My preference in pizza is a medium crust, not cracker thin, not thick. In my terms, about 225 g per 10-12" diameter.
My preference is changing to a thin crust; I thought you might appreciate my reasons for the change:
1. In the book Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, he describes experiments that clearly demonstrate our ability to take a cue when we've eaten enough - stinks. We pretty much eat all that is served. Read the book, the experiments are awesome - especially the Pringles experiment. One related observation on this is we'll be just as satisfied when eating two meals of approximately the same volume, e.g., a double burger might make us just as satisfied as a single burger stuffed with veggies; there are better examples in the book. I figured a thinner crust might serve as a substrate for the same 12" pizza with fewer calories. Note: I realize I'm dangerously close to a low carb thing here, but I'm simply trying to find a great satisfying food with a few less calories.
2. I really love (some) thin crust pies, especially those of California Pizza Kitchen. Thin, yet good bubbles on the surface, tender and wonderful flavor.
3. A higher veggie to carb ratio can not be bad (again, dangerously close to low carb stuff - warning! mid age belly burgeoning).
4. The wife and kid like the thin pies too.
4. The wife and kid like the thin pies too.
I want to make a thin crust pizza rivaling my current favorite, CPK.
The number of experiments - given my current understanding and experience making pizza at home - are limited. I want some oil in the dough for tenderness, but the big question is a slack or stiff dough (high moisture or low moisture respectively) better? The only way to start this investigation is pretty easy: try both.
Commercially, a shop would use a sheeter to get dough this thin and even. I'll just weigh the lump of dough, push it to half the diameter by hand and finish with a rolling pin. Prior rounding of the lump of dough will give a disk of dough with adequate symmetry (important for density for the two pizzas).
The dough recipes:
Slack Dough (depicted below)
water, 220 g
unbleached white flour (Montana Sapphire), 300 g
sugar, 5 g
olive oil, 25 g
salt, 5 g
yeast, Red Star instant active, 7 g
Mixed, 1 rise, scaled to 150 g and rolled to 12" diameter (pretty exact)
topped with fresh thinly sliced tomato, chevre and basil, baked at 450°F
water, 220 g
unbleached white flour (Montana Sapphire), 300 g
sugar, 5 g
olive oil, 25 g
salt, 5 g
yeast, Red Star instant active, 7 g
Mixed, 1 rise, scaled to 150 g and rolled to 12" diameter (pretty exact)
topped with fresh thinly sliced tomato, chevre and basil, baked at 450°F
Stiff Dough
water, 180 g - all else the same
...stay tuned...
water, 180 g - all else the same
...stay tuned...