How To Fix Sticking Dough
Making the perfect pizza at home is the goal of the Pizzacraft brand. But as many pizza oven owners quickly realize, there are a few nuances to making the perfect pizza. The main one being, the dough sometimes sticks. Luckily, every pizza chef has been through this and there are a few tips and trick you can use to avoid this sticky situation. To troubleshoot these issues we have our head chef Jonny Meinke to offer some insight:
My first suggestion is to ensure that your pizza stone is preheated. This step takes a decent amount of time. We recommend setting your oven to its highest temperature (450F-500F) for 30-45 minutes to ensure the stone is hot. This is very important because cooking surfaces (pizza stones, stainless steel pans, etc.) become "non-stick" when they maintain a high temperature. If you are interested in why that is; this article is about eggs but demonstrates the same principle.
If the stones are properly heated and the dough is still sticking, it might be the dough its self. You may have dough that is too sticky. If you are making your own dough then solving this is as easy as adjusting your recipe to have a little more flour. However, if you are buying pre-made dough you may want to try a dough from another company or working some more flour into the dough.
The other thing that may be the issue is overloading the pizza with sauce and toppings. This more often causes the bottom finishing before the top but could possibly cause some sticking as well. I usually tell new pizza cooks that less Is more. Start making simple pizza's with just a couple ingredients. Keep the sauce and cheese light. Adding too much sauce, cheese, and toppings can create too much moisture and you can end up with a soggy pizza. This could then create a wetter dough then desired and create the potential for sticking.
Lastly, I would make sure you aren't trying to turn or move the pizza too soon. It is important to allow the crust to set and slightly crisp before you try to rotate it. Try waiting 5 minutes before trying to move it. Hopefully, this help, let me know if you have any questions.
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6 comments
I find rice flour to be a particularly “slippery” flour for putting on the peel and keeping the dough from sticking.
Wow! Thank you all for the comments! We will definitely be putting out the dough recipe in the next blog! Thank you for your input.
Just wondering what the recipe is for the dough? I have two of your outdoor ovens and like to make my own dough. The pizzas I make are always a hit. I’m always trying to make my pizzas better and like to try new doughs. I’d appreciate any recipes you can give me. Thank you.
Hi thank you for the info . I would love the dough recipe also if dough is gets sticky on the wood peel can you leave it in pizza machine like the metal one to Partially cook the dough because then it comes off easier when slightly cooked?
You mention in your “how to fix sticking dough” article, that you have a pizza dough recipe that you can send out. I would like to try it if you would send it to me. Thank you.