My version of DKMs Cracker Style Crust

[pcuezze]

Didn't want to hijack anyone else's thread so here's my favorite variation of the DKM Pizza Inn Recipe:

Ingredients:

I follow the DKM formulation exactly including 5.8 oz's of water EXCEPT I used KA High Gluten Flour (lancelot).  The high gluten flour seems to give me a bit more density in the crust and make it easier to roll thin without breaking (although, overall it's tougher to roll out).  The recipe yields me a 640 gram ball.

Procedure:

  I proof 25% of the yeast in my oven with the light on (and sometimes I turn on a very low setting briefly).  I have found that slight variations in the water temperature (90 v. 100) cause significant differences in the character of the dough early on but equal out in the end.  The higher temperature dough seems to start rising much faster!

I mix the dough in my KA professional using the paddle.  I think this is a variation from what others have done and is very effective compared to the hook (which is practically useless with this dough).  In the end, I end up with a very scrappy dough, but not the cornmeal type texture noted by some.  I know the manual says not to use the paddle for dough, but we're not really kneading it  - just mixing.

I put the dough in a sealed container for 18-24 hours.  I take the 620 gram ball and divide it into 4 equal balls.  I roll each out to 14-15" rough skins using a marble rolling pin.  I laminate two of them together and roll a couple times.   I use a 14" cutter pan to trace the final skins - thus yielding 2 skins from the dough with substantial leftovers (290 gr total - that's a lot of rolling). 

If I'm not using all of my skins (i've been known to make 2-3 batches in succession), I stack them with wax paper between and seal them in a container where they've kept for 2+ days.

Dressing:

I use a 6-n-1 sauce sweetened with honey and an array of spices.  I use a blend of Mozerella, provolone, and cheddar which is very common in my neck of the woods.

For an even more excellent pie, I've tried building it chicago style - with the sauce on the top.  The sauce gets a bit more flavor from being roasted on top.  It really changes the whole character of the pizza - for the better!

Cooking:

I have a Bosch in-wall oven which reaches 550.  I set it on Convection Roast (top and bottom elements plus the fan) to preheat my oven for 45 minutes or so.  When ready to bake, I turn it to bake on 550.  I cook the pizza on the stone for 6-8 minutes.

Results:

This is truly one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten.  The crust is nearly identical to some of my favorite local pizzerias and is unlike anything I've created at home.  I tried my cutter pans several times with this crust and it was good but never great.  It always seemed a bit rubbery - even with all purpose flour.  The crust also never seemed to brown.  On the stone, it turns out amazing. 

I'm satisfied.  The only thing I would like to do is develop a pasty, spicy sauce which is very common to our pizzerias in the midwest.  Many of the places that sell this type of pizza have a sauce that looks indistinguishable from pure tomato paste when it goes on.  It is not bitter, so I know they're cutting it somehow, but I can't figure out how...

[JConk007]

Very nice!!
Your pie looks great!

I too love this recipe, and also thought it to be one of the best pies I made. As mentioned in my JConkdoes cracker post the sauce is important as the dough does not burst with flavor.
 Idid use the hook and 15 min autolyse. I did not try the layering of the crusts because it rolled out so thin, but next time I will try that two skin,  and roll again. I know Pete-zza does that way with great results by the looks of his cross section pictures
Thanks
Jhn

[Pete-zza]

pcuezze,

Very nice job. I can see why you were so pleased.

My favorite appliance for the DKM cracker-style dough recipe is a food processor, because of its ability to efficiently create a dough with a cornmeal-like texture, but I have also successfully used my basic KitchenAid stand mixer with a paddle and C-hook. I start with the paddle at stir speed and later switch to the C-hook at at higher speed. I ultimately discovered that if the dough was subjected to heat, which made it easier to roll out, it didn't really matter as much what type of mixing appliance was used. I even made the DKM cracker style dough by hand. I also found that the dough warming method made the hydration of the dough less critical, and would tolerate a wider range of hydration values. That also suggests that the type of flour used is less critical.

John Conk mentioned that I have used the layering technique you described. That is correct but it was with respect to a Lehmann cracker-style pizza. The principal drawback to the layering method in my opinion is that it is extra work and takes more time than working with a single layer. However, as I discovered with my own experiments, laminating layers is an effective method for achieving a crispy crust. With the DKM recipe, I found that if I rolled out the dough thinly enough, I could get a finished crust that was crispy and with a lot of crunch, which you could hear when the pizza cutter cut through the pizza. In my case, I used a nominal thickness factor of about 0.07, which was reduced even further for the final skin that was cut out of a larger sheet, much like you did. I did a quick calculation of the thickness factor for your two superimposed skins and it is about the same as what I used for my single skin. In my case, I found that using a cutter pan and pre-baking the crust worked best for me, although I also was successful with baking the pizzas directly on my pre-heated pizza stone. If you haven't tried pre-baking your crust in the cutter pan, that is something you might want to consider, using a single skin of the same general thickness of your two laminated skins. I typically pre-oil my cutter pan to get increased bottom crust browning. What I also like about the cutter pan is that I can place toppings all the way out to the edge without fear of anything spilling over the edge onto the pizza stone when loading the pizza into the oven.

Peter

[pcuezze]

Thanks Pete.  And thanks for all your input on this site.  It really is invaluable.  I'm trying to develop this into a commercially viable dough.  Presumably, I would use a sheeter making the lamination less of a problem.   But I haven't seen how this low-hydration dough performs in sheeter yet....

I agree about the toppings.  Our pizzerias around here use wax paper under their pies.  They almost all use Blodgett (or equivalent) stone-deck ovens.  The ones I've seen have only been set to 575 (although I don't know the true temperatures).

As for sauce, I found the sauce I was looking for.  Attention tomato snobs, stop reading this now!!!!

I took Contadina tomatoe paste (2 cans to .5 cans of water).  I add honey (at a somewhat higher rate then when using 6-n-1s).  I add my standard spices (white pepper, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt) but also add a significant amount of heat (I used cayenne pepper).  This was exactly the sauce I was looking for.  It is NOT an artisan pizza sauce but rather reminds me of that "joint pizzeria" style sauce I wanted. 

So far, everyone I've given it to preferred the 6-n-1 sauce except me, though.     But I'd like to see someone else try it out and tell me what they think.  And don't worry, the honey combined with the cooking time eliminated the bitterness of the paste entirely.  If anything, it was too sweet...

Thanks again for all the good advice.

[Pete-zza]

pcuezze,

Some time ago, one of our members, John Fazzari, who runs a pizza restaurant with his brother and specializes in cracker-style pizzas, posted a dough formulation that is similar in many respects to the DKM recipe, at Reply 4 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5642.msg47873.html#msg47873. As you will see there, and the posts that follow, the hydration in John's recipe is about the same as in DKM's recipe, and John uses a sheeter to form his skins. John uses a thicker dough skin than I have used when practicing DKM's recipe, and John's crusts tend to be more tender than mine (which are more on the crispy side), but I would think that the sheeter roller spacing can be adjusted to produce a thinner crust if that is what you are after.

Peter