Few things cause more anxiety about pizza making than shoving the floppy piece of dough off the peel and onto the hot cooking surface intact. Lately I've been using, and have been smitten with the
Baking Steel. I use it in the lower third of my oven using 550F convection. This corresponds to a surface temp of about 570F, determined by infrared thermometer.
That's pretty hot. A pizza dough, topped, is pretty floppy. Takes a bit of practice to get the right amount of flour beneath it so the pie slides. Any toppings hit that surface and the smoke detectors are going off.
Parchment's a great crutch but it's only good to 425F. BUT, if it's trimmed close, the micro environment near the pizza crust should never exceed about 220F. I tried some 12" diameter pieces trimmed close to the pie but the bottom crust just wasn't as crisp as not using it. It must've encapsulated just enough moisture to prevent the crisping of the crust.
Which brings me to today. I tried the same 12" diameter parchment on a 260 g piece of dough. This time, I perforated it by folding it into 8ths and punched a bunch of holes in it.
I pushed the dough out almost all the way (should have had about 280 - 300 g to go the entire 12") but this was a good starting point. I dusted the dough lightly and tossed it on the paper.
Sliiiiides nicely on the peel without a ton of excess flour! Now I can relax, talk to guests and top this without worrying about the bottom sticking to the counter.
Topped lightly with tomatoes and parmesan, oil and some salt. I let it sit on the parchment about 12 minutes and it still floated around the peel nicely.
Baked at 550F convection for 4.5 minutes. The excess paper was definitely in danger of ignition, next time I'd trim closer or push the dough to cover the paper more completely.
Pulled the pie out and it slid off the paper with a few tugs. Note the paper in contact with the dough is perfectly fine, that section could even be used again.
Biggest result of the entire experiment - good color and crispy on the bottom!!
Total winner. I'll be experimenting with this a lot, especially when making a zillion pies for a dinner. Set up a bunch of shells on parchment, go hang with guests, top and bake. Crusts can sit out for a long time without drying out.
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