Confessions of a former pizza cook

[elsegundo]

Smart & Final may be having financial problems. They are closing their sister store Cash & Carry here after many years. It is truly sad. These are where I purchase my yeast and tomato sauce, as well as flour.  S & F is still open - but limited it seems.


475 degrees worked for me.

You are correct that it is a low hydration level but that produces the crackery thin crust, compare with DKM.
Also compare the sheeting and folding to the Round Table premix threads.  Or just look at the photos.


Now if we can only get the Shakey's pre-mix. Guess I can dream.

[DNA Dan]

The technique is quite similar but the dough seems completely different. RT's crust is almost more like a biscuit in texture, yet chewy to the palate. Is Shakey's similar to that? I never had good Shakey's before.

This dough was more like a compressed thick crust. Seemed completely different.

[elsegundo]

"RT's crust is almost more like a biscuit in texture, yet chewy to the palate. Is Shakey's similar to that? I never had good Shakey's before."  Very complicated question grasshopper.

Both chains suffer from inconsistency.

Shakey's - no better pizza in the world when they were in the Sacramento original location with Shakey and the gang.
When they franchised, Shakey sold out and chains went their own way. With passing franchises the pizza was whatever the owner and the kids he hired made it. Today it is usually good in Redlands and Inglewood and a couple of others. Not so good in Palm Springs, Westwood, Torrance, and Fresno.  When it is at its best, the pizza is light, crackery, with wonderful voids like a croissant, with a little chew.

Round Table - when it is at its best it is more biscuit yet chewy as you described.

The difference in RT stores I believe is in the sheeting. This style has to be layered and rolled thin and kept cool. Too much handling produces a tough dough which RT does suffer from and too thick gives the cardboard characteristic.

Pizza making is about getting the proportions, time and temperature and handling as accurate as possible. Hence it is a science.
But you cannot cheat by substituting different brands of flour, for example or using lots of scrap dough.

It is also tasting the final product and determining if what you got is what you wanted. Hence it is an art.
 
This web site is the best at discussing both.

Your premix is an attempt at the science. The manager just adds water and sometimes a premeasured instant yeast package.
BTW, RT premix uses dry milk instead of whey and no baking powder. It uses Crisco instead of the oil. Shakey's uses Crisco.

I collect pizza chain bags when they accidently blow out of the dumpster. Don't do that. It would be wrong.
Especially if you can find the information at your restaurant supply store or the Gold Medal web site.
These guys know what's going on. It's their business, if they can stay in business (Cash & Carry).

Good luck and let us know when and where you find a good pizza joint.







Both RT and Shakey's need to add

[abc]

ugh.... you don't want to know how much energy it just took to move my full gut over to the computer. I need a laptop for my post pizza sessions!

So I made the thin crust as shown on the bag. I am convinced that a true "cracker" type crust is a different recipe altogether similar to what DKM has suggested. The technique gets you close, but it still seemed like a thick crust pizza just flattened. (Air squeezed out of it.) The technique tends to make the crust have a greater density compared to the thick recipe. 

I rolled out the somewhat hard dough straight from the fridge. It had an almost leather feel to it, almost like a firm sugar cookie dough for making holiday cookie cutouts. Anyway, I folded it into thirds, rolled it out, (2X) then folded into quarters and rolled until I had about 1/8th inch thick skin. I docked the dough, dressed it and into the oven it went @ 475 for 10 mins. I used a combination pizza stone, screen, and baking paper. The dough was still a little cold when it went in the oven. Here are the shots (ala Pete-zza lol)

You can see the density effect from the technique in the last photo, the closeup of the slice edge. When sheeting the dough, it seems if you use a fair amount of flour, it "layers" better once it cooks. This is that croissant effect that some people talk about with a "cracker" style dough. You can see this effect from the air pocket on the crust. The problem with using a lot of flour is that the layers do not stick to each other well. If this happens the layers peel too easily = not good. So the inclination is what I did, don't use a lot of flour. Well with a lack of flour the layers mix almost completely and you lose the effect. This makes me feel that this dough is the wrong recipe for a proper "cracker" type crust. I am convinced that a cracker type crust such as Straw Hat or Round Table must have some sort of solid or fat that holds it together such as Crisco, Butter or something other than just the wetness of the dough. Afterall, that is what holds the layers of a croissant together, butter is folded as the dough is rolled. In addition, that would give further evidence for why the dough is retarded in the fridge and kept cool, to make sure it's solid at room temperature. I think the folks here tried to make an "all in one" pizza mix that can satisfy both customers. Really I would liken this to being a better thick crust or pan pizza dough than a true "cracker" style crust. I mean the method does say thin not "Cracker", and that's what it was, but it just felt too much like a thick crust that was smacked on the counter several times to decrease the air volume in the dough.

Although I must confess, my gut sure isn't complaining!

gosh, the crust cross section looks like that of a frozen pizza from the 80's... it looks dense and heavy.

[PhillyPizzaBoy]

I believe the soy flour is used for protein. I sometimes use soy 1TB to 1-1/2 cups flour to raise the protein level.