How to Fix Burnt Pizza Bottom{Salvage burnt pizza Slice}

While it is hard to resist pizza, there are times when we are discouraged from eating one if it is burnt or undercooked. So here, we will see how to fix burnt pizza bottom to stay safe to eat.

If you wonder how to salvage burnt pizza bottoms, there is not much you can do, and all you can do is make sure that it does not happen again by using the right tools and techniques.

There are some ways to still eat a burnt crust pizza, but you have to make sure that you remove the chars or coals on the bottom so that it is still safe to eat if you want to.

Getting the pizza base burning in the pizza oven is one of new cooks’ most common mistakes.

That is why it is nothing to be discouraged from, as we have most likely done it.

Pizza ovens like this one are great for making Neapolitan pizzas.

However, they are a bit hard to control, so you are most likely to make mistakes like you can burn pizza bottoms easily.

If you are still practicing, you can use normal ovens and pizza stones to know how hot the pizza oven should get and how long you should be cooking the pizza in your oven.

Why Did The Bottom Of My Pizza Burn?

There are many reasons why you have burnt crust on your pizza. Here, we will be looking at the reasons why the bottom of your pizza got burnt to understand how to salvage it if you still can.

Too Much Heat

One of the most common mistakes that new cooks make is cooking the pizza over too much heat. Yes, pizza needs to be cooked at high temperatures, but you also need to be attentive.

It is important to keep in mind that the heat source in your oven does not move around, and that is why you will need to make sure that the pizza gets even heat from the heat source of your oven.

This goes with frozen pizzas as well. The mere fact that they are cold should not be enough reason to cook them longer in the oven at high temperatures, it will just burn the crust.

Wood-fired pizza ovens are also trickier to use as they produce so much heat. They have a learning curve so make sure that you practice first to make the pizza cook better.

Most wood-fired pizza ovens like Ooni have pizza stones or pizza steels underneath them. They conduct heat, but it can burn your pizzas right away if they heat up too quickly and too much.

Uneven heat within the pizza oven can burn even the best Neapolitan pizzas. Burnt crust pizza cannot increase the risk of cancer but it is better to be safe from nitrites and nitrates.

Too Much Sugar

Yes, adding sugar to the pizza dough is common to encourage browning. However, it can also encourage the pizza base burning in the pizza oven and make it too dark.

While this is generally still safe to eat, the pizza slices will not be as pleasing or as delicious as you want them to be. They can develop bitterness so you will most likely stop eating the pizza.

Sugar is usually added to recipes cooked at lower temperatures and with a slower timer. Pizzas are cooked at really high temperatures and are cooked quickly.

Too Much Flour

Whether from the peel or your workspace, you will use excess flour to easily manage the pizza dough. This can be the reason why you have a burnt crust pizza.c

Excess flour can help knead and shape the dough to prevent it from sticking to your hand or on the workspace. However, it can also burn pizza bottoms easily when too much.

This rarely happens with frozen pizzas from pizza stores as you do not need to put excess flour on frozen pizzas. Fresh pizza dough is slightly different as it can get the base burning in the pizza oven.

Flour is a dry ingredient that will burn quicker than the slightly wet dough. You can stop this from happening by using a good pizza peel with a perforated surface so the pizza slides to the stone easily.

This is hard to figure out as I spent a lot of tries on figuring out why my pizza bottom got burnt. So always try to use just the right amount of flour for transferring or kneading the pizza dough.

Using Cold Dough

Another reason your pizza bottom is burnt is that you might be using cold dough, and you might not have allowed the dough to rise or rest before kneading it and you just cooked it right away.

This will take longer to cook the dough which burns the outer parts and leave the interior raw. This can happen if you use a wood-fired pizza oven like the Ooni oven to cook cold pizzas.

This can also happen a lot with frozen pizzas so make sure to defrost the pizza properly before cooking it. Preheat the pizza oven with a pizza stone to let the radiating heat cook the pizza evenly.

The most likely result if you cook cold dough is that the toppings and the outer parts of the dough will finish cooking, but the interior will stay mushy instead of becoming soft and airy.

Even thin-crusted Neapolitan pizzas can suffer from this mistake as the cold dough will remain cold on the inside, and you will burn pizza bottoms if you do not allow the dough to thaw.

How To Fix Burnt Pizza Bottom

This part is not necessarily about fixing your pizza bottom as it is really hard to see how to salvage your burnt pizza slice, and all you can do is remove the burnt part.

This is where you will learn the tricks of preventing your pizza from getting burnt. Once the pizza starts to burn, it is hard to stop the process, so it is better to prevent it from happening.

Right Temperature And Right Amount Of Time

There is a possibility that your oven thermostat is less accurate if used over the years. Even if you just want to reheat a slice of pizza or cook a whole pie, you need to make sure it is accurate.

Getting to the right temperature is the most important thing in this process. Ensure that you preheat the pizza oven before putting the pizza in and turn down the heat if needed.

There can be too much heat coming from underneath for wood-fired pizza ovens. That is why you always need an accurate thermometer to ensure that the pizza does not get burnt.

Buffer The Heat

If there is no way for you to measure the oven’s temperature and you think that there is too much heat, you can buffer the temperature by using very simple tools.

You can cook with aluminum foil or parchment paper so that the bottom of the pizza does not go directly into the heat source. The risk you are taking here is you might get a soggy pizza.

If you turn down the heat, there is no need to use such tools as the pizza steel or pizza stone will cook the pizza perfectly.

Pizza stones or pizza steels are the best tools to use when cooking pizzas, and they can make the heat more even and make sure that the toppings and crust cook simultaneously.

Avoid Too Much Sugar And Flour

Since these two ingredients are the most common ingredients that can cause your pizza crust to burn, you should avoid using them. Always dust off the excess flour on your pizza.

Whether it is from the pizza peel or your workspace, you need to make sure that you dust off the excess flour. Pizza dough is also great without too much sugar, so removing it from the recipe is not a big deal.

It can be useful but it is not necessary to the pizza dough. So if you can, avoid using sugar when you are aking your pizza dough recipe at home.

Conclusion

While most people believe that coals can cause cancer, Acrylamide from burnt pastries does not cause cancer. However, it is best to remove the pizza from the burning oven before it worsens.

Once the pizza’s crust develops those pleasing leopard spotting pizza patterns, you can be sure that the crust is cooked perfectly. You do not need to go further than that.

Burnt pizzas often occur with bar pizzas or other pizzas with very thin crusts. So make sure to adjust everything from the ingredients to the thickness of the pizza before cooking.

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