the most.

#1529·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Maybe the center didn’t burn because it lifted up.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #1528.

Why not because of the increased heat?

#1528·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Because then the center should have been burnt the most.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #1521.

Some burnt undercarriage. I don’t think it was because of the (possibly) increased heat but because I didn’t dust off the flower like I did last time.

#1521·Dennis HackethalOP, 6 months ago

Why not because of the increased heat?

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #1524.

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 3-4 dashes of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 1 hour on gas range (biggest burner). Reached about 565°F in the center.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 50 min.
  4. Stretch the dough.
  5. Add tomato sauce.
  6. Add cheese.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour and place pizza on peel.
  8. Place pizza on steel and put in oven.
  9. Bake for about 5 minutes.
  10. Move to bottom rack, bake for 3 more minutes.

The main challenge with baking pizza at home is that home ovens don’t get hot enough for the dough to bake properly. The pizza steel is supposed to help with that.

Results (markedly better than last time):

#1524·Dennis HackethalOP revised 6 months ago

Remember to place the pizza on the steel before adding toppings.

  Dennis Hackethal revised criticism #1522.

Preheating the pizza steel on the gas burner possibly got the temperature up but it created an unevenness. The center of the steel was apparently much hotter than the rest, which is why the center of the pizza cooked faster (visible both on top and underneath).

Preheating the pizza steel on the gas burner possibly got the temperature up but it created an unevenness. The center of the steel was apparently much hotter than the rest, which is why the center of the pizza cooked faster (visible both on top and underneath).

The center lifted up while cooking, which is presumably why the leopard print is missing in the center.

  Dennis Hackethal revised idea #1515.

Update link to picture of undercarriage

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 3-4 dashes of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 1 hour on gas range (biggest burner). Reached about 565°F in the center.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 50 min.
  4. Stretch the dough.
  5. Add tomato sauce.
  6. Add cheese.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour and place pizza on peel.
  8. Place pizza on steel and put in oven.
  9. Bake for about 5 minutes.
  10. Move to bottom rack, bake for 3 more minutes.

The main challenge with baking pizza at home is that home ovens don’t get hot enough for the dough to bake properly. The pizza steel is supposed to help with that.

Results (markedly better than last time):

Ingredients

  • Store-bought dough (1 pound)
  • Crushed tomatoes (100g)
  • Mozzarella (whole milk, shredded, 150g)

Then, for garnish:

  • Oregano
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • 3-4 dashes of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat oven for 1 hour. Ends up somewhere between 450 and 500°F.
  2. Preheat pizza steel for 1 hour on gas range (biggest burner). Reached about 565°F in the center.
  3. Rest dough at room temperature for about 50 min.
  4. Stretch the dough.
  5. Add tomato sauce.
  6. Add cheese.
  7. Dust the pizza peel with flour and place pizza on peel.
  8. Place pizza on steel and put in oven.
  9. Bake for about 5 minutes.
  10. Move to bottom rack, bake for 3 more minutes.

The main challenge with baking pizza at home is that home ovens don’t get hot enough for the dough to bake properly. The pizza steel is supposed to help with that.

Results (markedly better than last time):

  Dennis Hackethal revised criticism #1519.

Preheating the pizza steel on the gas burner possibly got the temperature up but it created an unevenness. The center of the steel was apparently much hotter than the rest, which is why it cooked faster and created a ring on the undercarriage.

Preheating the pizza steel on the gas burner possibly got the temperature up but it created an unevenness. The center of the steel was apparently much hotter than the rest, which is why the center of the pizza cooked faster (visible both on top and underneath).