July 15, 2018 - 9:18pm
Pizza Problems
HELP! We make a decent whole wheat pizza dough, but whether we make the pizza on a plastic or glass cutting board, or on a legit wooden pizza peel with cornmeal or flour, it won't come off onto the stone, which is nicely preheated in our oven. We end up with a pizza mound. Is this because of the whole wheat dough? Or are we doing something wrong. While I'm here, how do we make it a thin crust. It seems we can, but we're just PUSHING it into the pizza making surface, making it stick there. (Cross posting on the pizza forum, too)
TYIA
Voni
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I make whole wheat pizza crust, but I get the best results by pressing the dough out onto the pizza stone (with cornmeal underneath) and baking it for a few minutes first. I've done it different ways: sometimes I just let the stone and dough sit in the oven while it preheats. Sometimes I preheat the stone, spread the dough on, then bake for a few more minutes. I pull it out and add the sauce and toppings then bake some more.
For a thinner crust, I just use less dough and press it out thinner.
Voni, I replied in the whole wheat forum about sticking on the peel. In terms of getting it thin, what are you doing now, and what problems are you having? If the dough is overfermented, it is easy to tear it, If properly fermented, you can either use a roller to get it thin, or try to flatten it with your palm until the middle is pretty flat ( though don't touch the edges,) then invert it, and put the dough on the back of your knuckles at 12:00 and 1:00 , and stretch your hands apart slightly, then rotate the dough slightly and repeat. You want the stretch to be very near the outer edge of the pie, just in from the rim, and you never want to stretch across the middle. Look at the 1 minute mark in this video http://how-to-stretch-pizza-dough.blogspot.com/
My tried and true method is to form the dough into a crust on a WELL floured surface. I start by defining the rim then press and work the dough into a moderate size circle. Now I pick it up and gently stretch the edge while letting most of the dough rest on the counter. Make sure to preserve the rim. After that I support the whole dough on the back of my hands and lower arms and gently stretch the edge and center. Once satisfied with the result, I put the dough on parchment paper that I've cut to a little larger than my target dough circle size. Then it goes on the back of a round pizza pan and I slide onto the stone from there. The parchment eliminates the need for any dusting with cornmeal. Works every time.
have you tried cornmeal on the peal ?
if it's still too sticky maybe consider a pizza screen - the mesh kind you get at real kitchen suppliers are best (and dirt cheap). You can slide it off the screen after it's half baked and finish on the stone. I've done pizzas in pans, screens stones etc amd just love screens they're great !
The longer the dough is sitting it will absorb the flour underneath it. Press out the dough on floured surface, top it, slide it on whatever you’re using to get it in the oven- it should slide easily- and get it in the (1 hour) preheated oven immediately. It should slide right off. Use enough flour to keep the dough moving around.
If the pizza is sticking to the peel, then you either need more flour, and/or more cormeal/semolina on the peel, and/or it needs to spend less time on the peel.
Definitely stretch/press/roll into shape on a separate floured surface, and then onto peel, top quickly then onto stone in oven...when doing this, I want to have what will be the bottom have enough flour that it doesn't stick to my work surface at all, which should take care of it when it goes on the peel.