Trader Joe's Homemade Pizza

[snowdy]

Tonight i tried out one of Trader Joe's pre-made fresh dough's... for those of you who don't know what trader joe's is... its a specialty grocery store selling mostly organic and healthier type stuff.

http://www.traderjoes.com/

Last week i made 2 new york style pizzas
See thread here: http://forum.pizzamaking.com/index.php?topic=777.0

Those were pretty expensive to make after buying all the ingredients.....

Trader Joe's has fresh dough balls for  $.99 cents!! I bought their pre-made pizza sauce and some caprese mozzarella and some pepperoni's they had too. The whole thing cost less than $10.

After messing with  my own dough several times now (using recipes from this site and others) im sad to say that this trader joe's dough made the best tasting pizza i've had from home yet It was amazing, the quality and taste even using my 500 degree oven was on par with a restaraunt. (except for the charring of course).

They  had some ingredients i've never seen posted in a dough recipe before... the dough ingredients on the bag say:

- Enriched Unbleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)

- Water

- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

- Canola Oil

- Salt

- Vegetable Shortening (Non hydrogenated Palm Oil

- Yeast

The final pizza dough was a bit crispy on the outside, but super soft inside. The other New  York styles i made myself seemed really tough and hard to chew compared to this dough.

Has anyone seen recipes with shortening and canola oil?


Anyways... here were the results....

INGREDIENTS:
(http://www.dataheadz.com/pizzamaking/joes_ingredients.jpg)

ROLLED OUT:
(the dough was pretty sticky so i coated it with a tiny bit of high gluten flour.. it stretched out to about 12"
(http://www.dataheadz.com/pizzamaking/joes_rolled.jpg)

ROLLED OUT VIEW 2:
You can see it was a bit sticky still
(http://www.dataheadz.com/pizzamaking/joes_rolled2.jpg)

OUT OF THE OVEN:
it was pretty blonde around the edges with only a bit of browning....
(http://www.dataheadz.com/pizzamaking/joes_done1.jpg)

OUT OF THE OVEN VIEW 2:
(http://www.dataheadz.com/pizzamaking/joes_done2.jpg)

SLICE:
The slice was nice and thin, a nice crisp outside and soft inside. And the taste was the closest ive made at home yet that can match a restaraunt or shop.... i just wish i made this dough myself
(http://www.dataheadz.com/pizzamaking/joes_slice.jpg)

BOTTOM LINE:
If you have a trader joe's nearby, try out one of their dough balls... for a quick homemade pizza fix you cant beat 99 cents. Also the trader joes caprese cheese was awesome. I cut about 6 slices onto the pizza... then put a bit of whole milk mozzarella in between from last weeks pizza. It was great.... the trader joe's premade sauce is tasty but not overly amazing. The Volpi brand pepperoni they sell is super thin, cut into odd flower like shapes, but very tasty, not as good as the margherita brand pepperoni i tried last week though.

All in all this was probably the best tasting pizza ive made at home yet.... i just need to get my dough on this level of taste so i can match this with my own doing... i'll keep trying.

If you have any dough recipes that call for malt, canola, shortening... etc.. post them here!

 

[Pete-zza]

Snowdy.

It looks like premade pizza dough is on the rise. As I reported recently on another thread, I saw that the Stop & Shop food chain in the Northeast is also selling a premade pizza dough, for around $1.29. I looked at the label and saw that the flour used is ordinary all-purpose flour. The dough you bought from Trader Joe's also is based on all-purpose flour. The strange sounding ingredients you noticed--Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin and Folic Acid--are all B vitamins that are added to almost all all-purpose flours. The rest of the ingredients are also fairly standard. Canola oil is a common dough ingredient because it is a non-hydrogenated oil and is generally cheaper than olive oil. Often canola oil and olive oil are combined to get the benefit of the added flavor of the olive oil. If memory serves me correct, one of the members of this forum, Canadave, is a big fan of using canola oil. If you do a canola oil search on the forum you will find several threads in which use of such oil is discussed.

Because ordinary all-purpose flour is lower in protein and gluten than bread flour and high-gluten flour, which are the most common flours used to make NY style pizza doughs, the crust based on the all-purpose flour will naturally be softer and more breadlike and less chewy than crusts made from the other flours. As you move up the protein and gluten scale the crusts get chewier and more leatherlike. If you move in the opposite direction, toward flours like the 00 flour, the crusts get softer.

I indicated last week that I would try to come up with a NY style recipe based on the Lehmann formulation for a 15-inch pizza--which would be of the same diameter as your pizza stone. Upon further reflection, I concluded that what may be a better size for you is the 14-inch. Trying to place a 15-inch pizza squarely on a 15-inch stone without overshooting the stone requires an extremely deft hand.  A 14-inch size is much easier to work with. (It's also possible that your pizza peel may not be big enough to handle the 15-inch size). If you are interested in the formulation of the 14-inch Lehmann NY style dough, the formulation is posted at Reply #26, at http://forum.pizzamaking.com/index.php?topic=576.20.

Peter

[snowdy]

Thanks Peter

I'll try that 15" recipe soon and post the results!

