Hello…
Thank you for answering my question…which is…I am looking to start up my first small take out pizzeria…Our goal is to be a better pizza than the chains which is all we have in my area. I have been trying to find what I consider to be be the perfect dough for us. I want our crust to be slightly thicker than a “NY style” but not a thick crust pizza. Can you help ?
When I posted this, I thought it was going directly to the dough Doctor…anyone doing a dough that sounds like what I am looking for…?..Thank for the help… 
Here’s a dough formula that should work for you, and you can bench mark from it to determine what changes might be needed to give you the exact characteristics you’re looking for.
Flour: 12 to 12.5% protein content (this would be considered a strong bread flour)
Salt: 1.75%
Olive oil or a blended oil: 3%
Instant Dry Yeast: 0.375%
Water: 56% (65F)
Procedure:
Put water in mixing bowl, add the flour, yeast and salt, then mix for 2-minutes at low speed. Add the oil and mix for 1-minute at low speed. Finish mixing at low or medium speed to achieve a smooth, satiny dough appearance. Check the finished dough temperature. You want to have something in the 80 to 85F range.
Immediately scale, ball, and box the dough, wipe the tops of the dough balls with salad oil and cross stqack in the cooler. Allow the boxes to remain cross stacked for 2-hours, then down stack and nest the boxes. The dough will be ready to use in 18-hours, but dough can be left in the cooler for up to 72-hours (best in the 24 to 48-hour range). Remove about a three hour supply of dough from the cooler 2-hours before you will need the have the first dough skins ready. Allow the dough to remain in the covered boxes to temper at room temperature for 2-hours, then begin opening the balls into skins as needed. The dough balls will remain good to use for 3-hours after you begin opening the first dough balls. Be sure to keep them covered to prevent drying. Dough weights will need to be determined to give you the finished thickness that you are looking for, but for starters, I’d go with 13-ounces for a 12-inch size crust. For baking, you can go with an air impingement oven using the Hearth Bake Disks from Lloyd pans <www.lloydpans.com> or you might want to bake right on the deck with either a deck or stone hearth oven.
I hope this helps get you started.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
thats great…Thank you Tom…I will give it a try…if you don’t mind…what is a “strong bread flour”…would this be NY style crust only slightly thicker ?..again Thank you
A strong bread flour has about 12 to 12.5% protein content. This is a bit lower than what most “high gluten” pizza flours come in at with upwards of 13+% protein content. While a true N.Y. style pizza would be made withthe higher protein content flour, since, in this application, the crust wanted will be thicker, the lower protein flour will be the better option as it will not result in excessive toughness/chewiness in the finished crust. A good example of a strong bread type flour would be General Mills “Full Strength”.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Tom Thank you again…At the Expo…I was told a good flour was GM’s high yeild or 56 ?..I have it written down
My reference doesn’t show a G.M. Hi-Yield or #56 flour, but it does show a Hi-Power (at 13% protein content) and I also show a #66, which is their King Wheat flour and it comes in at a little over 11% protein content. They may have renamed some of their flours, or added some with their aquisition of Pillsbury so it doesn’t surprise me that my reference doesn’t list those flours.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Tom…I could be off…I have written down but not close by…so please excuse me if I am wrong…
In any case, I think Tim Huff, Bill Weekly, (Pizza Boot Camp) and I are all on the same page in recommending a flour in the lower protein range of 11 to 12+%, as opposed to a high gluten/protein flour in the 13 to 14+ protein range.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Tom,
Once again Thank you…I like sound of how you describe this type of crust…is it something that you personally are a fan of or do you enjoy something else…also…a few ovens I am looking at…seem to cap out 550 degrees…I have thought I need need to be around 650 for what I want…
Actually, I like just about any pizza, but that one happens to be one of my personal favorites.
As for the oven, 550F is about as hot as you will most likely be baking at. You can bake at a higher temperature, but the crust will not retain it’s crispiness as well as one baked at a lower temperature.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
HI Tom,
Boy was I waayyy off on the flour…it is General Mills…All Trumps…
All Trumps comes in at 14+ percent protein content. This might be OK for a New York style thin crust where we are looking for that chewy characteristic in the finished pizza, but it would probably give an overly tough eating deep dish or thick crust pizza.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Tom I made some dough yesterday 25 lbs all trump flour, 7.5 quarts of warm water, 6 oz of salt, 6 oz of sugar, 4oz of olive oil and 3 oz of compressed yeast… The dough seems to be very doughy when we cook it… Is it something in the mix, are we not allowing it to proof long enough… Im new to this and am learning every day. Should I use another type of yeast people are telling me to use the fleshmans yeast…
I think we messed up we added the yeast to the water sugar and salt before we added flour… that can kil the yeast right, we used compressed…
Your formula is pretty good - I believe most of us on this site prefer/use IDY yeast tho - I’d add .75 oz. IDY yeast to the flour/water mix, then add the oil a few minutes later…
We use cold H2O…you could back off the H2O .25/Qt - let dough chill overnight & floor proof for an hour or two b4 use
I hired a guy who supposbly owned a pizzeria and he made the dough. He mixed the compressed yeast in the mix of water sugar and salt which what I was told is bad news… I bought fleshmans bread yeast which is idy yeast Im gonna use that tommorow. Is that ok to mix with the salt sugar and water… and should I just use .75 oz of yeast… than mix 2 minutes add the oil. I was told by a lot of other friends in the buisness to use IDY but this guy swore by it. seems like Im getting taking advantage of by this guy, doesnt seem to smart… should I be using 10 percent oil or is veg. oil fine…
In the bowl
1st H2O (cold or 60ish degrees, depending on personal preferences)
2nd Flour
3rd salt/sugar/yeast on top of the flour
4th mix 4 2 minutes
5th add oil
6th mix 8-12 minutes
7th Cut & round & into the cooler
I’ve used fresh yeast, ADY & IDY - IDY is idiot proof & quite aceptable
How much compressed yeast should I use for 50 lb mix. That batch came out pretty good. We used 3oz of compressed. And it rose in the refrigerator thy was set at 38 degrees. So I Dk if I used too much yeast or water was too warm
How much compressed yeast should I use for 50 lb mix. That batch came out pretty good. We used 3oz of compressed. And it rose in the refrigerator thy was set at 38 degrees. So I Dk if I used too much yeast or water was too warm