This is one of the most common problems people have with their pizzas, as well as one of the most annoying. So let’s see why this happens, and what we can do to prevent it from happening ever again.
The most common causes of a burnt pizza bottom are: too much heat, too much sugar or oil in the dough, too much flour on the bottom of the pizza, or the use of improper toppings.
So there are quite a few things that can cause a burnt pizza bottom. So we will take a look at each possible cause, and I will also share with you my own extremely simple method that will prevent any pizza bottom from getting burnt, with no exception, but let’s start with the beginning.
1. Don’t Add Extra Flour
The most common reason why pizzas get out of the oven with a burnt oven is the extra flour used to keep the pizza from sticking to the pan or to the peel.
Flour can burn very easily in the oven, so you want to use as little extra flour as possible, or none at all if your dough allows it.
If your dough is sticky you can try to assemble your pizza right in a tray with parchment paper on it.
If you use a pizza oven then you want to be very careful with the way you cut the parchment paper. If you leave too much of it it will most likely burn, so make your pizza on top of the paper then get a pair of scissors and try to cut the parchment paper as close to the pizza as possible.
2. Use Less Sugar
Sugar does little to nothing to directly influence the taste of the pizza dough. But sugar can greatly influence the taste in an indirect way.
Sugar in a pizza dough has two main purposes. The first one is that it speeds up the rise of the dough, and secondly, it helps the crust to brown faster. But in some cases, this can do more bad than good.
Not all pizzas need that help to brown faster, if your pizza is capable of doing this on its own, the sugar will only help it get burnt faster.
Most recipes that I’ve seen online never seem to require more than one teaspoon of sugar, but there were some that required 2 tablespoons. Overall one teaspoon shouldn’t make your pizza burnt, but one full tablespoon can.
So next time you make pizza try to use less sugar, or none at all, and see if this was your problem. But you can also follow the other ways that I will describe in this article at the same time if you are not sure which is the cause.
3. Use Less Oil
Unlike sugar which is not really needed to make pizza dough, oil is, as it makes the dough easier to stretch, and keeps it from tearing apart.
But at the same time, oil is very good at transferring heat, so using too much oil can make the dough sensitive to high temperatures.
Overall, one tablespoon of olive oil shouldn’t make a 12-inch pizza bottom get burnt, but 2 tablespoons might make it possible.
4. Baking Method and Time Control
Whether you are using a simple gas home oven, an electric oven, or a pizza oven, it’s important to always maintain a good balance between baking the top of the pizza, and the bottom.
So let’s quickly look at each type of oven and which might be the problem.
Gas Ovens
This part applies to home ovens as well as pizza ovens.
The most problematic out of all possible types of ovens that you could be using is the home gas oven. In this type of oven, the fire is at the bottom but the most heat is at the top. This happens because heat tends to travel upwards.
But if you place the tray closer to the bottom of the oven the tray will heat up faster, since it’s closer to the source of the heat.
So in most cases, the best place to put the pizza is in the middle of the oven, since the pizza will be at the same distance from the top and the bottom of the oven. If this is where you are placing your tray right now, and the bottom ends up burnt, try placing the tray at the top of the oven.
Most pizza ovens tend to be considerably smaller than a home oven, but if you have multiple spots to palace the tray or pizza stone, you should place it in the middle, if the problem persists, try playing it closer to the top.
Electric Ovens
Most electric ovens are capable of emitting heat from the top as well as the bottom so this should give you a little more options to play with.
Overall the same principle applies, try to use the middle of the oven, if the bottom still comes out burnt, try placing the pizza closer to the top.
If this still doesn’t work you could try to use only the top heat source. Or make the lower heat source produce less heat. There are quite a few things to adjust, but at this point, it all depends on how adjustable your oven is.
Temperature Control
Regardless of the type of oven that you are using, one thing that you can adjust is the temperature.
