Soggy bottom pizza! Help required please

oliverp_2

So it is the top which is 'wet' when you cut it??

If so that is the water from vegetables and cheese and pretty much normal - make sure the cheese is kept in the fridge until the very last minute as well though to prevent some of this moisture.

otterspasm

Hi there,
When I make pizza I heat the baking tray up in a hot oven before putting the dough onto it. That way it starts to cook a little as soon as I put it on the tray. I put lots of toppings and often quite 'wet' stuff on my pizzas and they usually aren't soggy so maybe that is the key. I do it the way suggested by Delia in 'how to cook part one'.
HTH!
Tess

Dotmatic

Here's what I do and get perfect pizza every time . Make dough base in BM: I use tomato puree (instead of tinned toms) with a few tsps of water, mix, season and add crushed garlic, add this to the base then add uncooked chopped onion, if I'm adding mushrooms then I precook those in the microwave and drain off liquid first, then add grated mozzarella, put in oven on GM 7 for approx 15 mins, I usually turn it halfway through cooking to ensure even cooking.
HTH

mto

I'm beginning to think it might be the mozarella i'm using. I currently use the mozarella balls in liquid, drain them for 30mins or so and then pat them dry with a paper towel. studentphil and Dotmatic both mention using grated mozarella, but there's no way you can grate the stuff in the ball, so where do you buy mozarella that you can grate?

My cooking method is to heat up the oven to max with an unglazed terracotta floor tile inside. Slide uncooked pizza on top of floor tile and cook for 7-9mins. I've not got any more adventurous than tomato, mozarella and mushrooms so far so i know the wetness isn't caused by other toppings.

helping_hubby

mto wrote: »

I'm beginning to think it might be the mozarella i'm using. I currently use the mozarella balls in liquid, drain them for 30mins or so and then pat them dry with a paper towel. studentphil and Dotmatic both mention using grated mozarella, but there's no way you can grate the stuff in the ball, so where do you buy mozarella that you can grate?

My cooking method is to heat up the oven to max with an unglazed terracotta floor tile inside. Slide uncooked pizza on top of floor tile and cook for 7-9mins. I've not got any more adventurous than tomato, mozarella and mushrooms so far so i know the wetness isn't caused by other toppings.

I use the mozerella ball thing in the liquid and never even drained it off or patted it properly and my first pizza was fine. But I put very little tomatoe sauce on.

The second pizza was more heavily loaded with tomato sauce and thats when I got my pools of water that you describe.

The next sauce I put in a sieve to drain off as much water (because I freeze my sauce) and found an improvement. I think a thicker sauce is the key.

But I guess it might be the mozerella, but I'm not convinced.

odds-n-sods

ity's not the cheese, its the sauce, use tomaot paste with a liitle water in, I use lots of sauce on my pizzas and they dont' go soggy; I do bake my base first for 5 minutes, tho! And pile on as many roasted veg + cherry tomatoes as it will hold!

dianadors

When doing Homemade Pizza's I make sure that my oven is on its hottest setting and only put the topping on immedietley before it goes into the oven

belfastgirl23

Never thought of the floor tile - that's a great idea

I use a pizza stone - it's worth the investment if you're making pizza often. I do what you do re heating the oven to its hottest, then lift the stone out, lay the base on it and quickly assemble the ingredients on top. I've not had trouble with the base going soggy either with grated or sliced mozzarella.

BTW you normally buy mozzarella ready grated rather than grating yourself - most bigger supermarkets will have it. I think it's handier to use and I'm pretty sure it's cheaper. I don't think there's a taste difference either.

helping_hubby

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Never thought of the floor tile - that's a great idea

I use a pizza stone - it's worth the investment if you're making pizza often. I do what you do re heating the oven to its hottest, then lift the stone out, lay the base on it and quickly assemble the ingredients on top. I've not had trouble with the base going soggy either with grated or sliced mozzarella.

BTW you normally buy mozzarella ready grated rather than grating yourself - most bigger supermarkets will have it. I think it's handier to use and I'm pretty sure it's cheaper. I don't think there's a taste difference either.

If it is cheaper I'd love to know where you buy it from? I'm on a strict budget and I get the ball mozerella in the liquid as this is the cheapest at Sainsburys. I'm sure the grated stuff was over £1.00. The ball is 63p. However this does 1 large pizza for 2 people. Maybe the grated is enough for 4?

lynzpower

We use either the grated mozz in a bag ( lidls, or tesco) or tescos own healthy living one.

I personally get the feeling that the grated one is in fact cheraper as you get more of it, you c an use it more finely - I would never only use mozz, alwayws mix with block cheddar, but ALSO been known to use other random cheeses such as comte, goude, edam even cottage, just to get rid of whatever i have in .Also the bags save better, they hve a striplock top

are you certain that the wetness on the top isnt fat from the cheese? Ive had pizzas ( alberit when Ive been eating out) that has had that- really not pleasant at all,. which is why we choose the diet versions.