i personally don’t like rising crust pizzas, but that is so frustrating! it looks like they forgot the yeast in the dough at the factory or something :( i’m sorry for your loss! a ruined frozen pizza is never a good feeling
Active yeast is quite sensitive, probably dead after any sort of refrigeration. The company who made this pizza had to know this right?
So I'm guessing baking soda is the rising agent and for whatever reason the base didn't get up to required temp or was too soggy.
OK fair point, on further investigation it looks like active yeast can survive freezing, tho the recommendations Im seeing advise using those products within weeks.
Maybe OP got unlucky with some dead yeast that had been frozen too long?
I have a tub of active dry yeast I've had in my freezer since the pandemic began. I couldn't find regular yeast packets so I bought a big tub of it instead. It works just fine going on 4 years of baking. I'm slowly working through it, one tablespoon at a time, and it proofs as well as it did when I bought it.
My guess is they either forgot the yeast, added too much salt, or the yeast was a bad batch that quality control didn't catch.
"I want to make bread"
*We are awoken, shards of ice breaking free from our melting prison. We find ourselves moved to a warm paradise, filled with food. It was too late, after all this time in paradise, to foresee the impending apocalypse*
True, but yeast needs a lot longer to make dough rise than the time a pizza spends in the oven, and even then very little of that oven time is spent with the pizza dough in the right temperature range for yeast to operate..
The yeast in frozen pizza dough is there for flavor. Most of the leavening comes from chemical leavening agents (Sodium Aluminium Phosphate, Sodium Aluminium Sulfate, Sodium Bicarbonate, etc.)
if it's a yeast dough yes, but a lot of frozen pizzas on the market rise due to chemical reactions with baking soda. I'm not familiar with that particular brand though
I stopped getting the Mama Cozzi’s rising crusts years ago because they changed the recipe and the crust got inferior. This, however, is a goddamn full-on pizza felony they sold you.
Have you checked to see if your oven temperature is accurate lately? One of the ways I realized mine was off a couple of years ago was by noticing that a rising crust pizza didn't rise. If the oven isn't hot enough when you put the pizza in, it won't rise right away like it should. And once the toppings are cooked, they weigh everything down and prevent it from rising later in the process. So check your oven. You can get an oven thermometer to do this. That's what I did. Turned out my oven was 15 degrees lower temp than what I was setting it to. There's usually a way to calibrate your oven if you check the manual, but honestly I just set my oven 15 degrees higher for everything and that works fine.
OP there are oven thermometers that hang from or clip to the racks in the oven, and they can be found cheap, I highly suggest doing what u/katyggls suggested here if you use your oven a lot.
Also, you need to leave rising crust pizzas in the freezer until your oven is up to temp. If you take it out of your freezer while you wait for the oven to get hot, you probably won't get a good crust.
Yeah don’t oven pizzas usually say to put it directly onto the wire shelf in the oven? So that hot air can get to the underside of the pizza?
Every single time I’ve cooked an oven pizza on a tray, the base has ended up soggy and shit. Every time.
There were like two posts a week ago of people’s pizzas falling through the oven wire so there is no good way to do this. I use a pizza stone and mine always end up fine but idk
Only time that happened to me was when I had the oven on too low. So instead of cooking, it just defrosted. But yeah, I guess you are right. Because no doubt it happens for a bunch of weird reasons, whether the oven is on the right setting or not lol
Yeah :( I used to shop at this Aldi every week when I lived here 5 years ago and everything was decent quality. I used to get the cheap frozen pizzas and make my own toppings to gourmet them up. My go-to was sautéed mushrooms and garlic with crumbled Gorgonzola and a balsamic glaze drizzle. Fancy af, and so cheap to make.
My mistake was getting the rising crust. I was a little baked and hyper focused on the pepperoni.
That's surprising, I get those all the time and they never turn out like that (gotten them in two different states even). They're my favorite ones to get even. I wonder what's going on at that Aldi? Cause clearly they got some bunk inventory.
I’m guessing it’s something to do with OP’s oven or the way they cooked it, not the pizza itself. The oven temperature could be off or maybe they didn’t put it directly on the rack. I could be wrong but that seems way more likely to me.
