LONG POST!
I made three pizzas last night, all using thin-crust techniques. My goal is to emulate Pizza Hut's thin n' crispy pizza. These three were good, but none of the crusts had that flaky cracker-like texture that PH has.
All were cooked on a pizza hut aluminum pan and then cooled on a wire mesh pan.
Tested were three different dough mixes:
Batch #1:
1. 1 tsp yeast
2. 7/8 cup water
3. 1 tsp sugar
Mixed the above ingredients, then added:
4. 3 ½+ cups King Arthur Hi-Gluten (14%) flour
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 4 tsp King Arthur “Pizza dough flavor” (a flavor additive consisting of yeast extract, cheddar cheese powder, garlic powder, and some other chemicals)
Mixed the above, then added:
7. 1 tbs. Crisco
Mixed for 10+ minutes, adding small qty of flour until consistency was right.
(notice the hole in pizza!)
(http://www.kash-karry.com/Pizza1a.jpg)
(http://www.kash-karry.com/Pizza1b.jpg)
Batch #2:
1. 1 tsp yeast
2. 7/8 cup water
3. 1 tsp sugar
Mixed the above ingredients, then added:
4. 3 ½ + cups King Arthur “Perfect Pizza Blend Flour”
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1 tsp King Arthur “Pizza dough flavor”
Mixed the above, then added:
7. 1 tbs. Crisco
Mixed for 10+ minutes, adding small qty of flour until consistency was right.
(http://www.kash-karry.com/Pizza2a.jpg)
(http://www.kash-karry.com/Pizza2b.jpg)
Batch #3:
1. 1 tsp yeast
2. 7/8 cup water
3. 1 tsp sugar
Mixed the above ingredients, then added:
4. 1 pkg of King Arthur “Pizza Crust” mix
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1 tsp King Arthur “Pizza dough flavor”
Mixed the above, then added:
7. 1 tbs. Crisco
Mixed for 10+ minutes, adding small qty of flour until consistency was right.
(http://www.kash-karry.com/Pizza3a.jpg)
(http://www.kash-karry.com/Pizza3b.jpg)
Each batch was placed in individual Ziploc storage bags and place in my garage (temp. about 45F) for 17 hours, then dough was punched down and set out at room temperature for another 3 hours, then each one was rolled out, docked and brushed with olive oil and pre-baked for 4:30-5 minutes at 550F. Then each pizza was assembled and cooked for another 5-6 minutes.
Observations:
· The #3 batch, “Pizza Crust” rose the highest in the bag; followed by #1 batch, “Hi-gluten flour” and then the #2 batch, “Perfect Pizza blend flour”.
· Pizza #1 was the hardest to roll out and stretch, although it wasn’t really that bad at all. It had the high gluten flour in it, so it tended to want to retract itself.
· Pizza #2 tore very easily when putting it on the pan after rolling it out.
· If adding toppings (which I did on all 3 pizzas), pre-bake only for 4 minutes max, as the edge of the crust started to get overdone, despite the cheese and toppings not being quite done. An alternative, which I’ll try next time, is to surround the edge of the crust with aluminum foil, to slow the browning down.
Taste and Texture:
This experiment wasn’t so much for taste, as it was for texture. I wanted to see which mix came the closest to Pizza Hut’s thin n’ crispy. They were all very similar to each other, with Pizza #3 edging out the other two for overall crispiness. Pizza #3 is the pre-mixed King Arthur “Pizza Crust” mix #3215. Pizza #1, the high-gluten flour batch, had the breadiest taste of the three.
None of them shared the flaky-characteristic that Pizza Hut’s thin has. It must be something in the mix? There must be a fundamental difference in ingredients (flour type, oil, etc) with theirs.
While the three had similar crunchiness, the texture of the edge of the crust represents one of toasted bread and not of a flaky cracker. All in all, they were very good. Pizza #1 would be the most economical to make, with #3 being the most expensive.
Pizza #1 used 4 tsp of the pizza flavoring, while the other two only used 1 tsp. Since each one had different toppings, it was hard to tell any discernable difference in taste.
