Rolling out cracker style dough

[roosterndad]

I am a newbie and trying to match some of the cracker crust pizzas shown here.  How do I roll out the dough to the thinness desired?  Do you put oil on the pan and roll the dough on the pan, or roll it on a floured pastry cloth, or something else?

[Mad_Ernie]

Roosterndad:

You might want to try doing a search using the term "roll" in the search window of the forum, but generally speaking, the ideal way to get a true thin cracker/American style crust is to use a sheeter.  Unfortunately, that is usually an expensive piece of equipment.  Some folks have had luck buying less expensive, used models on ebay, but even the used ones can be quite pricey. 

One less expensive, but also less than ideal way to achieve a similar effect is using a pasta sheeter, like for making homemade lasagne noodles.  Unfortunately, this rolls the dough out in sheets of 4-6 inches wide, so you have to somehow mesh 2-3 sheets of dough together.  But if you are not hung up on the size and shape of your pizza, this might be a good and less expensive choice.

For the home environment, I think most people will tend to use a rolling pin.  That is what I use.  I use a wooden pastry board with a small amount of flour dusted on it (< 1 tablespoon) and roll out the dough from there.  For making a round pizza, I then use a pizza screen or pan of the appropriate diameter and a pizza cutter to cut out the disc for my crust.  This will work nicely for getting the crust to an appropriate thinness, but the dryer the dough, the harder it is to roll out by hand.  Also, the final pizza crust may not be the same as you would expect from using a commercial sheeter, but it is what it is.  The layering that occurs within the dough from a sheeter after 2-3 passes creates a different effect when baked compared to constantly rolling out a ball of dough by hand.

-ME

[c0mpl3x]

for the handful of cracker crusts i have made/make, my countertop is only about 18" deep and i find myself running into the wall or near the lip often when using a rolling pin.   a clean, filed down edge piece of 3" pvc pipe or a table glass with a smooth outside works just fine if you aren't in the fabricating mood. i find that using oil or spray works better with a dough that 'stretches' out on a surface with this style of dough, and contributes to the cracker crust attitude.

[norma427]

I am a newbie and trying to match some of the cracker crust pizzas shown here.  How do I roll out the dough to the thinness desired?  Do you put oil on the pan and roll the dough on the pan, or roll it on a floured pastry cloth, or something else?

roosterndad,


If you are interested, you might want to read Peter’s thread on making DKM cracker style pies.  Peter’s thread has a lot of good information about making cracker style pies.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5762.0.html

Norma

[Pete-zza]

roosterndad,

A new member recently offered up his method for rolling out skins thinly, at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,15108.msg149338.html#msg149338.

Peter

[BBH]

If you don't have a sheeter the rolling pin will work, as stated on a wood board with flour.  There is a trick I learned to give you nice layers, roll out the dough to the desired size and thickness and lightly flour the entire surface (very light) Then fold 3 times, in half, into quarter then take that quarter and fold in half.  Form into a flat ball with your hands and roll out again to the desired size.  You now have 8 layers that will slightly separate during cooking.  I like to dock the dough, par bak for 5 min, at 475 then add toppings. You want very slight brownness in spots in the bottom crust.  Another thing to consider is keeping the sauce off the crust as opposed to applying directly.  You can do this by adding the cheese layer (sliced or shredded - does not matter), apply sauce via a squeeze bottle (in medium size drops for example all over surface), then add toppings and a little more cheese - bake at 475 on a stone if you have one (preheated for 30 min)  You will get an amazing layered crust that is very crispy.  If you use a high gluten flour you will have slightly more chew (at the top of the crust) as opposed to all purpose.  Even better yet is to use all purpose (I like KAAP) + 10% Semolina.  The Semolina will add a degree of tenderness and reduce the crumb size and produce a quick dissolving crust.

Brad

[Pete-zza]

Brad,

Those are all good tips, many of which I have used myself for the cracker style. And I think those tips should work for roosterndad as well. However, have you been able to make the multi-layered skins with a dough hydration of around 35-40% without needing the arms of Popeye to roll out the dough using a rolling pin and without spending and inordinate amount of time to roll out the dough?

Peter

[BBH]

I still can't get in the upper 30's.  40% or slightly more is the best I can do, suspect the Semolina absorbs more than all purpose and I like a complete mix too (just easier for me) .  It's still dead on to me, crust is the result I've been looking for and I really like it.  I did the folding trick last week and that really gave me a nicely separated layers in the crust, something I was not able to achieve w/o it.  So, I'll leave as is and next going to concentrate on adding flavorings, maybe some granulated onion and garlic to give the crust a hint of those flavors....

Brad