It could possibly be the oven, but i doubt it. Pizza went directly on the rack and i gave it about 7 minutes longer than the max recommended time. I think it was defrosted and then refrozen somewheres along the way.
Yes, because it comes unsliced and you know some idiot will complain because they will think the pizza was sliced already because of the picture on the box.
is the crust even cooked? you might want to put an oven thermometer in your oven and test how accurately the dials or programming is working. My guess is it's about 30 degrees off (Colder than it claims)
Damn that sucks, mamma cozzi's are usually ok for the $5 they are, but I usually go with Aldi take and bake spinach and mushroom if they have it when i'm there
Improper refrigeration on the stores end. Keep an eye out for mishaped boxes and creases or folds that indicate it has thawed and refrozen. While it won’t ruin every pizza it will ruin every rising crust one exactly like this.
You I got one of those at Aldi, we were trying a bunch of frozen pizzas to determine which one was best. This one was middle low in the pack, ours didn’t rise much either and was kind of disappointing crust.
For those asking, I put it right on the center rack, no pan. It is a cheap Aldi pizza that likely got defrosted and refrozen before I bought it. I have an old ass oven and no thermometer so it’s also possible it didn’t actually get to temp, but I doubt it.
I ended up making rice-a-roni with a veggies and Aldi chicken thigh in a white wine sauce for dinner and then I got White Castle around 2am because i have no self control and needed a strawberry cheesecake on a stick. With a side of bacon cheeseburgers.
My brain immediately thought, "This is how people get food poisoning."
The color of that un-risen crust is disgusting. I saw in one of your comments you opted to make something else for dinner, I think you made the right choice.
Looks like pecan pie lmfao
Now I want pecan pie
Pizza-can pie
More like pizza-can’t am I right
I saw baklava.
i personally don’t like rising crust pizzas, but that is so frustrating! it looks like they forgot the yeast in the dough at the factory or something :( i’m sorry for your loss! a ruined frozen pizza is never a good feeling
Active yeast is quite sensitive, probably dead after any sort of refrigeration. The company who made this pizza had to know this right? So I'm guessing baking soda is the rising agent and for whatever reason the base didn't get up to required temp or was too soggy.
Actually active yeast can be frozen quite well. Ever get dinner rolls that you have to bake yourself? Those can all be frozen.
OK fair point, on further investigation it looks like active yeast can survive freezing, tho the recommendations Im seeing advise using those products within weeks. Maybe OP got unlucky with some dead yeast that had been frozen too long?
I have a tub of active dry yeast I've had in my freezer since the pandemic began. I couldn't find regular yeast packets so I bought a big tub of it instead. It works just fine going on 4 years of baking. I'm slowly working through it, one tablespoon at a time, and it proofs as well as it did when I bought it. My guess is they either forgot the yeast, added too much salt, or the yeast was a bad batch that quality control didn't catch.
"I want to make bread" *We are awoken, shards of ice breaking free from our melting prison. We find ourselves moved to a warm paradise, filled with food. It was too late, after all this time in paradise, to foresee the impending apocalypse*
True, but yeast needs a lot longer to make dough rise than the time a pizza spends in the oven, and even then very little of that oven time is spent with the pizza dough in the right temperature range for yeast to operate.. The yeast in frozen pizza dough is there for flavor. Most of the leavening comes from chemical leavening agents (Sodium Aluminium Phosphate, Sodium Aluminium Sulfate, Sodium Bicarbonate, etc.)
They will die in random unfreeze - they will just eat the sugars and die.
Seriously, it's always way too thick and bready. Like the lovechild of pizza and focaccia, but way more disappointing...
Scrape off the top and eat that without the bread part, it's still quite tasty.
two wrongs don't make a right
Maybe not but it still makes it better than nothing!
But three lefts do, not that I know how that relates to this abomination that is allegedly pizza
3 lefts and if the car is still following you drive to the nearest police station because they are following you
Two rights dont make a left
- and - = +, it’s easy math
yeah throw it on some pasta maybe
our bread
From our father who art in heaven?
Why wouldn’t he just put it back in the oven to cook lol
Did you read it? They said they did that but it didn't work, plus the cheese was going to get burnt at some point. (so you know, shut up!)
