This article was originally published in November of 2016 and has been updated for 2018.
Like a hundred times before, you consult your favorite recipe, mix your pizza dough and let it proof. This time, though, you return to dough that hasn’t risen. Perhaps the discovery of flat, lifeless crust happens when taking your pizza out of the oven. In both instances, what happened?
This article was originally published in October of 2015 and has been updated for 2018.
When ordering a pie in your pizzeria, patrons anticipate that first delicious bite. What they aren’t expecting is sinking their teeth into a burnt or bubbled crust. Avoid leaving a bad taste in their mouths — literally and figuratively — by implementing these best practices for consistent, patron-pleasing crusts.
Having multiple pizzeria locations is a vote of confidence in your brand. Customers want the pizza you’re offering so much they’re willing to support more than one location in the area, maybe even the same neighborhood.
Proofing pizza dough is a balancing act between time and temperature. Introduce too much or too little of either one as dough is rising, and you could end up with crusts that underperform or outright fail.
As the crust and dough experts, Alive & Kickin’ Pizza Crust is often consulted about proofing, so we decided to compile the most frequently asked questions, answers and best practices to help you perfect your proofing techniques.
In the age of shrinking margins and growing competition, restaurant operators are getting more inventive about how to make a dollar stretch.
Food quality and consistency is a top priority for pizza restaurant and commercial kitchen operators, especially those with several locations or large volumes to manage. Par-baked crusts, like those from Alive & Kickin’ Pizza Crust, are the preferred solution among operators since they offer uniformity, easy prep and delicious variety.
Using pre-made dough balls is a valuable best practice for keeping your kitchen running efficiently and profitably. In this hands-on demonstration, Chef Luke from Alive & Kickin’ Pizza Crust walks you through the life cycle of a pre-made dough ball and provides tips for taking it from frozen to perfectly proofed.
As we’re heading into a new season of the year, it’s top of mind to consider how fluctuating air temperatures, shifting weather patterns and dips in humidity affect pizza dough. These environmental changes put your pizza dough consistency and crust quality at risk, but you can combat their negative impact by implementing a few simple best practices during dough preparation:
Having multiple locations is the dream of many pizzeria owners, and it can be a highly rewarding adventure to open additional shops, with your name proudly displayed on each of them. Operating multiple locations comes with challenges, though, related to everything from staffing and overhead costs to marketing and your own time management. One issue we hear about often is the challenge to achieve product consistency from location to location.
The success of your pizzeria depends on many factors: pricing, location, customer experience and more. But the most important driver of success is the flavor and quality of your food — it’s why customers keep coming back. As you grow and add more locations, it becomes difficult to replicate those experiences and quality at each one. The crust and final products produced by employees at different locations will inevitably have variances — whether from unintended mistakes in how the recipes are executed or from uncontrollable differences like water quality, weather and other surroundings.
