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phaeton phaeton is offline
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Default Frozen Bread Dough as pizza crust?

I have a pretty bad pizza habit, and I was trying to 'cheat' a little
the last couple of times by using frozen bread dough for the crust.
I'm sure that this is illegal in some states. Nonetheless, it only
turns out 'ok', with the biggest problem being that the crust is fine
around the edges, but as you move towards the center of the pizza it's
still doughy. I'm trying to determine if my problem is the dough, or
the technique. Here's what I'm doing:

1) Thaw the frozen bread 'loaf' in the fridge overnight per the
package destructions.
2) Place the thawed loaf in a covered container on the counter and let
rise for 3 hours, per package destructions.
3) Prepare toppings (cook meat, chop vegs, shred cheese, etc)
4) The dough doubles in size just as one would expect after 3 hours.
5) I then roll the dough out on a 16" circular pan (tin plated
steel). I'd say that the dough is about 3/16" thick or less all the
way across, excluding the 'handles' built up on the edges.

The first time, I added toppings and baked it for 20 minutes. At the
20 minute mark, it seemed to work out perfectly, as the cheese was
melted and bubbly, and the crust was a nice golden brown. However, as
previously stated it was fine on the edges but doughy in the center.

The second time, I prebaked the crust for about 10 minutes first, THEN
added toppings and baked it for 20 minutes. After the prebaking, the
crust rose to about 1/2". I didn't mash it back down before adding
the toppings. In the end of the whole baking sequence, it turned out
no different than the first time. In fact, the 1/2" rise that it had
was gone, and it was back down to 3/16" and doughy.

Regarding toppings, it is sauce, cheese, sausage, onion. I make it a
point to go light on the sauce and toppings so that it (normally)
cooks evenly and well.

Am I doing something wrong, or is the dough just not right for this
application? Thanks.

-J