thin & crispy (crackery) base - which flour is best?

[manicmonkey]

Hi, I only found this site a few days ago and it is fantastic. I have hunted for a Thin & Crispy recipe for years.

I tried the thin crust pizza base yesterday and it took me back around 30 years to the Thin n crispy bases I ate as a child from PizzHut in Australia. It was very straight forward though I had to mix by hand and was a little worried when my dough ball was so crumbly. The results where excellent once baked, the crust though a little dense, was quite crackery.

I actually tried to put the dough through my pasta roller but it didn't work out great, not coherent enough. I though it might act a bit like a sheeter but I was wrong. I ended up rolling it with a rolling pin which though pretty tough seemed to work out.

I have been reading Encyclopizza.com today (another great site) and just wondered if anyone had tried making the Thin crust from a lower protein flour (a cake flour perhaps) as they say that crackers are actually made from lower protein flours.

I used a regular bread flour around 12% protein in this instance but I'll probably experiment next time. Just thought someone else might be able to offer some insight.

Thanks.

[Steve]

I've made thin and crackery pizzas side-by-side using different flour types as the base. I can tell you that using high-gluten flour produces the best and most crackery crust of them all. All purpose produces a somewhat limp crust while high-gluten is very crisp.

[manicmonkey]

Thanks Steve, that will save me some heartache.

I see mentioned in another thin and crispy recipe the use of a relaxer, do you have any experience of this?  -Does it affect the final result and will it make the dough more easy to handle?

What type / where would you obtain one?

Thanks in advance.