I know that's not very scientific, because now I don't know which ingredient or method got me which result. But I just wanted some great pizza... and I wanted it NOW.
1) A few hours ahead of pizza-baking time, I added a couple teaspoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon yeast, dissolved in a minimal amount of water to my dough bucket, and left it sit at room temperature.
2) When I turned on the oven to preheat, I didn't wait to form my pizzas, but did it right away, so they could rest and rise while the oven and Baking Steel heated for 45 minutes to an hour.
3) Just before putting in the first pizza, I turned the oven to Broil for several minutes.
4) When I put in the pizza, I returned the oven mode to Bake. But after several minutes of baking, when the bottom crust seemed brown enough, I turned it back to Broil to finish the top.
5) I left it on Broil when I took out Pizza #1 to repeat the method for the next pizza.
Results:
GREAT "pop" of the crust... Quick rise and some bubbles formed just after putting the pizzas in the oven....and a browned bottom crust!
But, alas.... sigh... even though the pizza was browned, it was on the soft and bready side, instead of lightly crispy-crusty like we wanted.
That's the advantage of our weekly Pizza Night... It's not too long before we try again and hope to do better. So... More later!
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