Pizza Today - May 2016 - 28

have been getting a number of
requests over the past year on how
to make pizzas for fast-casual
concepts. First, we need to understand
the concept, which is based on both
the visual aspects of hand-made pizza
combined with the fast service many
of our on-the-go customers have come
to expect. The dough used in making
the pizza is made from a pretty generic
formulation containing flour, salt, yeast,
water, oil and possibly a dough reducing agent such as L-cysteine or "dead
yeast" to enhance dough extensibility.
While the dough can be mixed, balled
and fermented for as few as four hours
and then shaped into pizza skins, I think
the finished crust benefits from at least
an overnight cold ferment before being
formed into skins.
While the dough balls can be opened
into skins using just about any method
desired, the best method seems to be
with the use of a pizza press. The reasons

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for this are that the dough is oiled for
pressing, which ultimately helps to
prevent the skins from sticking together
when stacked in the reach-in cooler
for use. The press also provides a more
consistent size, shape and thickness,
which is important for the visuals of the
customer watching their pizza being
made before their eyes (and the ultimate baking of the pizza). Theoretically,
any kind of oven can be used in this
concept, but the oven of preference is a
stone hearth, brick-type oven which can
achieve baking temperatures of
750 F or higher. The reason for this is
two-fold: first, it allows the pizza to be
baked within the targeted time (typically
three minutes or less). Secondly, and
probably most importantly, it provides
visual excitement for the customer in
actually watching their pizza being
peeled into the oven, baking and being
peeled out of the oven and handed to
them fresh and hot.

Making the dough for a pressformed pizza skin is pretty
straight-forward. A planetary

mixer is used, and water is added to
the bowl followed by salt, sugar (if
used), flour (a flour with a protein
content of 11 to 12 percent seems
to work best in this application) and
a reducing agent. Mix at low speed
just until the flour is hydrated (about
two minutes), add the oil and mix an
additional minute on low speed, then
mix at medium speed for six to eight
minutes. The target finished dough
temperature is 75 to 80 F. Immediately scale and ball the dough, place
in dough boxes, wipe the top of the
dough balls with oil and cross-stack
in the cooler. Because we are making
smaller pizzas, the dough ball weights
will only be about five ounces, so the
cross-stack time will only need to be
about two hours. Down-stack the
dough boxes and they will be ready
to use in 16 to 24 hours. (Note: If a
room temperature fermented dough
will be used, the dough boxes can be
stacked and sealed closed as soon as
they are filled. Allow the dough balls
to ferment for between three and
four hours, or until the dough can be
pressed easily with little or no snapback at the press.)
After press forming the skins, place
them on individual screens in the
cooler for rapid cooling. Once cool
(about 30 minutes) the skins can be
stacked 10 high on a pan or cardboard circle with a sheet of parchment paper between each skin. Place
a piece of parchment paper on the top
skin and place in the reach-in cooler
under your prep station for immediate use.
When an order is received, remove
a pre-formed skin, place it on a small
prep peel, and send it down the line
to be dressed to the order. When the
dressed skin arrives at the oven, the
oven tender will peel the pizza into
the oven and bake it to specification.
As the pizza is peeled out of the oven
it is immediately cut and handed to
the customer. In many of the stores

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Pizza Today - May 2016

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