Cracker & Tavern
Cracker & Tavern
Thin, crisp, and cut into squares — the cracker and tavern-style crusts of the Midwest.
Recipes · 7
Fazzari Laminated Cracker Crust (Home Method)
Pizzeria owner John Fazzari's home-friendly laminated cracker: 100% flour, 45% very hot tap water, 4% oil and just 0.75% yeast, mixed only until the dough balls up. A short warm proof makes it pillowy, then it's rolled thin, folded to six layers, re-rolled, cut into skins and rested cold. Baked straight from the fridge it gives a tender, shatteringly crisp crust full of tiny pinholes.
Tommy's Pizza (Columbus) Laminated Tavern Clone
Aimless Ryan's clone of Columbus, Ohio's Tommy's: a stiff all-purpose dough at about 43% hydration with lard and a touch of sugar, given a short bulk rise then a long cold ferment as rolled skins. Two half-weight balls are floured and rolled together into one laminated skin for the signature blistered, two-layer crunch. No docking, no par-bake; baked straight on a hot stone.
Tom Lehmann Cracker-Style with Baking Soda
Pete-zza's worked-up version of a newer Tom Lehmann formula: 100% flour, 50% water, 5% oil, a pinch of baking soda and very little yeast, given a long overnight room-temperature ferment. Two thin skins are stacked with flour between them for a flaky, laminated effect, then baked directly on a stone with no par-bake. Scaled here to about 170 g flour.
Tom Lehmann Yeastless Pizza Shoppe-Style Cracker
The Dough Doctor's no-yeast cracker formula offered as a Kansas City Pizza Shoppe approximation: 100% flour, 58% water, just 2% oil and 2% sugar, plus a 50/50 garlic-and-onion powder hit. Mixed two minutes, rested 20 minutes as balls, then rolled thin and par-baked before dressing. Quick, crackery and clean-tasting.
Pizza Hut 1970s Thin 'n Crispy
A faithful clone of the original 1970s Pizza Hut cracker crust from a former employee: ordinary all-purpose flour at roughly 36-37% hydration, heavy on yeast and oil, mixed only to a coarse-meal stage with the paddle. A room-temperature rise, then rolled thin into a cutter pan and baked on a screaming-hot stone. Best with low-protein AP flour.
DKM Pizza Inn-Style Cracker Crust
The foundational forum cracker crust: a stiff, low-hydration bread-flour dough (about 40% water) with a little oil, sugar and yeast, kneaded to a scrappy 'cornmeal' texture, risen 24 hours at room temperature, then rolled paper-thin, docked and baked crisp in a cutter pan. This is the recipe that started the whole thin-and-crispy thread.
St. Louis (Imo's) Cracker Crust
St. Louis style — a thin, yeastless cracker crust leavened only with a little baking powder and stiffened with cornstarch. Rolls out paper-thin and bakes crisp. Volumes are the original's.