Thin-Crust Pizza
A large, crisp thin crust built with a small poolish and fine-ground cornmeal.
The best-known thin, crisp American pizza is the tavern-style pizza of Chicago and the Midwest. The name comes from the taverns that first served it, and many of those places opened in the 1940s. It is cut into squares, not wedges. In Milwaukee the crust is called a cracker crust.
The formula in numbers
- Hydration
- 71.4%
- Salt
- 2.2%
- Olive Oil
- none
- Portion
- 4 × 275 g, about 34.3 cm
- Fermentation source
- Instant Yeast
- Preferment
- Poolish, 9.2% of the flour
- Bulk at room temperature
- 20 min
- Final proof
- 2 h 30 min
- Flour strength
- W 240–300
- Flour protein
- 11–13%
How to prepare it
- Poolish55 g flour, 55 g water, 0.04 g yeast110 g
- Flour540 g
- Water370 g
- Salt13 g
- Instant Yeast1.81 g
- Fine-ground cornmeal65 g
The yeast is dosed for the fermentation times of this formula. The calculator adjusts it to your flour, your kitchen and your schedule.
- 14 h
The preferment
Start with a small poolish: 9.2% of the flour, the same weight of water and a pinch of yeast, stirred into a smooth batter. Cover it and leave it at room temperature for 14 h.
A ripe poolish is domed and crowded with small bubbles. Use it before it sinks back.
- W 240–300
The dough
Bread flour, water, salt, yeast and fine cornmeal, plus the poolish. Use a flour of W 240 to 300.
The cornmeal comes in addition to the flour. It does not replace any of it.
- 71.4% water
Mixing
Stir the poolish into the water, add the flour, cornmeal, yeast and salt and mix until the dough is smooth. At 71.4% hydration it is soft.
A preferment shortens the mixing, because its flour is already wet.
- 2 h 30 min
Dough balls
Rest the dough for 20 min, then divide it into 4 balls of 275 g. Leave them covered at room temperature for 2 h 30 min.
The formula also works with a day in the fridge. Add hours in the fridge in the calculator and the yeast dose follows.
- 5 min
Shaping and baking
Roll or stretch the ball thin, right to the edge, to about 34.3 cm. A rolling pin is fine for this pizza. Top it to the edge and bake on a hot stone or steel at around 285°C (545°F) for about 5 min, until the base is crisp.
Put the stone or steel in before you switch the oven on, so it heats up with it.
The most common mistakes
Wrong:Using a poolish that has collapsed
Right:Use it while it is still domed and full of bubbles.
Wrong:Leaving a thick rim
Right:Take the dough evenly thin, right to the edge.
Wrong:Rolling out a ball that keeps shrinking back
Right:Let it rest for a few minutes and roll again.
Wrong:Baking on a cold tray
Right:Preheat a stone or steel with the oven, so the base crisps.
Recommended flours
Flour for this formula: W 240–300, 11–13% protein. Ranked by fit, then by availability in your country, then by popularity.
