Ultra-Thin Pizza 1/16"..Any Ideas?

[norma427]

Peter,

I did try to purchase this ultra-thin product and talked to many sales representatives before about their product.  I also email ultra-thin, in an attempt to find someone in my area that handled this product. This was before I opened my pizza stand.  I had thought along the lines of offering this ultra-thin pizza along with a NY Style pizza.  I didn’t have any dough formula at the time.  This was at the end of February 2009.  I saw how easily they baked the pies.. The dough was already defrosted and just looked limp. The taste of these Ultra-thin crusts were great.  They almost melted in your mouth.  Plenty of other people at the Restaurant Show also were commenting on how good they were.  I tried Sysco Foods in Harrisburg and the sales rep even said they had the product.  I went there and thought I had purchased three cases of this product.  When I got home, I found out they were only par-baked crusts that were thicker. They weren’t even Ultra-Thin crusts. After I tried a few crusts out, I then gave the rest to a homeless shelter in Lancaster.  They sure weren’t good, in my opinion.  I then tried to purchase the ultra-thin crusts from Philadelphia and gave up when they told me I needed a 500.00 minimum order.  I know that I always do things backward, but eventually things do work out. 

I can see that your idea is good to call them and ask all the information you told me.  Maybe I can get some information about the crusts from them this time instead of worrying about purchasing their products.  I also will do some research at the nutritional data website.  Thanks for providing that and the instructions for finding more information.

I made a test batch today, but surely don’t know what I am doing.  I will just see how this test batch works out in the crust taste.  I can’t decide if I want to parbake it or not, but probably will.  When I made the Bittman cracker style, the crust even rose without yeast while par-baking.  Since I made a high hydration and high oil formula, it should be interesting to see how this crust turns out.

Thanks for your help,

Norma

Mad-Ernie,

I have no idea what their pizza tastes like at Mario’s.  I do see that they are thin. I have never been to Mario’s before. I think, but don’t know that I am looking to recreate the Ultra-Thins that I tasted at the NY Restaurant Show and Pizza Expo.  With each pizza as you know, there can be many different varieties of taste in the crust by using different ingredients and formulas. 

Who knows if I will ever be able to create this kind of Ultra-Thin Crust taste, but I am willing to give it a try.

Thanks for your help,

Norma

[hotsawce]

Formula is very close to what Pete-za recommended in my threat. Coincidence, or do great minds think alike? 

Hey!  I have already made this pizza!  I called it a mistake though  .
I really don't know how the nutritional data equates to ingredients but since I was already messing with the dough calculator for today's dough I plugged in some numbers for this one.
The yeast and hydration is just a guess but the other ingredients match up fairly well to the nutritional data for the 12 inch original.  I used the 12 inch as the nutritional data was for a serving size equal to the whole shell.  For some reason the data shown on other sizes are for serving sizes diff from the product size.

Flour (100%):    96.31 g  |  3.4 oz | 0.21 lbs
Water (55%):    52.97 g  |  1.87 oz | 0.12 lbs
IDY (0.25%):    0.24 g | 0.01 oz | 0 lbs | 0.08 tsp | 0.03 tbsp
Salt (0.55%):    0.53 g | 0.02 oz | 0 lbs | 0.11 tsp | 0.04 tbsp
Canola Oil (5.1%):    4.91 g | 0.17 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.08 tsp | 0.36 tbsp
Sugar (1%):    0.96 g | 0.03 oz | 0 lbs | 0.24 tsp | 0.08 tbsp
Total (161.9%):   155.93 g | 5.5 oz | 0.34 lbs | TF = N/A

Again, no clue if this means anything.
I did notice that some of the usual vitamins listed on labels for typical enriched US flours are missing.  Not sure what that might indicate.
Well if I have another mistake tomorrow I will be sure to post it!

[hotsawce]

I posted this in another thread. I am looking to replicate that, but I think Norma is looking to replicate something a littleeee bit thicker.

Is what you are looking for something along these lines?

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/marios-restaurant-clifton-nj-home-of-the-emma-style-pizza.html#continued

[Jackie Tran]

Is this thin enough for you Norma?     

[Jackie Tran]

more pics.

[norma427]

Is this thin enough for you Norma?     

Tranman,

LOL  , that pizza sure is thin.  It is thin enough for me.    I could also see how you are eyeballing the dough.  Your sure are into pizzamaking with all your experiments.

Seriously, how did you manage to get the dough that thin?  Did you roll or stretch all by hand?  You did a great job and the pizza looks awesome.     The big question is....HOW did it taste? 

Thanks for sharing your pictures,

Norma

[PizzaHog]

I don't know Tran.  US paper currency is 0.0043 inches thick.  I would have to say your pizza is AT LEAST 0.0045 inches, so nice try but back to the drawing board for you   .
Gee I wonder what the thickness factor of that pie would be on the dough calculator, or if it even goes that low!
Dr Tran, you are beginning to amaze me, even without a Caputo apron!

