Remember that presses (heated or cold), sheeters and hand forming all produce finished crusts with significantly different characteristics. It’s not just a case of which method do I want to use, instead it’s a case of what characteristics do I want in my finished crust. Skins that are fully formed using a sheeter/dough roller tend to be dense, and more flat (poker chip) in appearance and due to their thin cross section don’t get as well baked in the center section which results in a potentially tougher, more chewy finished crust characteristic. However, when the dough absorption is at 50% or less the sheeter is the only way to open the dough for what is referred to as a thin crispy or a thin cracker type crust which has more of a dry, crisp eating characteristic. Cold presses press the dough in a pan and require a release agent to be used in the pan as the dough is then baked in the same pan after pressing, for this reason the crust will have more of a fried characteristic which is generally perceived as being more crispy while the crumb structure will be characteristic of a pressed crust having a fine, uniform crumb structure, sometimes referred to as cake like. Tho pressed crusts also require oil but only on the dough ball so the crust tends to have a slightly richer crust color due to the oil. The formed skins also demonstrate very good resistance to moisture penetration from the sauce and toppings (due to the oil put onto the dough ball in preparation for press forming) and the skin formed by the heated press can effectively allow the skins to be stacked without sticking together, both of these characteristics make the hot press forming method popular with the newer fast casual pizza concept. Hand forming methods do not degas the dough at all and will typically provide a finished crust with the greatest oven spring and crumb porosity but because they are made by hand there will always be a certain amount of inconsistency in the finished crusts, especially in the center section where there is a strong tendency to get the center section too thin which can lead to anything from a gum line to a tough, chewy crust. Lastly, there is a method that I developed a number of years ago where the dough ball is only partially opened (to about 2-inches less than the desired finished diameter) and then finished by one of the hand forming methods to being the skin out to full diameter. This is a very easy method to learn (we developed it to help teach those who might be challenged in opening the dough entirely by hand how to still achieve a very good hand tossed crust). This method all but eliminates the annoying thin center common to many skins opened by hand with the finished crust having all of the hand tossed/opened characteristics.
I wrote an article on this topic some years ago so it should be someplace back in the archives here.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
