Author Topic: Dough Doctors cracker...No fail! (Read 12537 times)

nick57 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:22:05 PM »

This is the stone I use. I have had it for about 5 years. As you can see it's had a problem, but does not effect it.

nick57 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:24:21 PM »

This is the cheapo pizza pan I bought at Wally World. It was a two pan set. This one is 14 inches, and it came with a 12 inch pan without sides.

nick57 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:26:07 PM »

This is the skin after a 26 hour rest in the fridge, and 2.5 hour sit on the counter.

nick57 · « **Reply #23 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:27:23 PM »

I've rolled the skin to the desired thickness.

nick57 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:31:50 PM »

As you can see it's quite a bit bigger than the pan. If you look at the dough calculator I use a thickness factor of .1, but shoot for .05 thickness. I do that in case I have a bad area of the skin, I can use the good area for the pan .

nick57 · « **Reply #25 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:34:15 PM »

This is after the par bake. As you can see I got quite a bit of bubbles.

nick57 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:37:33 PM »

Ready to go in the oven. The ingredients in order, brushed on olive oil, 1 oz real shredded parm cheese, 8 oz of mozz, 8oz Italian sausage, 4oz shrooms, olives, 4oz diced tomatoes.

nick57 · « **Reply #27 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:39:59 PM »

Sliced and ready to consume. Lots of bubbles and lamination. It was very crispy and light. The parm cheese gave a nice flavor addition.

nick57 · « **Reply #28 on:** May 12, 2012, 08:46:12 PM »

Hmm.... I didn't get the first slice. My taster said the pie was really good, and he is not a pizza lover, at least until today! After Lawman said he did not get any bubbles or lamination I wanted to see if the fourth attempt would be the same a my last three, and it was. I used double the amount of oil that was called for in the dough calculator again. It really seems to lighten up the crust and and make it more cracker like. I'm sticking with this recipe for cracker crust. It's as close as I am going to get to Pizza Hut thin crust from the 60's. My next try at a pie will be New York style. I'm sure I'll need some luck with that.

lawman · « **Reply #29 on:** May 12, 2012, 10:21:22 PM »

Wow... Nick that looks so good, do you deliver?

Is the stone necessary to get that crispy flaky bubbly goodness? I don't use a stone, just parbake on my pan then back in the oven on my pan. Also, am I correct to assume that all the pizza shops used a deck oven back then (60's-70's) and that the conveyor's are relatively new? If so, is that why I can't find this type of thin crust in the chain pizza stores.

Anyway, your pizza looks like the crispy thin crust I remember eating as a kid (I'm 42 now... or 43 - I'd have to ask my wife or do the math) and is what I'm trying to make.

I'll give it another go... seeing how thin you rolled out really helped. I didn't get mine that thin. Thanks for the pics, they are most helpful.

lawman · « **Reply #30 on:** May 12, 2012, 10:24:17 PM »

Quote from: nick57 on May 12, 2012, 08:20:31 PM

The dough after shaping. It was dry and crumbly. So I spritzed it a little to moisten it, and get the dough to hold together.

Just noticed this in the pictures... did you spritz it with Downey... could be the secret ingredient I'm missing.

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #31 on:** May 12, 2012, 10:29:12 PM »

Another hit Nick....very, very nice job!!

I'll take 4 of those pies to-go.....X-large please.

Bob

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #32 on:** May 12, 2012, 10:30:31 PM »

Quote from: lawman on May 12, 2012, 10:24:17 PM

Just noticed this in the pictures... did you spritz it with Downey... could be the secret ingredient I'm missing.

A very nice moisturizer...makes it cuddly soft !!

....er, crisp?

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #33 on:** May 12, 2012, 10:51:49 PM »

Nick,

I just noticed something........no sauce?

