Pizza Crust Question

[jerseygrl]

It seems every pizza crust recipe I've seen, including the box mixes, require that after you spread the dough in the pan,

you need to pop it in the oven for 10 minutes, take it out, put on sauce, cheese, etc. and then put it back in the oven.

A local italian restautant knows our situation and takes great precaution when we bring a prepared gluten-free crust there for the kids. They take our pre-made crust and

apply the sauce and cheese for us. The owner always wonders why we prebake before we come -- his theory is that the sauce will just sit on top of the pizza this way,

instead of absorbing in the crust like in a wheat crust.

I have to admit, I don't know why this is necessary. Anyone know out there?

Thanks.

[angel-jd1]

It seems every pizza crust recipe I've seen, including the box mixes, require that after you spread the dough in the pan,

you need to pop it in the oven for 10 minutes, take it out, put on sauce, cheese, etc. and then put it back in the oven.

A local italian restautant knows our situation and takes great precaution when we bring a prepared gluten-free crust there for the kids. They take our pre-made crust and

apply the sauce and cheese for us. The owner always wonders why we prebake before we come -- his theory is that the sauce will just sit on top of the pizza this way,

instead of absorbing in the crust like in a wheat crust.

I have to admit, I don't know why this is necessary. Anyone know out there?

Thanks.

I bake mine because I like a crispy crust. I don't like the sauce to soak in and make it all soggy....just my 2 cents

-Jessica

[jerseygrl]

True, I don't like a soggy crust either But why doesnt a wheat crust get soggy --- you don't prebake a wheat crust....?

Uur pizzeria (and most, I think) don't prebake theirs. *hmmmmm..pondering.....*

[jerseygrl]

Uur = Our

Need more coffee

[EG+FC]

People just do it to make the crust crispy. I watch 30 minutes meal with Rachael Ray and she always bakes her crust for ten minutes before putting the toppings on. She said that she always does it to make it crispy. When I make my pizza from Gluten free Pantry, I don't prebake it and it comes out perfectly crispy.

[hangininthere]

I have wondered this myself, then it came to me from something that was said in this thread!

Gluten-free flours do get soggy, unlike wheat flours! The gluten is what holds everything together, and without it, it's hard to get any baked goods to hold together and stand up!

Such as, whenever I make stove top turkey or chicken or pork chop stuffing, the soft gluten-free bread I use turns to mush when served leftover, instead of staying in little cubes (I'm gonna try using the real rubbery frozen gluten-free bread sometime on stuffing, and see if that holds up)!

So I'm guessing it's the same with the pizza crust! I'm guessing it needs prebaked so the top will 'firm up', to hold up to the sauce and toppings rather than get mushy!

I think I'll try not prebaking my gluten-free pizza crust next time, to see what happens, ha! Or maybe not, just in case it doesn't turn out and all the ingredients and labor go to waste, hahahaha!

Best wishes to all!

[jerseyangel]

Sorry to get off-topic here, but to hangininthere--

I had the same problem with stuffings made with gluten-free breads. Last Thanksgiving, I made a lof of Gluten Free Pantry French Bread and cut it into cubes. I spread the cubes on a baking sheet, sprinkled with poultry seasonning, and baked at 350 for around 20 minutes--maybe a bit more. I kept checking on them till they were lightly browned and hard to the touch.

I then made my stuffing as I normally would. The bread held together pretty well--I took care to toss it gently with the other ingredients.

Again, sorry--back to pizza crust talk!

[TinkerbellSwt]

i just started using Bette Hagmans pizza crust in the gluten free gourmet bakes bread recipe, and even though it does say to pre bake it, I was at a pizza party and this is what the cook made for everyone (about 60 of us) and thru her experiments thru all these years, she does not bake the crust first, and believe me.. this crust came out crispy.. and bendable.. soooo good. i havent been able to reproduce her exact pizza, i think i just need more practice, but it can be done, not prebaking and getting crispy crust

[angel-jd1]

True, I don't like a soggy crust either But why doesnt a wheat crust get soggy --- you don't prebake a wheat crust....?

Uur pizzeria (and most, I think) don't prebake theirs. *hmmmmm..pondering.....*

Back before my pre-gluten-free days......I even pre-baked my gluteny crusts. So I dunno......I guess my technique is to pre-bake lol

-Jessica

[heathen]

i use the namaste crust, which i normally pre-baked... but i forgot to one time, and it turned out better. even my non-gluten-free family thought so.

[hangininthere]

Thanks! I love French bread but haven't been able to have it since I realized about a year ago that I have gluten intolerance! But I looked the brand you mentioned up on-line and it has soy which me or son can't have either, plus need a bread machine, plus can't order on-line, ha! I'll look up a homemade recipe for French bread that I can make with my own flour mix and in regular oven. I haven't been able to get a loaf of bread to turn out yet though, try as I might, hahaha! Bread machine and heavy duty tabletop mixer have been on my wish-list for sure!

My stuffing held up when immediately served, but the leftovers turned to mush. I did toast the bread cubes in the oven though, but still didn't hold up after the first fresh serving. I think the real rubbery store-bought frozen rice bread might work for the stuffing, that bread is tough, ha!

I don't like my pizza crust crispy, so maybe I'll keep prebaking mine. But I can't resist the temptation to 'try it out', so I might try not prebaking just once and see what happens, ha!

Another thought I had about why prebake? I'm thinking that, since it's so hard to get non-gluten flour to rise (gluten is what makes breads and the like rise so nicely), maybe we're to prebake so that the crust rises as much as it can, without the toppings weighing it down?

Best wishes to all!

[lpellegr]

Back when I kneaded and baked my own homemade wheat pizza crust every week I would top the raw dough with just sauce, bake for 18 minutes, then add the cheese for 4 minutes because putting the cheese on at the beginning and baking the whole time at 425 caused the cheese to get brown and crisp, and we just wanted it oozy and melting. I think adding the sauce from the beginning kept the crust doughy (this is Sicilian style, thick and doughy and rectangular) the way we liked it. If you want it firmer, then prebaking would do it. Also keep in mind that the pizza ovens at a pizza shop are way hotter than you would use at home - 500-600 degrees - and that they load the pizza directly onto a hot stone floor of the oven, so they bake differently than our pizza pans in a home oven will.

[Guhlia]

I've tried making pizza without prebaking the crust and I always end up burning the toppings that way because it takes longer to bake the crust than it does to melt/cook the toppings. I don't like my crust raw tasting, so I always prebake. Perhaps it's just the couple of recipes I've tried, who knows. Or perhaps I just like my crust more done than most people.