When preparing to bake a pizza, people often wonder whether you can cook a pizza on parchment paper or foil.
Cook Pizza on Parchment Paper or Foil? – Introduction.
Pizza is a beloved dish with so many varieties and flavors. With so many ways of making our favorite food, many home cooks are trying out pizza recipes at home. Still, not everyone has a handy stone brick oven lying around, so improvisation is essential.
There isn’t anything wrong with cooking pizza on parchment paper or foil, but it isn’t necessarily the best thing to cook it on.
The foil reflects heat, usually leaving your pizza with a soggy base. In addition, parchment paper can cause the pizza not to be as evenly cooked, leading to a potentially uneven bake.
Despite the drawbacks of using foil or parchment paper, there are still plenty of ways to work around your limitations to cook up a great pizza for dinner.
The rest of this article will dive deep into the dos and don’t of baking pizza on parchment paper or foil.
Can You Cook Pizza on Parchment Paper?
Cooking pizza on parchment paper is workable but not ideal. Parchment paper can accommodate nearly anything when baking. Still, the first thing you need to check on is what temperature your parchment paper is rated for.
Some parchment is only rated at 420 degrees, while other paper is good up to 450 degrees. Since the ideal at-home pizza baking temperature is 430-450 degrees, you want to ensure that your parchment paper won’t burn or char when you use it.
You wouldn’t want little pieces of parchment in your pizza. But, of course, whether you have a pre-made pizza or following a recipe, plenty of options recommend 400 degrees.
When using parchment paper, you can place the prepared pizza directly onto the parchment paper and cook it.
However, you should be aware that removing the pizza may prove difficult since you need to grab the pizza by the edge to pull it out. Still, the parchment paper isn’t able to support the pizza’s weight.
You should always use a baking sheet or a pizza stone underneath to make removing the pizza easier. Cooking with parchment paper should only be used with a pizza pan.
While it is technically useable directly on the oven rack, any temperature above 430 risks parchment burning, if you want to cook at higher temperatures, you can cook the pizza halfway and then remove the parchment paper.
People often use parchment paper in conjunction with a pizza stone or pizza pan to prevent sticking. However, remember that the parchment paper might cause the pizza to be undercooked and not as crispy in the middle.
For a pizza stone especially, the presence of the parchment paper doesn’t do much except prevent it from sticking.
Parchment paper usually sacrifices the crispiness of the crust and middle of the pizza for convenience. Still, parchment paper is also helpful for keeping your pizza pan or pizza stone clean and preventing it from getting messy.
If you find that your pizzas are typically overcooked and too crispy, using parchment paper may help stop the bottom of the pizza from burning.
To use parchment paper with a pizza stone, you should first preheat the stone.
Sprinkle your parchment paper with flour or cornmeal to prevent sticking, and place the dough on the paper. After adding your toppings, put the pizza with the parchment paper underneath the pizza stone.
Can You Cook Pizza on Aluminum Foil?
Aluminum foil can be used as an alternative to a pizza stone; however, similarly to the parchment paper, it can cause the pizza to be less crispy in the middle. However, there are some workarounds.
First, you can grill the pizza instead, using the foil as a makeshift plate and cooking for 15-20 minutes. Another solution is to use the foil like a pizza pan and fold up the edges slightly, placing it in the middle rack.
Unfortunately, the issue with aluminum foil is that it behaves inconsistently when heated, so you may find your pizza undercooked one time and burnt the next. So if you’re using foil, be sure to monitor the pizza carefully and test whether or not it’s finished.
You can also cover a pizza entirely with foil to cook it. Still, this method has the same issue of inconsistency. Aluminum foil also sometimes tends to stick to pizza, so be sure to crumple it up beforehand to make it easier to remove once the pizza is baked.
Unfortunately, however you use foil, your crust will be less crispy than simply using a pizza stone. Because the foil reflects the heat, it will cook the dough unevenly. In addition, the moisture can’t be drawn out as easily when using foil, so the base may end up being soggy.
Conclusion
There’s nothing wrong with using foil or parchment paper when baking a pizza at home. Still, parchment paper is the better choice in most cases. Both can be used to stop the pizza from making a mess of your oven or pizza pan.
Parchment paper runs the risk of burning if you run your oven at 430 or higher, but you can still use it effectively with your pizza pan or stone for a great bake.
While parchment paper can cause uneven baking, foil is much worse, reflecting heat away from the pizza and not allowing moisture to be released. As a result, given how precise pizza baking can be, a soggy base and uneven baking are widespread when using foil.
There are some alternative methods, such as plating the pizza with foil and grilling it or using foil to prevent the pizza from making a mess in the oven. However you choose to bake your pizza, sometimes there’s nothing better than a homemade pizza.