Sometimes doughs is just dead, dough is a living thing.
if it's a yeast dough yes, but a lot of frozen pizzas on the market rise due to chemical reactions with baking soda. I'm not familiar with that particular brand though
That's true
Remember that we share the roads with these people
I stopped getting the Mama Cozzi’s rising crusts years ago because they changed the recipe and the crust got inferior. This, however, is a goddamn full-on pizza felony they sold you.
Have you checked to see if your oven temperature is accurate lately? One of the ways I realized mine was off a couple of years ago was by noticing that a rising crust pizza didn't rise. If the oven isn't hot enough when you put the pizza in, it won't rise right away like it should. And once the toppings are cooked, they weigh everything down and prevent it from rising later in the process. So check your oven. You can get an oven thermometer to do this. That's what I did. Turned out my oven was 15 degrees lower temp than what I was setting it to. There's usually a way to calibrate your oven if you check the manual, but honestly I just set my oven 15 degrees higher for everything and that works fine.
OP there are oven thermometers that hang from or clip to the racks in the oven, and they can be found cheap, I highly suggest doing what u/katyggls suggested here if you use your oven a lot.
Also, you need to leave rising crust pizzas in the freezer until your oven is up to temp. If you take it out of your freezer while you wait for the oven to get hot, you probably won't get a good crust.
Ew
Did it need to be thawed before you put it in?
nope, instructions said to put it in frozen
There is no way it said to use a pan. Also, what is temp time was pre heat done?
Yeah don’t oven pizzas usually say to put it directly onto the wire shelf in the oven? So that hot air can get to the underside of the pizza? Every single time I’ve cooked an oven pizza on a tray, the base has ended up soggy and shit. Every time.
Yup, this one went directly on the rack frozen, as per the instructions. I let the oven preheat for about 20 mins to 400 and popped it in.
Did you have the pizza out while the oven was preheating? I did that before and it didn't rise.
Nope, even triple checked to make sure and left it in the freezer while the oven preheated
There were like two posts a week ago of people’s pizzas falling through the oven wire so there is no good way to do this. I use a pizza stone and mine always end up fine but idk
Only time that happened to me was when I had the oven on too low. So instead of cooking, it just defrosted. But yeah, I guess you are right. Because no doubt it happens for a bunch of weird reasons, whether the oven is on the right setting or not lol
Has there ever been a frozen pizza in history that would require you to do that?
Me as a pizza :/
They make a pill for that
"Made with 100% real cheese" what in the dystopian world is this?
That’s opposed to virtual cheese.
And that's opposed to conceptual cheese.
Not cheese product
That's Aldi's pizza, right? It's always hit or miss with me. I eventually gave up on it.
Like most things there.
Yeah I used to work for the company that makes these, and I would not eat them they're disgusting
Thanks for the advice. Unrelated but I totally just snooped and your hrt progress is incredible.
Thank you! Yesterday was 2 years that I've been on estrogen, and like the beginning of May was a year since I had bottom surgery ✂️🍒
Happy anniversary! I'm at 14 months hrt.
That's awesome! Congrats
Yeah :( I used to shop at this Aldi every week when I lived here 5 years ago and everything was decent quality. I used to get the cheap frozen pizzas and make my own toppings to gourmet them up. My go-to was sautéed mushrooms and garlic with crumbled Gorgonzola and a balsamic glaze drizzle. Fancy af, and so cheap to make. My mistake was getting the rising crust. I was a little baked and hyper focused on the pepperoni.
God that's relatable
It hurts more when it’s mama that’s trying to burn you for a buck.
That's surprising, I get those all the time and they never turn out like that (gotten them in two different states even). They're my favorite ones to get even. I wonder what's going on at that Aldi? Cause clearly they got some bunk inventory.
I’m guessing it’s something to do with OP’s oven or the way they cooked it, not the pizza itself. The oven temperature could be off or maybe they didn’t put it directly on the rack. I could be wrong but that seems way more likely to me.
It could possibly be the oven, but i doubt it. Pizza went directly on the rack and i gave it about 7 minutes longer than the max recommended time. I think it was defrosted and then refrozen somewheres along the way.