To keep things simple I will only cover the basics, and the basics is this. The higher the temperature the higher the chance that your pizza will have a burnt bottom. But don’t go too low with the heat either, as the pizza won’t cook on the inside.
So if you believe that high heat is the reason why your pizza gets burnt, try reducing it, but only by a little, and see if there is any difference. If you reduce it too much you can end up with a pizza that looks cooked on the outside, but it’s mostly raw on the inside.
Time Control
Basically, things in the oven end up burnt because they spend too much time in there, so one solution to prevent burning would be to take them out sooner. But then the problem is that they won’t be completely cooked, you would think, but that’s not completely true.
When you take the pizza out of the oven it will still be very hot. So hot that you could actually cook something on it, or in it. What I’m trying to say is that when you take the pizza out of the oven the dough is still cooking on the inside, just like the toppings are on top of the pizza.
Keeping the pizza in the oven for too long out of fear that it won’t be cooked properly, is a big mistake.
You should take the pizza out as soon as the bottom looks ready and leave it to cool at room temperature. If you try to speed up the cooling process there is a good chance that the dough won’t have enough heat to properly cook on the inside.
5. Use Sand
This is a trick that I learned when I was trying to bake a cake, which has a bottom that is even easier to burn than that of a pizza. And I’ve been using this trick for almost anything that I’ve been baking ever since.
Let me tell you what you need to do, as it’s very simple. All you have to do is fill your oven tray with sand, any type of sand should do the job. And that’s basically it.
Place your pizza either directly on top of the sand, using parchment paper, or put the pizza on a smaller tray, and place that tray on top of the sand.
The sand won’t heat as much as the tray will, so it will act as a barrier that reduces the heat that is transferred directly to the bottom of the pizza. So the bottom and the top will cook perfectly even.
Over the years I’ve been using different quantities and types of sand, here are some observations, that will be useful if you choose to use this method:
- Fine sand tends to heat up slower
- Sand that has small stones in it, and overall larger grains will heat up faster and give out more heat
- The thicker the sand layer, the more it will take to heat up
- Make sure that the sand has no leaves or wood in it, they can catch fire
- Don’t wash the sand, if you do this you will lose some of the sand
- Heating up the sand in the oven will get rid of all germs and bacteria
- Make sure that the sand hasn’t been treated in any way
This method 100% gets rid of the burnt bottom, I’ve been using this method for years for pizza, bread, and cakes, and I’ve never had a burnt bottom. The only way you can end up with a burnt bottom if you use this method is if you burn the whole pizza until it turns into charcoal completely.
If you want to make a pizza right now and you have no way to get some sand quickly there are still a few more things that you can do to prevent a burnt bottom.
6. Cold Dough
Another reason why your pizza ends up with a burnt bottom can be due to the dough being cold.
When you put the uncooked pizza in the oven the first part of the dough that will heat up is the exterior. The interior will need more time to heat up, especially if you are making a thicker pizza.
So, if your pizza ends up with a burnt bottom and you are using the dough straight from the fridge, you should take the dough out of the fridge and keep it at room temperature for at least one hour before shaping the pizza and playing it in the oven.
7. Cold or Improper Toppings
One way to tell if a pizza is done is to look at the toppings on top of it, and see if they are cooked.
But if the toppings you use are cold they will need to spend more time in the oven, and during this time the bottom might get burnt.
The thickness of the toppings is also something that can make you keep the pizza in the oven longer than you should.
Some toppings, like mozzarella, for example, are usually stored in liquid, and not drying the mozzarella beforehand will make the dough wet, and as a result, the pizza will have to stay more in the oven.
So, even if toppings don’t directly affect the bottom of the pizza, they have a great indirect effect.
Final Thoughts
So those are the 7 ways in which you can prevent the bottom of your pizza from getting burnt.
It basically comes down to using the right ingredients in the correct way and proportion, and being careful with the temperature and placement of the pizza in the oven.
So take a closer look at the way you make your pizza and see which could be the problem.