Norma,
Like you, I have never had a V&N pizza either so all I could do was to try to come as close to the dough formulation and related methods as best I could divine them from the V&N video and my independent research. This is my standard operating procedure when trying to clone someone else's dough/pizza. Also, when making my clones, I try to make them exactly like the original, to the extent I am able to do that given that I don't always have quite enough information and also giving recognition to the fact that my home setting is going to be different than a commercial setting. I know that there will be differences but I try to identify them and, as appropriate, make adjustments to my home versions.
I also knew from my own experience working with wet doughs that that would be the sticking point (pun intended) with the V&N clone dough. I also learned from discussions I have had with salespersons at Anets and Somerset, both of whom are industry leaders and make dough rounders and sheeters, that such equipment can handle wet, even oily, doughs quite well--something that is likely to be much harder for us to do with a rolling pin. And there is often a lot of bench flour around the equipment when in use. The dough roller that V&N uses looks to be an old workhorse of a machine. If you or others would like to see how the modern versions of dough rollers work, see the video for the Somerset CDR-1550 at http://www.smrset.com/dough-roller-cdr-1550.shtml. The Anets equipment is similar but is now made at the Middleby Marshall facilities since MM acquired Anets about a year ago. It's hard to tell from the V&N video whose dough roller they are using but I would guess Anets because they have been a fixture in the Chicago area for many years. Giordano's has been a big user of the Anets machines although I was told recently by a Somerset salesman that Giordano's has been switching over to Somerset machines in some of their stores.
In terms of the dough ball weight you might want to strive for next time, you might revisit the V&N video and look at the size of dough balls in Rosemary's and Guy Fieri's hands and see if you can approximate that, even if it means having to adjust the other ingredients down the line if you are able to come close to the actual V&N dough ball weight, especially the hydration. You may have to play around with the skin thickness because it is hard to tell from the video whether the dough balls shown are for a 12" pizza or a 14" pizza.
Peter
Peter,
I know you always try to gather all the information you can before setting forth a formula. You are quite the detective, when it comes to making a pizza you have tried or not tried.
It is hard to even clone a pizza that was tasted.
I had some luck with the sticking point of your formula set-forth, as anyone can read below. Since I really have no idea of how thin this next crust should be, I will roll again and then weigh any extra dough.
At least I was glad this crust did have a good flavor after playing around with the Ultra-thin thread and those crusts having no flavor. Steve and I talked yesterday about the pizzas we made and I said this almost was like the pizza I tasted at the New York Restaurant and Pizza Expo, except the crust was a little softer on the real Ultra-Thin pizza. Maybe my memory isn't exactly right, about the real Ultra-Thin pizzas, but the pies were good yesterday.
I made another dough ball this morning using the 12" formula you set-forth. I used my Kitchen Aid professional HD to mix the dough. I also used whole milk in the formula. The dough was sticky when finished, but I have since reballed the dough two times. It feels drier now, but probably will get sticky, like my last dough did. I will take another picture or pictures of how this dough looks during today. I am going to try and use my home oven to make this pizza. I will wait until I think the dough looks ready, or might even refrigerate it again and wait until tomorrow, all depending on how this dough ferments at ambient room temperatures of 74 degrees F. I am going to go to market today to pick up my docker, dark perforated pan, and big rolling pin. I will see how this pizza turns out in my home setting with my oven.
Picture of how dough looks after reballing twice.
Norma