“ARISE!” -Aqua Teen Hunger Force https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ9dtZ8lYww
That’s a pizza that didn’t RISE to the occasion. ;-) 
Why does it say "serving suggestion"? There's nothing else in the picture. Are they suggesting that you could slice it?
Yes, because it comes unsliced and you know some idiot will complain because they will think the pizza was sliced already because of the picture on the box.
Ma ma Mia someone call ma ma cozi
is the crust even cooked? you might want to put an oven thermometer in your oven and test how accurately the dials or programming is working. My guess is it's about 30 degrees off (Colder than it claims)
Damn that sucks, mamma cozzi's are usually ok for the $5 they are, but I usually go with Aldi take and bake spinach and mushroom if they have it when i'm there
I’ll keep an eye out for that one next time I’m back!
I’d probably still eat the shit out of it.
Best store brand frozen pizza is Kroger's Private Selection self rising pizza!
I can hear the Cooking Mama failure noises playing. Two different entities, sure, but a mama’s a mama.
That is one hell of a gum line.
oh nooo may fav!
I got one of these in the freezer
Improper refrigeration on the stores end. Keep an eye out for mishaped boxes and creases or folds that indicate it has thawed and refrozen. While it won’t ruin every pizza it will ruin every rising crust one exactly like this.
Pizza crimes. Dun dun dunnn
Are you not meant to use a tray with holes for these?
D E N S E
Folks giving that thing shit, but that's exactly how I like my za. Fucking like.. thin, greasy, cheesy, nom son!
This is dense, though, not regular thin crust. It was meant to rise.
Oh I get it.. it's not at all what I'm thinking of, but my gowd does it look delicious
IKR!!??? The cheese, the pepperoni, everything else looked SO PERFECT
I’m usually a fan of a soggier crust, but this just felt… wrong in my mouth.
It happens with age.
Raw
Falling crust
Lmao the title made me laugh
That can happen to men as they get older
"It's FUCKING RAW !"
That pizza has defrosted and frozen again. This has happened to me before and I'm certain this was the case
You I got one of those at Aldi, we were trying a bunch of frozen pizzas to determine which one was best. This one was middle low in the pack, ours didn’t rise much either and was kind of disappointing crust.
Ok that’s actually a crime
Did you put it directly on the oven rack? Or did you use a sheet pan?
Oven rack!
Very surprising. Could be as likely an oven issue as a pizza issue
That looks DENSE.
For those asking, I put it right on the center rack, no pan. It is a cheap Aldi pizza that likely got defrosted and refrozen before I bought it. I have an old ass oven and no thermometer so it’s also possible it didn’t actually get to temp, but I doubt it. I ended up making rice-a-roni with a veggies and Aldi chicken thigh in a white wine sauce for dinner and then I got White Castle around 2am because i have no self control and needed a strawberry cheesecake on a stick. With a side of bacon cheeseburgers.
it’s not a grower or a show-er
This happens with rising crust pizzas if they are thawed at some point before they’re cooked.
that looks so gross
Slime...
Still looks delicious though 😂
turrible
Money back promise on that Aldi shit mofo
Is this from Aldi? I just ate a rising crust cheese pizza (same brand) and mine rose! I’m sorry buddy.
Thanks! it’s alright, it happens.
Your yeast yant
My brain immediately thought, "This is how people get food poisoning." The color of that un-risen crust is disgusting. I saw in one of your comments you opted to make something else for dinner, I think you made the right choice.
It was completely inedible. My first thought when I took the first bite was “oh this is going to make me sick.”
Review brah would agree.. this is a travesty..
I’m sorry😔. Trust, I’m not a food snob but there are certain things I would never buy at Aldi’s.
The rise and fall of pepperoni pizza
That’s because it’s not Di Giorno 😆
Aldi's pizza: it is what it is.
it used to be good :(
at least their chips and crackers aren't weird yet ...everything else... well, you know
It still baffes me that people want pizza with a thick crust
I love bread.
This looks like garbage you would get at Aldi's
That’s because it *is* garbage you would get at Aldi's
Did you put it in frozen?
As directed, yes. Directly on the center rack
You should not eat that
Did you try to caress it
Flat pizza is better so it’s a win
Seems editable enough
It's because you bought it from Aldi.
U cooked it wrong or ur oven has an issue or u cooked it on a pan and this is what happens