Weight of dough question

[oregonNate]

I made a batch of dough last night using DKM's Chicago style recipe.  I used the recipe for a 15inch pan, but then couldn't find one that big.  The largest I found at my local restaurant supply was 12 inches by 2 inches.

I found the weights for different size pans and calculated that all the ingredients for a 12 inch pan should weigh 1.5lbs total (based on 12.21oz flour).  Can I take my heavier dough ball and just break off part of it until I get one weighing 1.5lbs and just use that?  Should I do this earlier or right before I make the pizza?

[Pete-zza]

oregonNate,

The answer is yes.

I ran your numbers (pan diameter and depth, with straight sides) through my deep-dish spreadsheet using DKM's baker's percents and got 1.49 pounds of dough based on 11.58 ounces of flour. I believe the difference is because I used 2" for the pan depth (instead of 2 1/4") and also because my spreadsheet assumes that the dough that covers the bottom of the pan uses up 1/4" of the depth of the pan. FYI, if you decide to use less than the full 2" of the side of the pan, say, 1 1/2", then the total dough weight would be 1.33 pounds (21.29 ounces). Whichever way you go, you should just cut away the desired weight from the total dough ball and use that amount. I would do it sooner rather than later, although I suspect it doesn't really matter that much because the dough is easily fitted into the pan by either rolling or hand pressing. 

Peter

[oregonNate]

Thanks Peter,
I just split up the dough into one 1.5lb and one 11oz.  Now I can make a second, smaller pizza in a 7inch dish...bonus!

--Nathan