DKM's Thin Crust w/Pictures

[Steve]

Last night I made two of my best-to-date thin crust pizzas using DKM's Pizza Inn recipe! 

The pizzas were identical except that one was made exactly according to Deven's recipe (5.8 ounces of water) and the other with 6.5 ounces of water to see what effect it would have. And, both pizzas were made using All Trumps high-gluten flour.

Both doughs were made using the food processor method. All ingredients are added to the bowl of a food processor fitted with steel cutting blade and are processed for about 20-30 seconds until the mixture resembles coarse, moist, cornmeal. The contents are then dumped onto a clean countertop and pressed together to form a dough ball.

Both doughs were given a 24 hour rise at room temperature.

After the 24 hour rise, the "dry" dough (made with 5.8 ounces of water) had hardly risen. The "wet" dough (6.5 oz. water) had risen more. Both smelled strongly of fermented alcohol.)

Both doughs rolled out easily, with the "wet" dough rolling out the easiest of the two.

Both doughs got a 4 minute par-bake in a 500° F. oven.

Both pizzas were cooked in a greased cutter pan on the second from the bottom oven rack.

The "dry" crust was the winner here. It was much crisper than the "wet" crust.

Again, this was by far my "best ever" thin & crackery crust. I believe that the par-baking is what made the difference (my past attempts did not use the par-bake method as I was experiemting with different oven temperatures, etc.)

Now on to the pictures!

[Steve]

Rolling out the dough (this is the "dry" dough). That's a 16" cutter pan for reference.

[Steve]

The dough in the pan. That's the entire batch of dough rolled out (made with 1 pound of flour). The dough must hang over the sides of the cutter pan in order to trim it off properly.

[Steve]

Docking the dough.

[Steve]

Trimming the dough using the cutter pan and rolling pin.

[Steve]

After a 4 minute par-bake at 500° F, the "dough" gets sauced. Here I'm using my special thin crust sauce using Red Pack tomatoes, green pepper, onion, and seasonings which is found on the thin & crispy recipe on the main site. If you haven't tried it, it really makes a great thin crust sauce.

[Steve]

Cheese is added, then the toppings. Callogen cased pepperoni is used here... the kids love this type of pepperoni, they call it "crater pizza"! You'll see why when you see the cooked pizza.

Note: Do not use a lot of cheese or toppings as this tends to overload a thin crust pizza! In this case, less is more!

After topping, into the oven it goes!

[Steve]

The final product fresh from the oven! 

[Steve]

Notice the crumb structure. Ths pizza was very crisp and cracker-like. Very delicious!!

[Steve]

The leftovers! The last photo shows the slices heading for the refrigerator. I had two slices this morning for breakfast!    I doubt that the remaining pieces will last until lunch! 

[Steve]

Some final notes here:

I was very meticulous in weighing the raw ingredients for the dough. I used my digital scale (accurate to 0.05 ounce) to weigh the flour, oil, and water. I used standard volumetric measurements for the sugar, salt, and yeast.

5.8 ounces of water may seem like it's not enough. Trust me, it is!! Use the food processor method, it's simply the best method when dealing with such little hydration.

Using the food processor, I added all of the dry ingredients to the bowl first, then pulsed so that everything was blended together, then I added the oil and water.

The dough was given a 24 hour rise at room temperature. Very important!

The dough was par-baked at 500° F for exactly 4 minutes. Be careful of the large air pockets that will form. Puncture them when the crust comes out of the oven and g e n t l y press the steam out of the pockets.

Go light on the toppings, do not weigh-down the pizza!

[Pete-zza]

Steve,

Wonderful job depicting the whole process.

Peter

[Steve]

Here is the step-by-step technique that I used in making the ultra-dry dough.

First, it is very import to accurately weigh your ingredients when making such a small batch of dough. The use of a digital scale is highly recommended.

First, add exactly 1 pound (16 ounces) high gluten flour to the mixing bowl.

[Steve]

After weighing the flour (1 pound), next add the remaining dry ingredients. I used volumetric measurements since it's difficult to accurately weigh 1 teaspoon of salt! So, here we have the salt, yeast, and sugar added to the flour.

Run the food processor for a few seconds to thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.

[Steve]

Next, back on the scale, we add the vegetable oil (exactly 0.60 ounces) and water (exactly 5.8 ounces). Don't forget to tare the scale after each addition.

[Steve]

Run the food processor (with steel cutting blade) for approximately 20-30 seconds until the flour mixture resembles moist cornmeal. Dump the contents onto the countertop.

[Steve]

Next, using your hands, squeeze and press the dough together to form a ball.

[Steve]

Place in a sealed bucket and let rise, at room temperature, for 24 hours.

[Randy]

Like you, I think parbake is the way to go.  My last thin crust had the cheese alomost burn before the crust browned and that was using 450F.  Maybe DKM will throw in on this discusion.  T
he dough hook method I used produces a much differant texture as you can see.
http://forum.pizzamaking.com/index.php?topic=750.0

[jimmy]

Steve, the pictures show exactly what i am looking for. would it be possible for you to write the exact recipe down for me and e-mail it to  [email protected] ? I'd really appreciate it, I been having no luck at all with my crusts. thank you very much.