[Randy]

From the ingredants what you describing is really an American style pizza not a tradtional new York.  I prefer an American style over  a tradtional New York myself.  Let me know if you need a recipe.

Randy

[Pizzaholic]

Just about every pizzaria I go to and ask if they will sell a dough ball will! Usually about that same price. Premade and frozen. I have done that a bunch of times. This was, of course, pre-list. Now these same places will sell me high gluten flour.
Looks real good though.
Nice post
Pizzaholic

[snowdy]

From the ingredants what you describing is really an American style pizza not a tradtional new York.  I prefer an American style over  a tradtional New York myself.  Let me know if you need a recipe.

Randy

Randy, for sure! Post an american recipe when you can

[scampi]

I use the Trader Joe's pizza dough all the time. I used to go to a few pizza places that I thought were pretty good. Now ...seriously, I make better pizza at home for a fraction of the price that I used to spend out. I use New York Pizzaletto sauce that I add some ingrediants to which you can't buy in a store and Grande Mozzarella which I also haven't been able to find in a store. My question for you is that I heat up my oven only to 375 and it cooks very fast. Kep in mind I stretch the dough over a 16 inch pizza screen so it is very thin crust. I don't know how you guys can cook it at 500. In my oven it would burn.

[duckjob]

I use the Trader Joe's pizza dough all the time. I used to go to a few pizza places that I thought were pretty good. Now ...seriously, I make better pizza at home for a fraction of the price that I used to spend out. I use New York Pizzaletto sauce that I add some ingrediants to which you can't buy in a store and Grande Mozzarella which I also haven't been able to find in a store. My question for you is that I heat up my oven only to 375 and it cooks very fast. Kep in mind I stretch the dough over a 16 inch pizza screen so it is very thin crust. I don't know how you guys can cook it at 500. In my oven it would burn.

Depends on how long you cook it for. I'll usually cook my ny style at 550 for about 7 minutes, and it comes out perfect, no burning. I saw that pre made dough at trader joes the other day when I was there, I'll have to give it a try. Their cheese is great, and a good amount less expensive than the grocery stores around my house.

[scampi]

the pizza dough Snowdy bought was the "original". Don't buy the low carb dough. It just doesn't stretch very well and doesn't taste good either. They sell herb dough and some others but I have read that the original is the best. Just look at Snowdy's picture and buy the dough that has the same wrapper on it...just my opinion

[scampi]

oh , one thing I do when I use this dough..(this will be obvious for some of you, sorry, this info just for beginners) it's pretty wet/sticky when it comes out of the bag so I lay down some flour and just drop the ball on it, then I turn the dough over and powder the other side and work my fists in from the middle out to the edge as it stretches. I am not good at "spinning" pizzas in the air so I just hold an edge and let gravity stretch the dough. Then when it really gets this to the point it is going to rip, I move around the edges of the circle of dough til it is 16 inches in diameter. I like it really, really thin. Then I throw it on my pizza screen and add the rest. Sorry if this was too "beginner" for alot of you but i thought if anyone is trying it for the first time it may help.

[DKM]

Looks good.

Some pre-made doughs are very good, but they tend to be 'basic' pizza dough.

Personally, if I'm going to make a homemade pizza, I like to do it all.

DKM

[snowdy]

this dough is definitely good if you're in a rush and just want some good pizza.

after making about 15 pizzas since i first posted this, i can finally say my homemade crust tastes as good or better than the trader joe's stuff... plus like dkm said, if youre gonna make a pizza you gotta go the whole 9 yards and make your own dough. 

[DKM]

It still amazes me how many people are shocked when I tell them the pizza, including the dough, is 100% homemade.

I take great pride it in. 

But if I want one real quick, I don't have a problem buying the dough.

DKM

[zappcatt]

Just wanted to say that I have also found the Trader Joe dough to be quite nice. I was not impressed with their Pizza sauce...with the spices and large pieces of onion and garlic it seemed like more of a pasta sauce.

I am going to use the trader joes dough as my baseline as I work on my sauces. It is hard to work on a new dough and new sauce at the same time and be sure which is getting better..

[CaliforniaPizzaGuy]

It still amazes me how many people are shocked when I tell them the pizza, including the dough, is 100% homemade.

I take great pride it in. 

But if I want one real quick, I don't have a problem buying the dough.

DKM

Hey DKM

How about you share your pizza dough and pizza sauce recipe

[zappcatt]

DKM's recipes are all over the site. He has 2 recipes listed on the main recipe page. http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizza_recipes.html

http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizzainnstyle.php
http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php

[CaliforniaPizzaGuy]

About 5 mins ago i made a 18inch pizza with that trader joe's dough, it sure was GOOD !!!!! it amazed me how much the dough streched, its a small ball of dough but i was about to make a 18inch pizza out of it

[giotto]

This Trader Joe's dough is made by Il Fornaio, a well respected Italian restaurant that uses wood burning stoves.  It is no ordinary dough, nor is it made from an All Purpose.  It is 24g of carbs and 4g of protein, and its ingredients read similar to bread flours like Better for Bread by Gold Medal.  However, Gold Medal has a lower protein level. 

