ihavezippers,
Can you tell me which specific recipe you were following? Things got disjointed when Randy’s original recipe was removed, and all that was left were pieces here and there. And, along the way, I started making thin versions of Randy’s American style based on a baker’s percent version that I came up with from Randy’s recipe. So, it would be easy for you to be confused if you haven’t followed the history of Randy’s recipe and its many iterations on the forum.
I am the one who uses the “system” of cups (c.), tablespoons (T.) and teaspoons (t.) that you referenced in your last post. I do this for the benefit of those who do not have digital scales. For the flour and water in my formulations, I weigh those ingredients and then convert them to volumes (cups, tablespoons and teaspoons). To use volumes to reproduce what I have done, you have to understand my methodology for measuring out volumes. You are new to the forum and perhaps haven't read how I do it and how I intend others to do it. So, for your benefit, here it is.
What I do to measure out volumes of flour is to start by stirring the flour in the bag of flour to loosen the flour. I then take an ordinary kitchen tablespoon and scoop flour into a measuring cup until it is slightly overfilled. I don’t shake or tamp the measuring cup. I then level off the top of the measuring cup with the flat edge of a knife. I do the same thing for measuring spoons. So, when I say to use 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon of flour, I intend that you measure them out just the way I described above. If you just dip the measuring cup and measuring spoons into the bag of flour, you most likely come out with different amounts of flour. Depending on whether you use a light hand or heavy hand in scooping out flour, or whether the flour is lightly packed or loosely packed, it can weigh more or less than what I intend. Even my system is not perfect, but it is the closest I know of for you to get close to the weights I use if you don’t have a scale and use volumes.
Although I don’t know which exact recipe you followed, I am not surprised that you got good results anyway. I have always said that Randy’s American style dough (and my thin versions) are almost foolproof. If you take to this pizza making thing, you may want to invest in a decent digital scale at some point. It will help you if you want to make doughs from recipes where the ingredients, and particularly the flour and water, are stated in weights. For the rest of the ingredients, like salt, yeast, sugar, and oil, volumes will usually suffice.
I don’t know if it will help, but recently I stumbled across another version of Randy’s American style dough at a Little Caesar’s thread at Reply #1 at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1515.0.html. The recipe is different than the ones I have been using for the thin versions, but it is very close to the original recipe and at least all the instructions seem to be in one place.
Peter
