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.
Ranked causes
Most likely
Cheese added centrally and not spread all the way to the intended edge
Generally acceptedCheese · from Cheese doesn't reach the edges, leaving bald patches
The same central-pile habit that causes general unevenness disproportionately affects cheese, since it's usually added in fewer, larger handfuls than other toppings.
- Why it fits
- Recorded cause of "Cheese doesn't reach the edges, leaving bald patches", ranked 1 of 2 by PizzaHQ's editors.
- How to tell it apart
- Coverage thins gradually from a heavy centre to bald patches near the edge, after the cheese went on in a few large handfuls.
- Rescue it now
- Add a final light scatter of cheese specifically toward the edges before baking
- Next time
- Cover the surface up to the intended border deliberately, checking the edge specifically rather than relying on cheese spreading itself during the bake
Cheese doesn't reach the edges, leaving bald patchesHow to get cheese to behave better
Also possible
Deliberately leaving a bare rim border but also leaving cheese short of where it should end
Supported, with regional variationCheese · from Cheese doesn't reach the edges, leaving bald patches
A bare rim border for a raised-rim style is intentional and correct; cheese falling short of that border rather than reaching right up to it is not the same thing and is usually just under-coverage.
- Why it fits
- Recorded cause of "Cheese doesn't reach the edges, leaving bald patches", ranked 2 of 2 by PizzaHQ's editors.
- How to tell it apart
- You left a deliberate rim border, but a band of bare sauce sits between where the cheese stops and where that border begins.
- Rescue it now
- Add a final light scatter of cheese specifically toward the edges before baking
- Next time
- Cover the surface up to the intended border deliberately, checking the edge specifically rather than relying on cheese spreading itself during the bake
Cheese doesn't reach the edges, leaving bald patchesHow to get cheese to behave better
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.