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[Randy]

Cameron, this size batch was meant to make a 16" pizza, something I should have noted in the recipe, so yes it was too thick.  I roll it out as close as I can to 1/16-1/8" thick.  You could divide the dough in half, that should work. 
Same as you did on the Chicago a bit of experimenting will be required to get what you are looking for.  Don't be afraid to double, or triple the fat and sugar levels to increase browning.  You might consider using  2% milk in place of the water.  Or do all three.  This recipe is just a beginning.

On yellowing cheese, first don't use preshredded cheese. Next, try Polly-O if available in your area.  The PartSkim mozzarella can be whiter is the one I use. If no Poly-O then look for a part skim milk cheese.

Hope this helps.

Randy

[chiguy]

 HI Cameron,
 As far as the cheese over baking, you may consider baking the pizza on the lowest rack in the oven. The oven temperature tends to be hotter at a higher oven rack posistion. By lowering the rack you may be able to keep the bake time the same without buring up the cheese.   Chiguy

[DNA Dan]

The best way to keep a cheese pizza from browning is by precooking the skin. This is something we used to do for all the cheese pizzas at the place I worked for. People typically don't like cheese pizza with brown cheese.

We would sauce the skin then throw it in the oven. I would say it cooked for about 1/3 of the total cooking time this way. Remove the partially cooked skin and load it up with cheese, cooking it for the remainder of the time. The trick with this is to pull out the skin after the dough is cooked enough to support itself. You don't want the crust to "fall" by removing it too early. This is more of an issue on really thick crust pizza's that have a lift to them. As long as you cheese it up fast and throw it back in you should be fine. Your cheese will be gooey and your crust will be crisp.

[meagain]

Can I ask a question?    I made my dough yesterday and will be making my attempt tonight.
I see most of these recipes call for using a pan.    I don't have a pan and would like to use my stone.
If using a stone, is it necessary to par-bake?    I've made a couple similarly thin crusts (3 pizzas under my belt so far) and the crust is coming out perfect.

I fear doing the par-bake for the crust will over do it if using the stone.   Is it necessary when using one or is par-baking only needed if using a pan?    Thanks!   You guys rock!

(EDIT:   Well, I have 2 pizzas under my belt following the exact recipe.  Tried to not knead it much & was very careful.   I don't have the 'bubbles'.  It's very dense/heavy.   Darn it.  IDK what I'm doing wrong or how to attain the flakey/bubbley deal.)

[vitus]

Success!

I baked using DKM's recipe today and it was great. I didn't remember to take take photos before it was too late but next time I will.
I have a couple of remarks and one question:

Remarks:
- I parbaked the dough with great success.
- I forgot to dock the dough and it started bubbling up really bad during parbake! So I took out the dough when I noticed and quickly punched some holes with a fork. This seemed to do the trick! It turned out great. Docking is indeed important, I learned.
- The dough was very very dry I think but after rising it felt cosiderably "wetter". So next time I will make it even more dry in the beginning!
- My tomato sauce was too wet and I noticed the dough started soaking up tomato juice instantly. So I quicky arranged the other toppings (mushrooms and pepperoni) and threw the pie in the oven. The pizza didn't turn out wet at all but I think that it would have if I had let it soak on the tomato sauce for a longer time.

Question:
- When rolling out the dough do you "fold it over" a couple of times? I did and it turned out nice and flaky. But does "folding" the dough has anything to do with the flakiness of the pizza? Or does it somehow become flaky by itself?

[DKM]

Question:
- When rolling out the dough do you "fold it over" a couple of times? I did and it turned out nice and flaky. But does "folding" the dough has anything to do with the flakiness of the pizza? Or does it somehow become flaky by itself?

I fold it two times myself.  But you don't want to do it too much or you will over work the dough.

DKM

[DNA Dan]

How much flour do you use between folds when sheeting your dough? do you measure it? I have noticed that this has a very dramatic effect on how "layered" the crust comes out. I made one 2 nights ago and apparently there wasn't enough flour in between the layers and the dough just reformed itself as a one layer thickness crust again. I didn't have ANY visible layers after cooking the pizza.

I am also trying to get something more along the lines of Round Table pizza with the DKM recipe. I have tried the recipe in the RT threads put fourth by pete-zaa but they aren't quite right. Something is definitely missing in the crust. I tried the powdered dry milk, sugar and shortening, but the quantities used in the dough are hardly significant to diverge from the basic recipe. RT crust is a particular little bugger and it's driving me nuts!

[vitus]

How much flour do you use between folds when sheeting your dough? do you measure it? I have noticed that this has a very dramatic effect on how "layered" the crust comes out. I made one 2 nights ago and apparently there wasn't enough flour in between the layers and the dough just reformed itself as a one layer thickness crust again. I didn't have ANY visible layers after cooking the pizza.

I am also very interested in this. And thanks for the reply so far, DKM! 

[chicagonative]

WOW thanks Steve for such detailed photos of this pizza - When I made this recipe I found it so dry that I added more water and now after seeing your pic's - yours was just as dry - but by the way you squeezed it you were able to form it into a ball. Thanks again for the detailed description of your steps!!!!

[DKM]

I am also very interested in this. And thanks for the reply so far, DKM! 

I thought I answered that question, sorry guys.

I don't use any flour between folds, I watch how hard I press down with the roller.

DKM

[vitus]

I don't use any flour between folds, I watch how hard I press down with the roller.

I am not sure that I understand (possibly because English is not my first language).
Do you try not to press too hard with the rolling pin in order to keep the dough layered?
And if so; isn't that really difficult considering that the dough is extremely dry and hard? It's a long time since I made the thin crust, but I seem to remember that I had to use quite a lot of force when rolling the dough.

Thanks! 

[DKM]

I use just enough pressure to roll it.  Although dry when it comes out it shouldn't be real difficult to roll once it is ready.

DKM

[vitus]

Excellent, I'll try that. Thanks DKM. 

[Steve]

BOT 

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't made a cracker crust in a looong time. 

Anyway, I'm going to make a few thin crust pies this weekend... wish me luck! 

[JConk007]

Caught you Steve,
You said that this winter too (Jan 6th)  when I posted my first and  cracker attempt? http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7592.msg65608.html#msg65608 I know, if anyone, you can do it!! This is the beautiful crispy pizza you'll end up with, and  probably better!! http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7872.0.html I said it, and I say it again I love this recipe.!!
Hows that for motivation 
John
just kidding with you, I know you had a lot going on.

[Randy]

Shame, shame, shame on you especially since it was you and DKM that got me hooked on the cracker crust .   

Randy