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PizzaHQ

Pizza troubleshooter

Choose what you saw — up to three things — and, if you know them, what you baked on, the style and the bake. PizzaHQ ranks the likely causes from its 57 documented symptoms, 137 recorded causes and 36 equipment-specific branches, and for each one says why it fits, how to tell it apart from its neighbours, what you can still rescue, and what to change next time.

2. What did you see? Choose up to 3.

1 of 3 chosen.

3. Context (optional — sharpens the ranking)

Ranked causes

Most likely

  1. Bottom heat dominant relative to top heat, common with a very hot steel and weak top element

    Generally accepted

    Bake environment · from Base cooks before the toppings finish

    A steel's high thermal mass can finish the base well before a moderate top element browns the toppings and melts the cheese fully.

    Why it fits
    • Recorded cause of "Base cooks before the toppings finish", ranked 1 of 2 by PizzaHQ's editors.
    How to tell it apart
    Even a light topping lags behind a finished base, usually on a very hot steel under a weak top element.
    Rescue it now
    Finish briefly under a broiler, or move to a higher rack for the remainder of the bake
    Next time
    Balance top and bottom heat sources, and pre-cook slow-cooking toppings before assembly

    Base cooks before the toppings finishPizza in a domestic ovenUsing the grill or broiler for pizzaHow heat gets into a pizza

  2. Toppings too thick or dense to finish in the base's cook time

    Generally accepted

    Toppings · from Base cooks before the toppings finish

    Some toppings genuinely need more time or heat than the base does.

    Why it fits
    • Recorded cause of "Base cooks before the toppings finish", ranked 2 of 2 by PizzaHQ's editors.
    How to tell it apart
    Thinly topped areas finish with the base, and only the thick, dense or piled toppings stay underdone.
    Rescue it now
    Finish briefly under a broiler, or move to a higher rack for the remainder of the bake
    Next time
    Balance top and bottom heat sources, and pre-cook slow-cooking toppings before assembly

    Base cooks before the toppings finishPizza in a domestic ovenUsing the grill or broiler for pizzaHow heat gets into a pizza

Also possible

  1. This is the steel's characteristic imbalance rather than a fault. Fitting a steel solves bottom heat so effectively that top heat becomes the limiting factor, and nothing about the steel addresses the top of the pizza.

    Strongly supported

    Equipment · Cooking on a pizza steel · from Base cooks before the toppings finish

    Why it fits
    • Applies only if you are using "Cooking on a pizza steel".
    How to tell it apart
    The base is properly done and the cheese has melted but not browned, on a steel in a domestic oven.
    Rescue it now
    Finish under the grill for 60–120 seconds.
    Next time
    Position the steel about 15–18 cm below the grill element and treat the grill finish as part of the method rather than a rescue. Check whether your oven disables the grill above a certain set temperature.

    Base cooks before the toppings finishCooking on a pizza steelHow heat gets into a pizza

How this works

Every cause shown is one PizzaHQ has already documented, either on a symptom page or as an equipment-specific branch. The troubleshooter does not invent causes; it ranks the documented ones against what you told it.

A cause starts from its recorded evidence confidence and its editorial rank within its symptom. An equipment-specific cause for the equipment you used rises sharply, and causes for equipment you are not using are set aside. A kind of cause (bake environment, fermentation, toppings…) that also explains another thing you saw rises again — one explanation for two observations is more likely than two separate faults.

If you name a style, its recorded equipment fit, bake temperature and bake time are compared with yours; a bake far outside the style's range, or equipment PizzaHQ records as a compromise for that style, raises the heat and equipment causes and says why.

Assumptions

  • Causes are bucketed — most likely, also possible, less likely — rather than given a percentage; the underlying ranking is additive and every addition is listed under 'Why it fits'.
  • 'How to tell it apart' is the observation PizzaHQ records as distinguishing that cause from the symptom's others.
  • Bake temperature and time only count when a style is chosen, because they are judged against that style's recorded range.

Limitations

  • Only documented symptoms can be diagnosed. If what you see is not listed, the closest symptom page is the better starting point.
  • Equipment-specific branches exist where equipment genuinely changes the answer; most dough-stage problems have none, by design.
  • A ranking is a starting point for checking, not a verdict — the distinguishing observations are there so you can confirm or rule out each cause yourself.

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