Pizza Today - October 2023 - 20
Knead to Know
The Big Chew
Identifying gum lines and their effect on digestibility and pizza finesse
Story by John Gutekanst
I
t's happened to all of us. You and
your friends order food in a pizzeria
and relax at a table, sipping on
beer in anticipation of the delicious
pizza to come. The pizza arrives and everyone
grabs a slice, eating with abandon. After
two slices, you lean back in your booth
as you feel your belly already filling up.
Then as you grab the next slice, the now
cooled cheese and toppings fall to the side.
You look down to find the thin, watery
tomato sauce has made what should be
crust look like a raw scallop. After dragging
your fingernail across this puddinglike
line of raw dough you mumble " Gum
line " to yourself. After dinner, everyone
agrees to just head home because they feel
" too full of cheese. " The undigested dough
of the gum line has ruined your night by
turning all of you into sleepy, lethargic
zombies.
20 / PIZZATODAY.COM / OCTOBER 2023
Gumming Things Up
A gum line is an uncooked stratum of
dough sandwiched in between the crisp
bottom and the sauce layers of a pizza.
Why is a gum line so bad? Just take a raw
piece of dough and eat it. That's what you
are leaving for your customers with a gum
line. The dough is raw, the toppings and
cheese will fall off this slippery gum, and
your digestive system must struggle to
process it. This leads to bloating, lethargy
and a feeling of having an anchor in your
stomach. Now that we've identified the
problem with a gum line, let's diagnose the
reasons why it may happen. Several or one
of the following may cause the dreaded
gum line.
Wet Blanket
* Insufficient dough management.
This may seem like blaming the victim,
but dough that refuses to create enough
carbon dioxide to rise will stay flaccid, flat,
and wet. This, in turn, will not raise the
dough in the oven and lead to uncooked
dough. Gum lines can also be caused by
too much yeast in a warm environment
immediately after mixing. This results in
pre-mature growth of the dough balls
and may be caused by too long of a bulk
ferment, not cross-stacking dough boxes,
or even a dough person leaving formed
dough balls warming on a speed rack
while he/she mixes more batches. The
dough that has expended all its energy and
yeast feeding will not rise with sauce and
cheese on it. On the other hand, too little
yeast and too cold of pre-bake holding
and even putting a cold dough pizza in the
oven will create a gum line.
* Watery sauce. I've seen so many pizza
makers thinning sauces with water which
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Pizza Today - October 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - October 2023
Pizza Today - October 2023 - CT1
Pizza Today - October 2023 - CT2
Pizza Today - October 2023 - Cover1
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Pizza Today - October 2023 - Cover3
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