To ensure that your pizza crust is crispy, you should use a preheated pizza stone or perforated pizza pan. Use the correct cheese, and ensure your oven is at the right temperature.
Pizza is one of the number one foods loved around the world. For many, there is nothing worse than a pizza with a soggy crust!
Suppose you are having problems getting the base of your pizza crispy. In that case, the rest of this article will dive into different ways you can ensure you get a crispy crust every time.
Why Isn’t the Base of Your Pizza Crispy?
Whether you are making your pizza dough or buying it from a store, it’s hard to figure out what went wrong when your pizza comes out with a soggy, sad base.
To know how to make the base of your pizza crispy, you must first understand why the base of a pizza wouldn’t be!
Here are some of the most common reasons the base of your pizza isn’t crispy:
Too much moisture
The wrong dough
The wrong temperature
We’ll dive into these three key reasons before looking into several other reasons your pizza base isn’t crispy.
Too much moisture
You may be excited to load your pizza up with toppings, but if you choose the wrong kinds, it could lead to too much moisture, making your pizza dough soggy.
Here are three of the most common pizza toppings and some key elements to think about:
Pizza Sauce- If you want your pizza to come out with a crispy, fantastic base, you want to make sure you are using a thick pizza sauce and not adding too much!
Using a watery sauce will lead to a soggy crust or a pizza that needs to cook forever to evaporate enough water for the dough to get crispy.
Cheese- If you love using fresh mozzarella cheese, you will know that often the cheese is packaged in liquid. It’s okay to use, but you should drain the cheese before using it on your pizza, taking care to absorb any excess moisture.
You should also avoid using fatty cheeses! Using too much cheese can trap excess moisture, not allowing your dough to be crisp.
Other toppings- You should never add too many toppings that release too much moisture when cooking your pizzas. Toppings with a lot of moisture include broccoli, tomatoes, other vegetables, and other types of cheese, like ricotta.
The wrong dough
Different types of pizzas require different types of dough, and traditional pizza usually consists of water, salt, yeast, and flour. Also, it was designed for wood-fired ovens, not your home ovens.
If you are baking your pizza at home in your home oven, try adding some oil to your dough. It conducts well, allowing your pizza crust to get crispy faster!
If you want to try this, you should start by adding 3% oil to your dough compared to other ingredients. If you add too much oil, the dough’s consistency will change.
Although many will recommend adding sugar to your pizza dough, you should know that it helps brown your pizza crust, but it will not help make it crispy.
Finally, you can also try making your pizza crust thinner. If you are having trouble getting a nice crisp to your pizza dough, it may just be too thick!
Try making it thinner, but be aware it won’t need as much time to bake!
The wrong temperature
The temperature you cook your pizza is one of the most important aspects of whether your pizza will be crispy. If you want a genuinely crispy pizza, try increasing the temperature of your oven.
Hotter ovens will allow for a crispier base. Still, you should remember that this will create a shorter cooking time! Therefore, many recommend using the highest temperature your oven can go.
Additionally, to ensure that both the bottom of your pizza and top cook correctly, make sure you put your pizza dough on a hot surface.
Adding Water to Your Dough
Suppose you’re making homemade pizza dough and struggling to figure out how to make the base of a pizza crispy. In that case, the answer may be more water.
You’re probably thinking, ‘but isn’t that moisture?’ and you’d be right. However, more water in your pizza dough allows for it to become more fluid, expanding in the oven.
When your pizza dough is less dense, the dough can block the heat for a more extended period of time. Therefore, heating your pizza from the bottom means that the heat will move through your pizza slower, making the base crisp up for longer.
If your pizza dough is denser, the heat will move through your dough and into the sauce faster, creating steam during the process, which will keep your pizza dough in a less-crispy state of being.
Try adding more water to it if you find yourself making pizza dough that never gets crispy. It will let the heat build at the base, giving it a crispier texture when done.
What Pan Should You Use for a Crispy Base?
Sometimes it is the pan you are using. For example, when you place something hot on a plate, you’ll likely see moisture gather on it. Because the steam has nowhere to go, it condenses on your plate! This can happen with pizza, too.
Here, we’ll quickly go over the types of pans you should use when cooking your pizza:
Pizza stone- a pizza stone has a porous surface that will absorb a lot of the condensation your pizza will put off. It will also help keep your pizza hot! These stones are usually around 20 dollars and can be found online and in most kitchen stores.
Perforated pizza pan- This type of pan has small holes that allow any condensation to escape. If you use this, you must remember to place it on a cooling rack so that the condensation can have somewhere to go!
Pizza Steel- This type of pan resembles a wood-fired pizza oven. It can conduct heat even better than the previous options. In addition, it allows for a crispier base on your pizzas. Although a little more pricy, the pizza steel is worth looking into if you are looking for quality pans that will ensure maximum crispiness!
Baking trays- Although not the best option, baking trays can be great. If you have one, try using an iron or steel tray. They conduct electricity better than many aluminum baking trays on the market today.
Cast-iron skillet- Iron is great at conducting heat and makes for a wonderful alternative to the pizza steel.
Preheating Your Pans Before Baking
If you are still having issues with your pizza base, try preheating the pan you’re cooking your pizza on.
Suppose you are using a pizza stone or pizza steel. In that case, heat will be retained, which will help your pizza dough cook faster, resulting in a crispier base! Also, a great option if you are using store-bought dough.
Sometimes you cannot control the ingredients in your dough, but you can control how it’s cooked! Try heating the pan beforehand if you find trouble getting store-bought pizza dough to get crispy.
Try preheating the pan in your oven at the highest temperature for about 45 minutes to one hour. After that, you can place your pizza directly on the pan, resulting in a beautiful, crispy base.
Final Thoughts
Pizza is truly a food that brings everyone together, but it’s also a food that many have trouble making perfectly. That’s why pizza joints get so much business!
Suppose you’re trying to perfect the homemade pizza with a perfectly crispy base. In that case, you’ll first want to examine some of the most common issues many pizzas face regarding peak crispiness.
After that, you can start to look at other options, such as adding water to the dough if you are making it yourself or changing the type of pan you use.
Regardless, there are so many options to choose from to make your pizza base crispy.
