Thin crust pizza

tridogdude

Sorry for the crappy photo. 
Been cooking quite a few pizzas lately. Decided to do some thin crust even though we are not big fans of thin crust. Turned out really good. After all the experimenting I have done, the pizzas are far better cooking at 460-475 rather than 600+

Started out a year ago with the standard platesetter and recently using the AR with 13" stone.  The AR is about impossible without burning the crust.
Back to the plate setter and am real happy with consistent results. Friends and family say it is the best pizza they have had so doing something right. Either that or they're lying through their pizza covered teeth.
Seem to be using a lot less lump as well with lower temps. Read a few peoples posts on here saying they were having better results at 450 so thanks to you guys again for posting.  

JohnnyTarheel

Great looking pies... I agree on the lower temp

Acorn

Looks great, nicely done.

Hawg Fan

Thanks for posting.  Indirect, 475-500 degrees, very high in the dome is the sweet spot in my LBGE.

jtcBoynton

There are various styles of pizzas and different dough recipes. Some are best cooked in the 475-550º range. Some are better cooked at 600º and above.  

Most of the pizzas I see posted on this forum are medium thick crust with a heavy load of toppings. The 475-550º range is fine for this style. A lot of the dough recipes circulating are designed for this temperature range (as are most of the store bought doughs).  The key is to find the right combination of cooking time, temperature, dough recipe, and egg setup for the style you like.  

RRP

I am a big fan of thin crust.

 see? LOL

B&BKnox

I have  cooked hundreds of pizza's on a LBGE, I agree on lower temps in the 450-500 degree range, let the stone preheat one hour and all is good.  I generally cook most about 2-3 inches above felt (rutland) line.  Most of my cooks are thin or very close to thin crusts.

SGH

Great looking pizza brother. That last shot of the pepperoni one is just about to starve me to death!!

Skiddymarker

Nice looking pies - pizza is a journey, not a recipe. Find the temp, height in the dome, amount of topping, thickness and moisture in the dough that works for you and life can be beautiful. 
"Friends and family say it is the best pizza they have had....” there’s the proof!

YYZegger

Looks great!  Newbie question, does everyone cook their pizza's with the lid closed or open?  If closed I'm guessing the daisy wheel is removed?  Thank you.

Chubbs

RRP said:

I am a big fan of thin crust.

 see? LOL

Ron man I have been on a quest to find a dough recipe like this. Mind sharing? OP, sorry for mini hijack. Yours look amazing too. I like mine cooked at 500. 

B&BKnox

YYZegger said:

Looks great!  Newbie question, does everyone cook their pizza's with the lid closed or open?  If closed I'm guessing the daisy wheel is removed?  Thank you.

Yes DFMT removed.  Dome closed.  I am lazy and use parchment paper under the pie to slide on and off the stone, idiot proof I call it.

Skiddymarker

YYZegger said:

Looks great!  Newbie question, does everyone cook their pizza's with the lid closed or open?  If closed I'm guessing the daisy wheel is removed?  Thank you.

If cooking a pan crust, <600ºF, DFMT is off, if cooking a thinner crust, <500ºF I often have the DFMT on. MBGE just seems happier that way. 

RRP

Chubbs said:

RRP said:

I am a big fan of thin crust.

 see? LOL

Ron man I have been on a quest to find a dough recipe like this. Mind sharing? OP, sorry for mini hijack. Yours look amazing too. I like mine cooked at 500. 

Rather than to hijack his thread I have sent you a PM.

milesvdustin

I use two stones when i cook pizza on the ar. 

tridogdude

@jtcBoynton  I agree on the different dough recipes and adjusting the temps to accommodate these. Seems like the more moisture in the dough lends itself to burn easier which seems odd. 

@RRP @Chubbs  Don't worry about hijacking this thread. No offense taken if you're wanting to give up any secrets. Dough Recipes are always welcome. Good looking thin crust there BTW. 

tridogdude

@milesvdustin  I never even thought about using two stones. Are you using the spider with an additional stone for going indirect? This will be something that I will have to try. 