Bob

nick57 · « **Reply #34 on:** May 12, 2012, 11:26:22 PM »

Thanks for the kind comments. I am no pizza expert. I have learned from the best pizza makers on this forum. I can't thank everyone enough! I can make a pizza from my past. In the 60's, my family treat was to go to the Pizza Hut in Bartlesville Ok. I remember getting take out and it was in a pointy paper sack. You tore the top and revealed the pizza on the cardboard disc. It may not be the best pizza, but it is what I grew up eating, so it brings back fond memories of a simpler time.
I do think using a stone will make all the difference in the world for Lawman. Direct contact with a heat source as in the stone, will heat the dough fast enough to create steam which creates bubbles. Air does not transfer heat as well, resulting in no steam. I par bake my pizza at 550 degrees, then finish at 425 degrees. I think if you had an oven that went 700 or 900 degrees you would not need the stone to get the bubbles.
The reason for no sauce at this time is, this was mainly a crust making experiment. So I tried to keep the ingredients the same, and just try to adjust the way I made the dough. Just for fun I'll do this again, and instead of using olive oil on the crust, I'll do a tomato sauce to see if I get that gummy layer. I'll post my results.
Oh my gosh, I let my secret out. Downy does really soften more things than just pizza.
The most exciting thing is, if I want pizza, I can make one that is better than I can buy, and I always know it is going to be wonderful every time. What more can one ask for ?

nick57 · « **Reply #35 on:** May 12, 2012, 11:42:56 PM »

I was just thinking. That's amazing in itself. Instead of worrying about what the tomato sauce would do to the skin, I think I will put parm on it first, then add the tomato sauce, then the mozz and the rest of the toppings. I think that would eliminate the gummy layer and it would be more of an traditional pizza

Tatoosh · « **Reply #36 on:** May 13, 2012, 01:33:45 AM »

Quote from: lawman on April 24, 2012, 10:40:30 AM

Looks incredible! Exactly what I'm going for but haven't been able to produce. Some questions...

What is the Thickness Factor you used for this pizza?

Did you still do 24 hours in fridge and a ~2.5 warm-up?

I found the recipe from your other thread... was the only change, other than adding garlic, increasing the oil from 4 to 8?

flour (used KABF) 100
water 45
salt 2
yeast .75
oil 8.00

Thanks!

So is this in grams or ounces or bakers percentages? I am a bit confused. Also, do you laminate the dough when rolling? Rolling, folding, re-rolling and so forth? If so, how many times? And the pan, the perforated pan. A topic I've been interested in recently. Do you oil it or just rely on the oil in the dough? Oh, yeah, the oil ... what sort? Olive, canola, peanut, coconut palm?

I do a thin, sort of California style, not cracker, but I do a pre-bake in a 475F oven (as hot as mine goes) before topping. I also do a light egg wash on the top while it is still hot from the oven, which has given me pizza with zero sogginess regardless of the amount of toppings and sauce. Cracker is one of the three or four pies I want to learn to make well. This looks very promising! Thanks!

nick57 · « **Reply #37 on:** May 13, 2012, 09:17:10 AM »

It's in bakers percentages. If you look earlier in this thread you'll see where I posted the dough calculator for the dough. It is in grams. I did not laminate the dough when rolling it out. The bubbles and lamination were a result of the moisture in the dough producing steam and separating the top and bottom of the skin. I coat the pan with olive oil non stick spray before putting skin in the pan. Though I have forgotten to oil the pan in the past before putting the skin in. It did not make any difference in how it turned out. Egg wash sounds interesting. I've also heard that if you brush the par baked skin with oil before adding the sauce it won't get soggy either.

Tatoosh · « **Reply #38 on:** May 13, 2012, 10:30:16 AM »

Thanks for the advice and insight. I did see the post with the dough calculator, but I never quite figured that application out, so I tend to scroll past it with only a perfunctory glance. When I looked at it again after your post, I saw the weights. Nice, so I will have to figure it out at some point when I know the dimensions I will be making and the style of crust I am after.

I've tried olive oil to protect the crust, but my experience has been the egg wash was most effective. Your photos show a very crackery crust with the flakes scattered around, just like the old style Pizza Hut pizza. Great stuff and I look forward to trying your style down the road when I can get a cutter pan shipped over from the States. Given my wife's preference for larger quantities of sauce and cheese, I may have to do the egg wash on this too, but yours does look delish!

nick57 · « **Reply #39 on:** May 14, 2012, 10:55:02 PM »

I don't think I can ever replicate the Pizza Hut pizza from the early 60's that I loved. I am using Johnsonville sweet Italian sausage. I think I need to add some fennel seed to make it more like Pizza Huts's. My last attempt was pretty close, but maybe just a little too dense on the non laminated areas. I think I will try 3.25 tablespoons of oil in the next skin. I'll post results and pics of the process. Hopefully it won't be a complete failure.