The Dough Doctor answers your questions Q: I’m thinking of adding take-and bake pizza to my menu. Can I use my regular dough, or do I need a special dough? A: Making take-and-bake pizza can be a pretty simple proposition, or it can be a bit more in depth, requiring a...
How to get the pizza off the peel without sticking What's causing my pizza to stick to the peel? There are a couple of things that might cause the dough to stick to your peel. If you are using malt in your dough, make doubly sure that it is non-diastatic (non-enzyme...
It's Alive! Help! We are having a problem with our dough growing in the cooler. A: There are a number of things that can result in the dough “blowing” in the cooler. The first cause could be excessive amounts of yeast in the dough. Most pizza doughs perform...
Dough Doctor answers your questions on stretching, sticky dough and temperature controls Q: I’ve heard you mentioned that there was an ingredient that we could use to reduce the snap-back of our dough, making hand stretching a lot easier for us. What was that...
What causes a gum line on pizza just below the sauce? A: They don’t call it the “dreaded gum line” for nothing. A gum line can be caused by a number of different things, and some of them are inter-related, but the “kicker” is that it won’t go away until you address...
Dough Doctor discusses water temp and pizza peels Q: Does the temperature of the water matter that much when making pizza dough? A: The temperature of your dough is vitally important because it sets the stage for everything else that will happen to the dough...
The Dough Doctor answers question about soft crusts, seafood pizzas and breakfast pies Q: My pizza dough gets too soft to hand toss after only two days in the cooler. What do I do? A: Your dough formula likely contains too much oil. Keep in mind that both water and...
How to calculate how much dough you need for ANY size of pizza Want to calculate the amount of dough needed to make any size of pizza? No problem! Just use of our old friend “pi” to calculate the surface area of a circle, and then use that number to develop a dough...
The Dough Doctor dishes on par-baked crust Every once in a while, I receive a question about par-baked pizza crusts. People ask about the process of perfecting it and what applications are best suited to par-baking. I have found that thick-crust pizzas are definitely...
The Dough Doctor addresses mixing protocols and reducing agents There seems to be an abundance of questions on how much a pizza dough should be mixed. While there are just too many variables involved to give any hard and fast numbers, the best advice I can give on...
How oil, hydration and the mix impact your dough The addition of oil is a very important aspect to achieving consistent dough performance. We all know that oil will float on top of water, right? So, if we add the oil and water together to our dough mix at the same...
The Dough Doctor discusses when and how to add yeast to your mix What is the best way to add yeast to the dough? A: This will depend upon the type of yeast you’re using. If you’re using active dry yeast (ADY) you will need to activate it prior to addition to the...