[Jackie Tran]

you guys are too funny.  PH thats a 103gm doughball stretched by hand into a 14" pie.  Post bake it was 13".   Can you do the math for me?  I have a crying baby on my hands. 

Norma - taste was good. 

PH I've done the impossible.  Details later.

[norma427]

Tranman,

I think you deserve a Gold Star for this thin pizza! This gold star is for your pizza making.

Norma

[PizzaHog]

As near as I can figure I make your pie as stretched to 14" to be a thickness factor of 0.02361.  Too bad since you were shooting for 0.02359.  Oh well...
That has to be some kind or record!
But just to keep things in perspective if we measure your pie in nanometers and then compare that to the ave thickness of a sheet of gluten, well then, your pie was a whopping 20000 gluten strands thick!  Not bad for a first try.

[Jackie Tran]

Thanks for the Gold Star Norma! 

Hog sorry I was mistaken, the doughball was actually 105gm and not 103gm as stated earlier.  I think I was trying to impress you so I fudged the numbers a bit.  Yes it's always back to the drawing board for me.    I swear after all this pizza-making-shinanigans is over with, I'm gonna get one of those caputo aprons just for laughs.  I'll do poser shots with it and some pies.  I may even get a bottle of water and write "NY city water" across it for giggles.

Here's some details of the pies I made incase anyone is interested.  I posted about them in Hotsawces' thread "New Challenge, New Pizza" at reply #25.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11043.20.html

[sear]

ill be surprised if anyone can guess the way i made this 

[norma427]

sear,

I'll take a guess.  Did you use your culture and stretch the pizza thin?    Just a guess, but your pizza looks good. 

Norma

[norma427]

Here is a video I found for the Ultra-Thin pizza crusts.  This will give an idea of what I am trying to create.  This was taken at the Western Food Service and Hospitality Expo in 2007.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-12313258485244333

This website says to contact ultrathin pizza girl for a sample.  Hmm, guess I will try and contact her.

http://fohboh.com/profile/ULTRATHINPIZZAGIRL

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Thanks for the video.  I did see a quick peek at the bottom and it's got some nice leoparding.  I think I will have to repeat this challenge to satisfy both Scott and myself.

It's amazing to me but it seems like they are marketing this as some new idea. 

[norma427]

Thanks for the video.  I did see a quick peek at the bottom and it's got some nice leoparding.  I think I will have to repeat this challenge to satisfy both Scott and myself.

It's amazing to me but it seems like they are marketing this as some new idea. 

Tranman,

If you notice in this video, the slice does how some droop to it.  This was the 1/16" pizza I had tasted.  I don't even understand why it was so different, but in my opinion it was.  I think, but don't know since the man that developed this ultra-thin pizza was from Northern Italy, that maybe the earliest flatbreads of pizza making had something to do with his ideas to make this really thin crust.  I think the earliest methods of making pizzas were flatbreads.

This company hasn't been in existence for that long. 

I am going to try my dough later on today.  I think they use oven temperatures of around 500-525 degrees F.

Always looking forward to your experiments, 

Norma

[Jackie Tran]

Norma, were all looking forward to your results.  Thin IS IN!   

Don't forgot the obligatory money shot. 

[norma427]

Norma, were all looking forward to your results.  Thin IS IN!   

Don't forgot the obligatory money shot. 

Tranman,

You have me cracking up laughing.    I will try to remember the obligatory money shot. 

I really don't know if thin is in, but am going to try.

Norma

[norma427]

Well, today was one of those days, that nothing wanted to work out right.    First I was trying to make sorbet, that I had made many times before.  I had purchased all the ingredients I needed and even bought fresh strawberries, yesterday.  After I made the simple sugar syrup, cut and washed the strawberries, squeezed out lemons and used the blender to puree the strawberries, I thought I was then ready to put the mixture into the ice cream freezer.  Well first the blade didn’t want to turn.  Then I thought I had that fixed and then the motor died, half way though the freeze.  Then it was clean up the mess and put the mixture into the freezer.  Now it is has been, stir ever half hour.  Probably I will end up with Italian granita instead of sorbet.  Time will tell.  I even was taking pictures to post under off-topic foods.

Next the ultra-thin pizza.  I made too much dough for my ultra-thin pizza.  I first rolled out half of the dough, then put it in a deep-dish pan.  I wanted to try and parbake the crust.  That worked out okay.  I then dressed the pie with my regular sauce and mozzarella cheese.  I put the pie back into the oven.  When I saw the top was getting finished before the bottom, I tried to take the pizza out of the deep-dish pan and put it onto the stone.  The pizza was too thin, and tore in one place.  Either it was that or maybe my formula wasn’t the best.  Just a part of pizza making.  The pizza did come out thin, but not like I wanted it to. On the one picture I held the one slice up to the light.  It can be seen on that picture that the light shines though the crust.

I tried another pizza with the extra dough, using different methods, but that pizza didn’t turn out right either.

Below are pictures of the first attempt to make a ultra-thin pizza.

At least when I was at the grocery store today, I found another brand of mild cheddar cheese to try for the Mack’s clone. 

Norma

[norma427]

rest of pictures

Norma