Crispy Business: Thin Crust Pizza

In the year 365 AD, the Gauls surrounded Rome in a brutal siege, but the inner citadel still held. Roman citizens and soldiers on the walls stared down at the Gauls waiting impatiently in the surrounding swamps but both groups were suffering greatly from famine and disease. On hearing that the Gauls were as hungry as his Roman citizenry, Roman General Manlius ordered that all the flour left in the storerooms be quickly mixed, rolled and baked into bread. This was then thrown out over the walls at the Gauls showing the enemy that the Romans could care less about food and were not starving. The Gauls soon lost all motivation in conquering Rome thinking it wasn’t worth their time waiting anymore. They left shortly after.

Whether this story is true or muddled by time, the probable bread that was thrown to the Gauls was Panis Strepticius, or “quick bread.” That was unleavened and baked quickly on hot stones and a pre-curser of modern thin-crust pizza. It also mirrors the trickery involved in turning our beloved airy pizzas into crackerlike crusts of today’s ultra-desirable thin pizzas.

Into Thin Air: Factors of Making a Thin Crust Pizza

There are several factors to making a thin crust, as well as numerous techniques to use in getting a thin, crunchy crust. Unlike a nice airy sourdough or puffy direct method dough, these thin crust methods are “all over the place” but many achieve the same goals — thin, crisp, crunchy and strong. Here are some factors in building your own thin crust program.

• Flour. Most thin-crust pizzas do not have to rely on gluten strength because elasticity is not needed to form a strong gluten net to hold carbon dioxide resulting in large alveoli. Even so, flour with moderate to high gluten strength at low hydration is needed if you plan on putting a lot of cheese and/or topping on the thin crust you are contemplating (but) baking a high gluten/high hydration crust may result in a gooey or moist interior resulting in a super thin crust that is quite leathery. Many thin crusts rely on corn meal to give the pizza that extra textural crunch, but too much of this could disrupt the gluten strands while stretching the dough.
• Hydration. More water equals more steam in the dough as it heats up, therefore the temperature of the oven is important. A thin crust relies upon dryness for a crunchy texture, and this can be achieved with lower hydration. But even with higher hydration, this can be done with traditional 00 Italian flour doughs at 60-percent hydration by using a lower temperature oven with a longer baking time. It may not have the appeal of a cracker-like, low moisture crust, but it will be thin and dry.
• Oil. I’ve found that this is an often-overlooked factor in designing a thin-crust pizza as this is all about stopping the hydration of the gluten net. The more water you introduce to the gluten scaffolding in the dough, the more moisture will saturate the interior of your pizza dough, causing steam. By adding oil to the dough, it will coat the gluten strands making them unable to be the hydration sponges as needed for puffy dough. This is best exemplified by the Focaccia di Recco description below which has no hydration and no leavening, only oil.

Full Metal Cracket: Types of Thin Crust Pizza

There are many different types of thin-crust pizzas. Here are just a few from all over the world some are wood fired on stone while others are baked in electric ovens.

• Focaccia di Recco. Also called Focaccia col Formaggio, this copper pan baked thin crust made with two paper thin sheets of dough over and under 2-inch piles of a young Stracchino cheese like Crescenza or Prescinseua. The dough has no water and only olive oil at 12 to 13 percent which makes for a fatty, strudel-like dough. The dough is topped with more olive oil and sometimes brushed with a mixture of olive oil and water and some bakers add sea salt.  It is baked in large copper pans for a higher heat transfer rate between 475-490 F. Some bakers prefer larger pans up to 30 inches to accommodate awaiting crowds of focaccia lovers.
• Connecticut Hot Oil Pizza. These pizzas said to originate in 1935 during the depression at the Colony Grill in Stamford, which was owned by Irish Americans but had cooks that were Italian. They were designed to be smaller 12-inch size rather than a large pizza size to fit on the bar. These thin-crust pizzas are distinguished by a thin sauce and cheese followed by a nice slathering of serrano pepper oil all over it and the addition of local sausage.
• Man ‘oushe’. This Lebanese pizza gets its name derived from the word na ‘sh, which refers to the way the bakers’ fingertips “engrave” the dough. Many different bakeries sell these thin and foldable pies mixed with both bread flour and cake flour at 58 percent hydration. This direct method dough is held from two to four hours at room temperature. The Jibneh wa harr, or “Hot cheese pie” is a favorite which is baked in a 450 F oven with tomato, onion, cumin and hot pepper paste with plenty of ‘Akkawi cheese. Another favorite is the Za ‘tar Man ‘oushe wa jawz, or Wild thyme pie with walnuts.
• Scrocciarella. Derived from the word Scroccia, (which means “crunch”) This type of Roman pizza style can easily confused with Pizza Tonda, a round, crunchy-stiff but foldable pizza served in Rome. This somewhat complicated name is used to describe other Roman-style crusts that exhibit a cracker crunch (but) an airy interior with large bubbles like Pizza in Teglia cracker-like exterior, baked plain and often looks like a long, very thin, cracker-crusted focaccia made with 50-80 percent hydration with three to six percent olive oil (some prefer seed oil). While some bakers don’t use yeast and others proof for six to eight hours to bake the same day in a non-aggressive wood-fired oven. Other Scrocciarella bakers prefer baking the plain dough after long cold fermentation. These pizzas are popular with Romans and are cut or cracked like crackers and topped with a myriad of toppings like anchovy mayo, artichokes, ricotta, stracciatella, olives and tomato. The name Scrocciarella is also used now as a proprietary flour mix sold by Italmill.   
• Sardinian Pane Frattau. Initially invented by Sardinian housewives to honor King Umberto I when he visited the island. This magical transformative pizza from Barbagia, a central region of Sardinia is made from one of the thinnest breads in the world called Pane Carasau, or “toasted bread” in Sardinian dialect and called Carta di Musica or “sheet music.” Two thin and brittle sheets of dried bread undergo this transformation to a pasta by an initial soak in vegetable broth then placed on a plate and topped with tomato sauce, Pecorino Sardo and a poached egg.
• Tarte Flambee’. This Alsatian Pizza is also called Flammekueche in the German speaking Moselle region of Alsace. This is a traditional pizza baked by farmers who baked only once a week and was used to test the heat of their wood-fired ovens. The traditional square or rectangular style is covered with Cream Fraiche or Fromage Blanc, sliced onions and lardons of bacon and baked in a very hot oven for one to two minutes to form a charred crust. Variations include Gratinee or Munster, using Gruyere and Munster cheeses respectively, or Forestier with mushrooms.
• St. Louis Thin Crust. This thin-crusted pizza is made without yeast producing a thin, cracker-like crust. This pizza is cut into three to four-inch squares, as some would call “tavern-style cut”, some say because a founder of a local chain used to be a tile-cutter, but others say to support the weight of multiple toppings. The distinguishing characteristic of the sauce is said to reflect the Sicilian immigrant influence and is sweeter with a strong oregano flavor. St. Louis style often includes Provel cheese, which is a trademarked cheese combining Swiss, Provolone, and White Cheddar.

John Gutekanst owns Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio.

>> Explore answers to more common pizza dough questions in Troubleshooting your Pizza Dough: What’s wrong with my pizza dough? <<