Baking – Ideal temperature and method to bake a deep dish pizza

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What is the ideal temperature to bake deep dish pizza, and for how long?

I want to bake a deep pan pizza with toppings of mushrooms, olives and mozzarella and cheddar cheese. I have an electric oven.

Best Answer

For genuine Neapolitan pizza (very thin dough, tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella, olive oil) you would use a wood (oak) fired brick oven at 485°C (900°F)

It should be fully cooked in in less than 90 seconds

If you add other toppings, and use a thicker dough it will take a little longer

Cooking at lower temperatures gives you a nice "pie" or savoury flan, but not a pizza

To make a pizza pie (not a pizza), with a deep pan, with a thick dough layer, you should still use a very hot oven, use the maximum temperature your oven will go to. Some people even override the self clean system to go even hotter. Expect times around 5 to 8 minutes

If your crust starts burning on the edges, either accept it as part of the pizza style, or spread sauce right to the edges. Pre-baking the dough for a minute may reduce soggyness of finished product

Go for traditional pizza's for a generally much nicier experience. And if you have the room build your own wood fired pizza oven (plenty of kits on plans on the net)