Norma,
Your number for your baked clone of the PJ Cheesesticks was very close to the weight number given in the PJ Nutrition Facts. Based on the numbers you mentioned for your unbaked clone, the unbaked clone weighed 14.25 (skin) + 3 (cheese)+ 1.5 (clone garlic sauce) = 18.75 ounces. The baked weight was 16.3 ounces. That compares with the 16.79 ounce number from the PJ Nutrition Facts, or a difference of only 0.49 ounces, or a bit less than a half-ounce. The weight loss from a percentage standpoint was about 13%. I wondered what that number would be. We don't know what the corresponding losses would be in one of the PJ conveyor ovens using either a screen or a disk but maybe the small amount of cheese on the skin and no toppings results in greater losses during baking. In any event, if you liked the results you achieved, the numbers suggest that you can increase the amount of cheese and/or the clone garlic sauce a bit and stay close to the PJ Nutrition Facts numbers. Alternatively, you can increase the dough weight a bit. Of course, you can alter the numbers any way you see fit to make the clone Cheesesticks even better, whether you decide to offer such a product at market or not.
Can you refresh my memory on what was in the clone garlic sauce that you used? Was it the I can't believe it isn't Butter clone or one made with the Parkay Squeeze margarine spread? Or maybe something else.
Also, did you like your clone Cheesesticks better than the ones you had recently from the PJ shop you visited? And did you come to any other conclusions?
Peter
Peter,
Thanks for telling me that the weight of my baked clone of the PJ cheesticks came very close to the weight number for the PJ Nutrition Facts. I know we don't know what the corresponding losses of weights would be PJ conveyor oven using a screen or a disk. I would think that no sauce and less cheese would results in greater losses while baking, but don't really know.
I think I would increase the cheese amount if given the choice.
The PJ garlic sauce I made was with the Parkay Squeeze product, which I added more Butter Buds than before, a little of the Shank's butter flavoring, a little water and the same garlic powder and the pinch of salt. I did add a small drop of yellow food coloring to this attempt. I didn't weigh any of the ingredients because it was getting too late on Monday night to do that.
I did like my clone Cheesesticks better than PJ's because they were softer, but then I didn't eat the PJ cheesesticks right out of the oven. They also even tasted better in the crust even for the short cold ferment time. The only other thing I can think of in your question after other conclusions is my oven at market doesn't bake well on a dark disk.
Do you have any idea of why the two PJ Garlic sauces were so different in consistencies when they were both purchased at the same time?
Norma