On 4/3/2010 1:37 AM, phaeton wrote:
> On Apr 2, 10:37 pm, Christopher > wrote:
>> On Apr 2, 8:31 pm, > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> 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
>>
>> I don't think it's the dough itself. It sounds like 1. you might have
>> the temp too low, 2. you're not leaving it in the oven long enough. 3.
>> your oven's calibration might be out of whack or 4. your dough is too
>> thick. There are a lot of reasons a pizza dough might not get done
>> towards the middle but too low a temperature would be my first
>> suspicion. When I make my own I always go with a pre-heated 400 degree
>> oven for 25 minutes or so, but that's me and I'm not a fan of really
>> thick crusts. I never tried it with one of those frozen bread dough
>> things but I can't imaging that being the problem. In fact, it might
>> be a good time saver.
>
> I forgot to mention that I'm baking at 350F

First thing to do, turn up the heat. Commercial pizza ovens run 550.
Very few home ovens can do that. Just turn it up all the way and let it
preheat for a while.