How do I get a chewy crust from homemade pizza dough?

Question

There's a local pizzeria that makes a crust I really like and I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong in reproducing it. The crust (under the toppings) is about a 1/4in thick. If you look at it as a cross-section, there's a thin layer of cooked crust topped by a more soft, doughy layer, almost like a "dumpling". Looking at the bottom, the crust is medium brown on average.

The dough is homemade, rises for about 2 hours, worked into a crust (about 1/4in thick), and only sets long enough for me to top it. I've tried cooking on a pizza pan, a stone, a cookie sheet, 350, 400, etc.

CLARIFICATION: The dough that I made is NOT from the pizzeria. It's from a recipe book on pizza doughs.

CLARIFICATION 2: The specific part that I'm trying to reproduce is the "doughy" part. If you look at the pizza from the side it has a layer of what appears to be "not completely cooked" dough. No air pockets/bubbles/etc, just dough. I know I'm not explaining this very well, I apologize.

Any suggestions?

Answer

I recommend starting with a chilled dough, puncturing with a knife or fork (see below), and cooking in a greased pan initially then bricking.

Cooking directly on the stone the entire time works better for thinner crusts than mid-dough. By mid-dough, I am referring to the ones that plump up a bit and finish between 1/4" - 1/2" in thickness. They can have both uniform, almost cake-y cross-sections, or air pockets and bubbles depending on how kneaded they are (more kneading means cake-ier, denser dough).

I worked in a shop that made a mid-dough similar to what you describe. It was a standard dough recipe (flour, water, yeast), but I have had success replicating it at home at 450'F with beer and less kneading. At home I use a pan and then finish either on the rack or a stone. In any case, you get a dough that tears nicely and has a good chew.

The dough itself was mixed in the morning and kept refrigerated for as long as 12 hours as individual shells in greased pizza pans covered with saran wrap. To prepare a pizza, we pulled the shell, punched it with a fork (puncture a ring around the edge to create a crust, puncture the inside to allow for air). Dress with sauce and toppings.

We had a stone-bottomed oven, but initially the pizza is baked in the oven in the pan until the bottom of the dough has hardened enough to get "bricked" (the dough should be rigid enough as to be removed from the pan with one spatula). At this point you remove the dough from the pan with a spatula and place it directly on the brick. Cook until the top of the dough browns, and the cheese and other toppings are evenly browned.

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