What is the best dough ball on the market?

[pizza by the sea]

Looking to experiment with raw, premade dough products like dough balls or sheeted dough.  Any opinions on the highest quality for New York Style pizza?

[scott r]

the one you make yourself   

[zapzi]

For years I made my own NY style crust, and then I tried Trader Joe's ball of dough both in white and wheat.  I really like it and I keep them in the freezer so homemade pizza is never but a few minutes away.  Stretching the dough is best, but even if you roll it out it still comes out great.

[elicheez]

how do you defrost the frozen dough ball? microwave?

[Pete-zza]

For years I made my own NY style crust, and then I tried Trader Joe's ball of dough both in white and wheat

zapzi,

If you'd like to try your hand at making a clone of the TJ dough that another member and I produced from reverse engineering a West coast TJ dough, you might want to take a look at this post: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2036.msg19444.html#msg19444. If you are already freezing a TJ dough you could do the same with the clone dough.

Peter

[zapzi]

Don't microwave the dough.  I just leave it out on the counter.  It defrosts quite quickly, and you want it to be at room temperature so that it is pliable and easy to work with.

[zapzi]

I appreciate the link.  Boy you guys are serious about your pizza.  The whole reason I use Trader's is to eliminate the dough making all together for time constraints.  Also the pics show quite a thick crust.  We roll out ours so that it is not necessary cracker crust thin but pretty darn close.  We make two large pizzas from one ball of dough.  Born and raised in Chicago, I cut my thin pizza in squares so there is never a rim of dough around the edges.  Thanks for your input, I look forward to reading more of your suggestions and when I have the time, I will try the deep dish. 

[Jack]

The whole reason I use Trader's is to eliminate the dough making all together for time constraints. 

I made a batch of dough last night while I was watching TV.  It yielded two NY style dough balls, which are in the fridge and can be used anytime between now and about seven days out, although I prefer two wait at least two days.  Read up, you may find it's a lot less of a time constraint than you think.

Also, it's incredibly rewarding when your kids won't stay at a friends house for dinner on a night we are having pizza and I make pizza almost every week and your friends ask to come over for pizza.  You can make it better than you can buy.

Jack

[zapzi]

Jack-
Besides time constraints, we love the dough.  I am a serious cook so I appreciate making things from scratch, but Trader Joe's dough just really works for us for NY style pizza.  I have eaten at some of the best pizzerias in New York, Chicago, and beyond and when I make our pizzas they are up there with the best.  I see on this web site that people really enjoy tweaking the recipes and such and that is great, but when something purchased works so brilliantly for me, I prefer to direct my efforts into other areas like making home made italian sausage, sauce, etc. or perfecting my other culinary pursuits.  The only thing we cannot fully reproduce is the age old wood/coal fired ovens and the super heat and the subsequent  characteristics they yield.  In my dreams, my next house will have one.............albeit without the wonderful benefits of age.