In addition, you will find NO sugars employed in this dough. But at 530F, you should have no problem getting a solid browning with it.  Extra refrigeration for a delayed fermentation does help the taste.  It can go an extra 3 days, and I've used it as far out as 5 days.  It starts to get pretty watered down by then though,and since sugar is not used, the natural sugars will deplete over time.

In the NY Techniques thread, I cover the non-hydrogentated palm oil used in this dough. It's Spectrum, and you can get it at Whole Foods who just started carrying it again, or you can use a non-hydrogenated (palm oil) margarine.  It is anything but an inexpensive route to olive oil.  Instead, it's a preferred route.  I also like to combine Canola oil and Olive oil myself, and sometimes palm oil as well.  This dough uses 1 tsp salt and 1/2 TBL total oil for just under 10 oz of flour, and weighs in at just over 16 oz.  I make a 14" with this dough when I don't have one lying around.  It has a decent pull to it, good color and is not bready.  And it's a good test to hone your oven skills.

There are plenty of excellent pizzerias like Amici's that use lower protein flours and have no ripping.  I show an example of a bread flour not ripping in this NY thread that includes a .AVI video: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,524.msg17788.html#msg17788

Like other Professional doughs, this will not rise in your refrigerator.  Yet, after 45 minutes of proofing at room temps after you take it out of the refrigerator, you will get a nice cornicione not far from this:
(http://home.comcast.net/~keck-foundation1/bubble-licious.jpg)

The taste is lacking in the crust from this dough, and it's not the same flour used in the restaurant.  The one in the restaurant uses enzymes and ascorbic acid; whereas the flour used in the TJ dough uses the more standard malted barley and in some ways is a better experience.

FORGET the sauce... grind 3 oz of Trader Joe's 28 oz NO SALT peeled roma tomatoes from the vine (99 cents and only uses vitamin C); just add sea salt, maybe a touch of olive oil and a fresh basil leave, and water it down a touch (thick sauce bakes unlike a good thin NY sauce).  This formula is much better.  Combine this with 4 oz of a decent whole milk dry mozzarella and Trader Joe's fresh cow's milk mozzarella balls, which are about $2.67 for 16+ (you only need 6 of them but they do need some salt). The total cost of the dough, sauce noted, and cheese is $3.67.  It's rare for me to go over $5 for a 14" here.

While this dough is worth displacing with a good NY recipe to vary the taste for those who like to enjoy the taste of a decent sized outer edge, you really need to know what you are doing to come up with a better overall experience than this dough.  Its extremely convenient and very consistent.  I've met neighbors who are unhappy with how this dough performs; but in each case, I've been able to prove that they don't know how to cook a dough, which is why in the NY Technique thread I first suggested to pick up a dough for a buck at your favorite pizzeria, or in this case, Trader Joes.

[Pete-zza]

giotto,

Thanks for your very informative post clarifying the makeup of the TJ dough, especially the flour part. I have seen competing doughs from other places and my recollection is that all-purpose flour was used. I assumed, therefore, that that was fairly standard. I should have known better as far as TJ's is concerned because they don't do things like everyone else. They are also very conscious of individual health concerns and environmental issues, which in itself will take them in different directions.

I recently posted my attempt to reverse engineer the TJ dough, at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2036.0.html, which you may have already seen. Shortly after I posted the formulation, I revisited the list of TJ dough ingredients that Snowdy posted (in this thread) to check again on the oils used (which buzz had questioned at the abovereferenced post) and saw that the shortening was not hydrogenated. Crisco, which I included in the formulation, is, of course, hydrogenated. My thought was to mention this once I got further clarification on the ingredient list and to recommend that the Spectrum product or the Smart Balance product, whose principal ingredient is palm oil, be used in lieu of Crisco. Crisco will work in the absence of a palm oil product, but if one wants to more closely replicate the TJ dough then I would think about using something like the Spectrum product.

It looks like I guessed pretty closely on the quantities of the flour, salt and total oil in the TJ dough. I came up with just under 10 ounces of flour, about 1 1/4 teaspoon oil (olive and canola), and just under a teaspoon of salt. I used 0.5% yeast, purely as a first stab, and that may still be a bit on the high side, particularly in light of your comment that the dough can go out several days and still be usable. I, too, noted the lack of sugar. However, as you know, when you use little yeast and keep things on the cool side, a dough can go out several days and not run out of sugar (the sugar extracted from the flour). Obviously, if you wait too long to use the dough, the enzymes in the dough (mainly the protease) will have started to destroy the gluten structure and the dough will start to spread out. Also, water that was in the starch, especially the damaged starch (which can absorb about 3 times the amount of water that non-damaged starch can absorb), can be released and make the dough watery.

With your additional information, I should be able to revise the formulation I recited at the abovementioned post. The changes will not be major since I was already fairly close, but I'd like to have the formulation reflect the actual situation as closely as possible.

Peter

[giotto]

Sounds good, Pete-zza.  I saw your latest post in the other thread, which I updated. I'll use it for future posts: 
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2036.0.html