Tom, While looking at the dough recipes in the recipe bank, I noticed that there is quite a bit of variance in the amounts of water used in each recipe. For example, in the NY recipe, the water varies from 58% to 65%. Can you please explain the finished product differences. What will produce a crispier crust?
The amount of water added to a dough will normally vary depending upon the type of flour used, type of crust being made and the type of dough forming method being used to shape the dough. If you are hand shaping the dough, an absorption of 56 to 58% generally comes pretty close to being where you want to be. As for crispiness and absorption, the higher dough absorption will almost always give you a crispier finished crust.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor