Norma,
I have set forth two dough formulations below for you to consider. The main objective at this point is to get an idea as to extent of the dough weight losses during baking. In coming up with the dough formulations, I had to make several assumptions. First, I assumed that the flour is like the GM Full Strength flour, for the reasons earlier mentioned. If the Ultra-Thin company is using a flour with a different profile, which might also be a proprietary flour milled to Ultra-Thin’s requirements, then the dough formulations will be different. Without more or better intelligence, there is no way to know if the differences will be material. Second, I assumed a dough weight loss of 5% and used that figure to modify the Ultra-Thin nutrition information to reflect that assumption. I ended up with an unbaked dough ball weight of 8.925 ounces for the 14” par-baked crust. For this amount of dough used to make a 14” skin, I calculated a thickness factor of 0.05798. Obviously, if the weight loss of the dough during par-baking is more than my estimated 5%, then that will mean that that thickness factor is too low and needs upward revision. That is the reason for the bake test.
From my analysis, I concluded that the bulk of the calories of the par-baked crust come from the flour. Since oil is used in the dough, there will be calories added by the oil also. Based on the Ultra-Thin nutrition data, and adjusting for the fats normally present in flour, I estimated that the amount of oil used in an Ultra-Thin 14” par-baked crust to be a bit over 1¼ t. It doesn’t matter if the oil is olive oil or vegetable (soybean) oil. Based on the sodium content of the Ultra-Thin 14” par-baked crust, and adjusting for the sodium that naturally occurs in the flour, I concluded that the added salt comes to a bit over 1/3 t. For the yeast, I arbitrarily used 0.5% (IDY) coupled with an assumption that the dough would be cold fermented for one day. Increasing or decreasing the yeast quantity will affect the weights of the other ingredients, but yeast is so light that its affect on total weight should be negligible.
When I came up with the weights of all of the ingredients but for the water, and calculating their combined caloric contributions (the salt has zero calories and the yeast should be
de minimus from a caloric standpoint), the best number that I could come up with for the hydration is around 38%. If that number is anywhere near correct, then the dough will not be the easiest to roll out. I suggest a rolling pin for this purpose and, for the preliminary test, not to use heat application, as by using your Hadco unit, to make rolling the dough out easier. That approach might be used in a later experiment if needed.
Using the expanded dough calculating tool at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/expanded_calculator.html, I came up with the following dough formulation for a single dough ball for a 14” par-baked crust:
Flour* (100%):
Water (38.2%):
IDY (0.50%):
Salt (1.16448%):
Olive Oil (3.21128%):
Total (143.07576%):
| 176.85 g | 6.24 oz | 0.39 lbs
67.56 g | 2.38 oz | 0.15 lbs
0.88 g | 0.03 oz | 0 lbs | 0.29 tsp | 0.1 tbsp
2.06 g | 0.07 oz | 0 lbs | 0.37 tsp | 0.12 tbsp
5.68 g | 0.2 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.26 tsp | 0.42 tbsp
253.02 g | 8.92 oz | 0.56 lbs | TF = N/A
|
*General Mills Full Strength bromated flour
Note: Dough is for a single 14” par-baked crust; nominal thickness factor = 0.05798; no bowl residue compensation
Having worked with low hydration doughs before, I learned how difficult it can be to roll out such a dough to an given size and have the skin be perfectly round. For that reason, I suggest that you use the thickness factor option in the expanded dough calculating tool and use a pizza size of about 1” greater than the desired final size. In your case, you might use 15” as the pizza skin size and use a template to cut out a 14” skin after you have rolled out the dough to about 15”. Using this method, the dough formulation becomes:
Flour* (100%):
Water (38.2%):
IDY (0.50%):
Salt (1.16448%):
Olive Oil (3.21128%):
Total (143.07576%):
| 203.02 g | 7.16 oz | 0.45 lbs
77.55 g | 2.74 oz | 0.17 lbs
1.02 g | 0.04 oz | 0 lbs | 0.34 tsp | 0.11 tbsp
2.36 g | 0.08 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.42 tsp | 0.14 tbsp
6.52 g | 0.23 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.45 tsp | 0.48 tbsp
290.47 g | 10.25 oz | 0.64 lbs | TF = 0.05798
|
*General Mills Full Strength bromated flour
Note: Dough is for a 15” skin; no bowl residue compensation
You should feel free to use 16” in the dough calculating tool if you think that using 15” is cutting it too close.
In making the dough, you might also consider using a food processor. I found the food processor to be the best machine to use to make a low hydration dough. When using a food processor, I usually use a bowl residue compensation of 1%. I will also leave to you whether the skin should be docked before par-baking. I suspect that you did not notice whether the Ultra-Thin crusts you sampled evidenced docking.
Of course, you will want to weigh the 14" skin before and after baking, and note the difference.
I can’t tell you that you will enjoy success with the above dough formulations. I do not have any particular expertise in matters of this sort, so it is possible that my assumptions and calculations are not completely correct. I have also encountered cases where nutrition information turned out to be incorrect. However, when I calculated the total calories from all sources, I came quite close to the Ultra-Thin number.
Peter
