Any basic tips/suggestions for rolled out, crispy thin crust doughs?

[DrumLug]

I'm starting with a pretty basic recipe at 53% hydration. New to me will be the Baking Powder in place of yeast, and the use of Lard in the dough.

  - 225g KAAP
  - 3g Salt
  - 5g Baking Powder
  - 35g Lard
  -119g Water

So I guess my main questions now are about how everyone here goes about baking a rolled out crust. Do you par-bake the crust or just start topping it? Do you prefer using a steel/stone or a pan for this style?

My goal is to find a recipe and method that gets me close to the Imo's or Cecil Whittaker's St. Louis style. I'm guessing the main difference between a St. Louis style and the other Tavern Style thin and crispy crusts would be use of BP instead of yeast? This is a whole new ballgame for me.

[PapaJawnz]

Low hydration dough for cracker/thin crust.  Proof dough as normal, it will almost look like a brain with cracks throughout when balled.  Roll out very thin, the dough should extend way past the pan used until you get the amount of dough required dialed in.  Roll out the dough, preferably on a non floured counter so it will stick to it and not spring back into place.  If the dough seems too bucky, cover it and let it rest for 15 minutes and continue rolling out.  I would say the dough should be about 1/16" thick (or less!).  Drape it over a cutter pan and press it down into the pan, use the rolling pin along the cutter pan edge to cut off the excess dough.  Save the scraps for an "old dough" batch.  Dock the dough with a fork or dough docker.  Par baking is up to you, I think it ends up helping get more color on the crust if you bake the pie in the cutter pan completely, otherwise you may not need to parbake the crust if you will be transferring the pizza during the bake to a steel once the dough is set in the pan.

I've used nick57's (R.I.P.) recipe for a cracker crust in the past and it worked out really well.  Bake temps and times should be similar to a hand tossed pizza.

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=18731.0

Don't forget that garlic butter dip sauce 

[foreplease]

Good post, Papa. You've been holding out on us!


You have a keyboard shortcut for "garlic butter dip sauce" don't you?    I may try it next time my wife is not home. 

[PapaJawnz]

Good post, Papa. You've been holding out on us!


You have a keyboard shortcut for "garlic butter dip sauce" don't you?    I may try it next time my wife is not home. 

It's so good foreplease!  I usually slice off a Tbsp of butter, a dash or garlic powder, and a very tiny pinch of garlic salt.  I heat it up on top of the oven while the pizza's cooking!  I don't eat the crust, but I bet it would be best used there.  I just go full out piggy mode and dunk my slices in it 

[Pete-zza]

With a clue from John Fazzari, I found it quite easy to make a good cracker style pizza, at Reply 16 at:

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=5762.msg49138#msg49138

There are also a lot of other cracker style recipes under the Cracker Style sticky threads at:

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?board=28.0

Peter

[DrumLug]

There are also a lot of other cracker style recipes under the Cracker Style sticky threads at:

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?board=28.0

Ugh.... You'd think I'd be able to find my way around the forum a little better by now... But in my defense, I don't think I've ever heard it referred to as "Cracker" style until just recently.

Thanks for the info guys

[DrumLug]

So I've made a few of these thin crusts and here's what I've learned... But let's get this out of the way. I'm from the St. Louis region...

Thin and crispy crust is a dangerous thing. I've got Tony Gemignani's book and I lean heavily on this forum as well as a few guys on YouTube. But around here, "Thin Crust" means something wildly different. For us saying "Thin Crust" is just shorthand for the cracker style crust, thick sweet sauce, extra toppings and most importantly the Provel cheese. For us it's Imo's and Cecil Whittaker's which is a completely different animal than something like the "Frank Nitti" Chicago thin in Tony G's book.

My problem is that I've really fallen in love with the extended fermentations in the dough recipes for New York and Neapolitan styles. I've got a pretty big pizza steel, so I can bake a 16-17" NY style pizza... and eat half of the thing and then go for a walk or mow the lawn. But now, after revisiting the St. Louis style after taking a few years off, I eat 5 or 6 pieces and it's game over. I'm laid out on the couch with what feels like a block of concrete on my chest.

As I was learning how to make New York and Neapolitan pizza I used my neighbors as Guinea pigs. They got a lot of free pizzas. And with the longer fermentations there were lots of comments about eating several slices and not needing to take a nap afterwards. And I was experiencing the same thing. I never knew that "Digestibility" was even a word... until this revisiting of St. Louis Style after a few years away from it. It used to be my favorite pizza but... I don't know if I can go back. And I'm almost crying... just thinking about all the money I'm going to save