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Menu Development
Detroit Style Pizza: A Guide to Detroit Pizza
Discover Detroit-Style Pizza Detroit style pizza is a square, deep dish pizza that is known for its racing stripes sauce on top, cheese crust crown and light crust. Whether you call them red tops or square pizza, Detroit-style pizza is a unique pizza style that hast become one of the hottest pizza styles and one […]
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Menu Development
Temperature Essentials
Dough Mixing / Proofing Temperature Essentials Our Dough Doctor addresses dough, water temperatures By Tom Lehmann I’ve heard you say that the temperature of the dough after mixing is the single most important aspect of dough management. Would ...
Tough Dough
What causes pizza dough to become tough, and how can you avoid it in the future? Flour Protein Content There are a number of things that can cause a pizza crust to become excessively tough or chewy. The tough and chewy stage is set when a high protei...
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Menu Development
Dough Doctor: Why Proof
Q: I am new to the pizza industry and I have read about “proofing” dough. Would you explain what this is and why it’s done. A: Proofing, or rising, is done primarily to allow the dough to achieve a greater height, or lightness than it would if ...
Achieve a Crispy Pizza Crust
Five Tips to Achieve a Crispy Pizza Crust For some of us achieving a crispy crust pizza is like chasing down that legendary Golden Fleece, but it really doesn’t have to be such a massive undertaking. Below are some tips to get you on your way. Tip ...
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Menu Development
Dough Proofing
If your thick crust doesn’t have a light texture, you likely are not proofing the dough properly. Proofing is the act of allowing the dough to rise after it has been formed. This is the final processing step before baking. During proofing, doug...
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Dough Snapback
Did you ever feel like you were in a “tug of war” with your pizza dough? You form or stretch it out to 12 inches in diameter and before you can say “Mozzarella cheese”, then it magically assumes the rather unwanted shape of a ...
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Menu Development
Calzone Dough
Dough Uses Calzone Do I need to use a different dough for making my calzones? Tom Lehmann No, not really. Most pizza doughs will make a perfectly good calzone. But, there are some modifications to a pizza dough that will make it an even better choice...
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Calzones
Calzones Calzones are easy — if you don’t have them, you’re missing out From time to time I get requests from readers asking for a dough formula suitable for making calzones. The truth of the matter is that while you can use a speci...
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Menu Development
Chicago Deep Dish Style
One of my cookbooks on pizza, The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook, first came out in 1983. If my math is correct, that was 25 years ago. Holy pepperoni, pizzaman, that’s a long time ago. Yes, even though this book is still in print, I honestly a...
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Menu Development
Foccacia Production
Lost Art Focaccia is a good way to “wow” customers The genesis of the flatbread called focaccia is lost in the dawn of history. Some food historians credit ancient Etruscans for having discovered how to form a dough into a flat round and ...
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Menu Development
Gluten Free Dough
There is a malady called Celiac Disease and persons suffering from this disease have a very low tolerance to wheat proteins. This is not to be confused with persons having an allergic reaction to wheat proteins. In this latter case, even the most min...
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Menu Development
Herb Infused Dough
Herb Infused Dough When making a flavored crust, is there a rule of thumb for how much dried herbs to add to the dough? When adding either onion or garlic to the dough, you must be careful not to add too much. Both onion and garlic have a significant...