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.
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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.
You may have created the most amazing pizza toppings combination — one that rivals your Sicilian grandmother’s recipe — but without a perfect crust, it will fall flat. The crust is the foundation of your pizza and it’s important to get just the right flavor and texture to complement whatever combination of toppings you desire.
It’s been said that there are no dumb questions, only dumb mistakes… which usually result from not asking questions! We love getting inquiries from pizzeria owners and operators who want to perfect their craft or simply discover a timesaving hack.
Who doesn’t love a pizza with the perfect balance of chewy and crisp texture, a hint of unique smoky flavor, and the artisanal appearance of a hearth-baked pie? These are the distinct, mouth-watering characteristics only made possible when pizzas are cooked in a high-heat, wood-fired oven.
In the past, the mention of a school cafeteria conjured up visions of lunch ladies dishing out chewy, limp, and lukewarm rectangles of pizza-like rations. The impression it left on the minds of an entire generation is legendary, so much so that there are entire Facebook groups dedicated to school lunch pizza.
Perfect pies are possible! Chef Luke from Alive & Kickin’ Pizza Crust walks you through ways to avoid common pizza crust issues.
The appeal of a wood-fired oven is unmistakable. Its high baking temperatures, wood fuel, and fast baking times test the finesse of skilled chefs, and the gourmet pies produced are well worth the typically upscale prices. Plus, the substantial size and rustic brick or clay construction of a wood-fired oven adds to the customer experience and makes a not-so-subtle statement about the quality they can expect more so than other oven types.