HendersonTRKing

@RRP:  would very much like your thin crust recipe.  PM or mini-hijack, pls.  Pretty pls.

(That's to take nothing away from @tridogdude; the quality of your cook eclipses the quality of the pix.  I know, bc my mouth is watering.)  

Gracias.

Mickey

I have started to use tortillas. They make outstanding pizza and real quick for kids as well

RRP

HendersonTRKing said:

@RRP:  would very much like your thin crust recipe.  PM or mini-hijack, pls.  Pretty pls.

(That's to take nothing away from @tridogdude; the quality of your cook eclipses the quality of the pix.  I know, bc my mouth is watering.)  

Gracias.

you have a pm

jtcBoynton

@tridogdude
I generally think along the lines of:  high hydration dough / thin crust / high temp / short time. 

That a higher hydration dough burns easier than a lower one does seem odd. Are you sure that the moisture content was the only variable that changed? Cooking temp and time the same? Recipe the same, except for the moisture? Dough thickness the same? Egg warm up the same?  I'm stumped.

tridogdude

@jtcBoynton  Some of it may have to do with warm up time. Sometimes it is 30 minutes and sometimes it is 45 to 60 minutes that the stone is preheating. A lot of that has to do with my wife as she wants me to get the pizzas on there asap so I am not consuming as many beers ;-)  

Still haven't convinced her that the stone needs a good 60 minutes to warm up. She won't start the BGE so I have her at my mercy (in this case always!)

GlennM

RRP, please send me the recipe as well and also, how you manage to get it that thin without making holes in it?  Maybe you should have just hijacked the thread?  The rest of us did it for you :-0

RRP

GlennM said:

RRP, please send me the recipe as well and also, how you manage to get it that thin without making holes in it?  Maybe you should have just hijacked the thread?  The rest of us did it for you :-0

Here you go - see the underscored sentence for the secret...

AZRP’s Thin Pizza Crust

This recipe is courtesy of Randy Price aka AZRP on the Greeneggers forum.

It is quite simple, but tasty and the nice thing is you can roll it thin. In fact my pizza crusts using this are only 3/16” thick!

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1 T olive oil

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

¾ cup warm water - USE good bottled spring water – NOT tap water

Pre-warm* the water in a bowl in the microwave to 100° to 110° and then add the yeast – NOT VICE VERSA!  Stir well and then add the sugar to proof – let it set for 10 minutes – bubbles should be forming meaning the yeast is alive and well!

Knead ingredients in your mixer for 15 minutes at speed of 2 ONLY.

Let ball of dough rest on counter for 1 hour before placing in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight. THIS IS OPTIONAL! – See next line!

Remove dough an hour before you intend to bake it (RRP here: I’ve made my pizzas 3 hours in advance so I’m not sure what difference this makes)

Hint for rolling it thin is to use parchment paper on the bottom and cover with plastic wrap such as Saran Wrap and then roll it thin as you want.

Bake pizza at 500° for 11 minutes with the parchment paper still in place. Remove parchment paper for final 2 minutes of the 11 so as to firm up and brown the crust.

RRP here: This recipe makes enough for a 14” pizza, though I only use 2/3 of it for a 12” pizza and then make bread sticks out of the remaining 1/3.

* 28 seconds at 70%

jtcBoynton

tridogdude said:

@jtcBoynton  Some of it may have to do with warm up time. Sometimes it is 30 minutes and sometimes it is 45 to 60 minutes that the stone is preheating. A lot of that has to do with my wife as she wants me to get the pizzas on there asap so I am not consuming as many beers ;-)  

Still haven't convinced her that the stone needs a good 60 minutes to warm up. She won't start the BGE so I have her at my mercy (in this case always!)

The amount of heat transferred from a stone that has been warmed up for 30 minutes can be significantly different than one that has been warmed up for 60 minutes. You should see significant differences in the cooks from these different warm ups.