Thickness Factor Worksheet

[norcoscia]

Thickness Factor Worksheet - Posting this in case anyone will find it useful. I tried to attach it as a high resolution JPG, but the BB Forum software is downgrading the resolution (hopefully it is still readable).  If you find any errors in the worksheet or would like to see any changes, just let me know...happy to update.

[HansB]

I wonder if there is a list posted with recommended thickness factors for various styles of pizza? I know that the Tom Lehman recommends 1 oz./28g per inch. which works good for NY/American style but just a little bit much for NP.

[norcoscia]

Good question, I did a quick search but no luck finding anything like that. It would be easy to automatically add color coded regions representing reasonable boundaries for each style to the spreadsheet. I also thought about blacking out cells that don't meet the minimum "theoretical" thickness of a pie. But I'm really not sure what that number is 

[mitchjg]

An example of thickness value suggestions made by Peter:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=12243.msg115759#msg115759

Here are the values (copy/paste) in that post (but do read the post for caveats and context):

Thin crust (general): 0.10
NY "street" or "slice" style crust: 0.085-0.10 (I personally like 0.10-0.105; some will argue that that is too high for a NY style)
"Elite" NY crust thickness: 0.065-0.085
Medium crust (general): 0.11
Thick crust (general): 0.12-0.13
Neapolitan 1 crust: 0.07-08 (for high-temperature applications)
Neapolitan 2 crust: 0.095-0.11 (for home oven applications, e.g., A16 clones)
Thin "crispy" cracker-type crust: 0.05-0.08
Thin "tender" cracker-type crust: 0.09-0.10
American style: 0.12-0.14
Chicago deep-dish style: 0.11-0.135
Sicilian style: 0.12-0.13 (however, I have seen as high as 0.15)

[Pete-zza]

Hans,

I once has an exchange with Tom Lehmann on recommended dough ball weights for the NY style and reported on that exchange, among other related matters, in Reply 7 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,12029.msg112601/topicseen.html#msg112601.

I started to post some typical thickness factors for different types and style of pizzas but I see that Mitch beat me to it. The full post is at Reply 1 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=12243.msg115759;topicseen#msg115759.

To the above, I would add that the last time I had a NY style pizza in NYC, at a very highly regarded pizzeria, and where I had a chance to discuss the dough and pizzas at length with the pizzaiolo, I calculated a thickness factor of 0.093141 for the dough that was used to make their pizzas (18").

Peter

[HansB]

Thank you Peter. Again you are the research guru!

Good info on the links.

[Pete-zza]

See, also, Reply 6 at:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=40354.msg402402#msg402402

Peter

[CIZ28]

I’d like to add something here. Those thickness factors are not on target for an actual pizzeria. Home making maybe so. The pizza boxes are usually at least 1/4” bigger on all sides than what they say they are and it’s not good when they look too small in the box. The pizza will also shrink in the oven about 1/2-3/4 inch so they have to be overstretched on the peel regardless. They also have to be strong enough to be able to handle an order for a veggie, meat, or works pie. This is why 90% of pizzerias will have a large 16” dough be 18-22oz normally. They have to be AT LEAST 16” or a little more in the box and still strong enough to handle toppings. The actual ounces for those TFs is always higher than those listed for those values. Carry on!

[Highsinger]

This is great! This chart and Mitch's descriptions help confirm that I'm in the ballpark. On my own, I have been making 14" pizzas with ~500g dough balls. That puts me pretty close to the American Pie range. Yay!