JConk Cracker

[JConk007]

My first attempt at thin cracker. Ok so I followed the thin crispy cracker recipe on the forum section, and used the lehman clculator to cross check weightds and percentages.
Thanks for the pics everyone because I would never trust this 36% hydration dough. Recipe says 9 hr room temp rise  BUT I Left it garage 40 degrees F last night into fridge at 34 now and will give it a 4 hr room temp rise roll it out and let it rise a bit in cutter pan. Then its a par bake, top and hope for the best. Dough has not risen or expanded much ? . Is this ok? Will it stick together enough to roll out? should I add another tbsp. water? Maybe needs that room temp rise. Glad I have the pan pie back up that dough looks wonderful! (will post in thick sicilian section) but This has that perfect brain dough look as mentioned on this forum. heres what the dough looks like it will be cooked tonight Hope it comes out half as good as the picture looks.
John

[jeff v]

Ooh uncharted territory. Looking forward to the results.

[Deacon Volker]

Photos look very close to what I've ended up with when I "play" with the cracker styles.  The end result, with a LOT of hand rolling, turned out to be very similar to what I used to make up for the "thin & crispy" when I worked at the Hut many moons ago.  Not a terrible pie, just don't expect big tastes to burst through.  I think the thin doughs must rely on the toppings and sauce to do the "talking" for them.

[JConk007]

I agree D
I made a delicious sauce with 6 in 1s, Fresh garlic , basil, oregano, olive oil a touch of sugar, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper,
thyme, and Tarragon. Made it by taste so it was Just a  pinch and dash til I got it right. I was able to get this Brain dough very thin after 3 hr room temp rise and the help of my 3 yr old. 
I only have 1 cutter pan at 10" so after rolling Out I traced the pan + about a 1/2 inch for the lip and rolled it onto pin, and into 14" deep dish as shown. worked like a champ. We then docked and par bake for like 7 min until dough started to Puff a separate a bit
heres the pics.

[JConk007]

Final pies Thin cracker like crust
very happy with this recipe
JOhn

[jeff v]

Very nice John! It's official next time I'm up in Jersey I'll order a few from you. Would you say this was alot more work than the other styles you've done, and was it worth it?

You 3 year old is very cute BTW-mine will be 3 in Feb.

Jeff

[JConk007]

Yes Jeff, Totally worth it! Once I talked myself into that a 36%  hydration dough would be ok! Mama said it was her favorite of everything I have ever done NY, Chicago, Pan ...with the exception of the outdoor oven of course.
Not much difference in the effort level for the cracker crust. Just the cutter pan and roll it out. They all have a little extra level of effort beyond the Ny or PJ style I make so often. But this one is really cool like shakeys and pizza inn in I remeber from many years ago when I did not even know what pizza was!. I would recommend trying this recipe if you liked thin and crispy at all.  No folding this pie. Stood up like a junior on prom night! I was able to roll it out very very thin so it was nice and light too, almost as thin as my dough scraper! Too bad wifey orders extra cheese on everything. I make I would go a bit less cheese if I had mt way. This cheese was a fresh shredded boars head whole milk mozz and a small piece of provolone shredded in for taste. If you do come to jeresy just let me know and the  Pies will fly
Check out the P hut pan I did too, also great tasting recipe but 1- 9" will fill you up faster than 2 14" cracker! Is your child thowin pies yet?
John

[Mad_Ernie]

Excellent, John!  I love it!   

I find the cracker crust recipe (so far just DKM) to be easier to deal with than other recipes I have tried.  It seems to be a little more forgiving.  Perhaps that is why so many pizza chains in the Midwest and West went to a cracker style crust in the early days - less chance of bad dough?

- ME

[JConk007]

ME
I am just curious what you meant by bad dough? Chewy?, Hard? Tasteless? Blown out? I have been thru most of the cracker thread and a lot of pizzas appear to have varying thickness in this cracker style. I did not Laminate and no pre heating dough prior to rolling and rolled it out super thin, and I had no problem from bench to pan, Yes  I did par bake.  To me it tasted more pizza inn/ shakeys than a saltine cracker this is what I was shooting for not a cracker cracker  texture. Some pics here almost look like a NY style thickness just a bit more crunchy? To me its a slightly flaky very crunchy and light crust, I plan to order some larger pans and try the laminate technique next time. I hope its close to what got here which I though to be perfect.
Thanks again ME
John

[Steve]

I need to make a cracker crust again!! 

[JConk007]

Me too !
Only 1 short week and it has been requested again for this weekend. I am on the way to gat a 16" cutter pan right now. I eat the 16" myself with no problem, and the 10" can be for my other half and daughter
John

[Mad_Ernie]

ME
I am just curious what you meant by bad dough? Chewy?, Hard? Tasteless? Blown out? John

All of the above. 

One thing I noticed was that in making this dough both the first time, and since then, I have not had a problem with it coming out the way it is meant to come out.  In trying to make other doughs that have higher hydrations, less fat (oil), different amounts of yeast, other ingredients, different amounts of time and temperature to proof, baking temperature, etc. the result doesn't always meet the expectation.  For example, New York doughs I've tried: sometimes it comes out "right", and sometimes it doesn't.  If made by the DKM recipe, I can make this dough repeatedly the same way again and again.  Part of that may be that it can be made in a regular oven at 475-525 degrees without any fancy heat sources.  That is probably why restaurants prefer this type of dough, especially chains.  For them, it's more about consistency of the product - everyone gets the same experience they get every time they order a pizza from Pizzeria X.

-ME