Here it is:
There is no one factor that can be used across the board. You must decide how thick YOU want your pizzas to be to meet YOUR customers expectations.
Select any size of pizza to work with. Experiment with different dough weights until you find the weight that gives you the finished thickness you want.
Now, calculate the surface area of the pan, screen, dick, or diameter of pizza you made. Use the formula Pi X r (radius = 1/2 of the diameter) squared. Lets say you used a 12-inch screen. so the math would look like this: Pi = 3.14 (close enough). 3.14 X 36 = 113.04 (call it 113-square inches). Divide the dough weight by 113. If you used 10-ounces of dough to get your desired crust thickness, divide this by 113. 10-ounces divided by 113 = 0.0884955 (call it 0.088). This is your specific dough loading, also known as your “dough factor”. Now all you need to do is to decide what other sizes you want to make and calculate those surface areas and multiply by your dough factor. Example: If you want to make a 16-inch pizza, 3.14 X 64 = 200.96 (call it 201-square inches). Just multiply 201 X 0.088 = 17.688 (call it 17.75-ounces. This is the dough weight needed to make YOUR 16-inch diameter pizza. Repeat this exercise with your deep-dish pizza and you will have your dough factor for a deep-dish pizza too and you will be able to calculate your dough weight for any size pizza you want to make.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
