“The magic of pizza and the foundation for it – the dough – is often hidden behind closed doors, but as a restaurant group, we love to celebrate the craft and the process behind everything we do,” says co-founder and Chef Ryan Pollnow. “It’s why our handcrafted pasta production is on display in our Flour + Water Pasta Shop, as well. Our flagship Pizzeria dough room is at the center of the restaurant, located between our full-service dining room and our quick-service Pizza Shop space. It’s the heartbeat of our flagship and entire pizza program.”

Flour + Water is joined by other pizzerias, large and small, looking to perfect dough making and management. When Pizza Today visited our 2021 Pizzeria of the Year, Razza Pizza Artigianale in Jersey City, New Jersey, owner Dan Richer was in the midst of building out a dedicated dough room.

In Editor In Chief Jeremy White’s December 2021 feature article, Richer said, “We’ll be able to better control variables in that room. We’ve got water lines dialed in to the exact temperature we want, we’ll control the air temperature in there to what we want. It’s going to make such a difference to our consistency and our ability to put out the pizza dough we want to put out.” Four years later, we caught up with Richer for an update.

Rose City Pizza, a ’90s-themed pizza joint in Covina, California, took a different approach and adapted a space previously used for dry storage into a designated dough area. Owner Brian Nittayo was looking to address environmental issues impacting the consistency in his dough-making area, which was by a back door.

The three pizzerias have very different dough room setups, but they share a common drive to make the best pizza dough they can.

What Is a Dough Room?

Typically, a dough room is a self-contained temperature-controlled room or area for dough making. Alastair Hannman (aka The Pizza Buddha), a pizzeria consultant who worked with Nittayo to convert a storage area into a dough room, says, “To me, a dough room is a room that is separated from the hot line. What I mean by that is it is not susceptible to the oven temperature. It’s got a residual humidity under 75 percent to where you are able to maintain it.”

Dough rooms aren’t new. Many pizzerias over the years have incorporated dough rooms into their pizza dough-making process. As techniques changed, operations shifted to using fermentation shelves a.k.a. fermentation containers.

Dough-making environments are constantly shifting, and operators are constantly looking for ways to add consistency to the dough process. Enter dough rooms of today.

Dough Room Features Focus on Tech and Consistency

Razza’s dough room is all business. Richer says, “Our equipment includes a spiral dough mixer and a water meter – something I’ll never build another restaurant without. The water meter has proven to be a huge time-saver for accurately dosing the correct water quantity and temperature. It is also connected to a water chiller, which eliminates the need for ice. While water chillers can be pricey, they are especially beneficial in hot climates. We have a Thermoworks node, which is a thermometer that tracks the temp of the room 24/7, and you can set alerts to be notified if the temp is outside of the range that you set. Ideally, the dough room would have its own dedicated AC unit, but that can be expensive.” Richer commends installing an air filtration system, if possible. The room includes a proofer/retarder, which he says was a mistake because the compressor can affect the room’s temperature.

Flour + Water features include a 70-quart spiral mixer, four proofer retarders, a blast freezer for its upcoming frozen line, dough rounder, scales and a small 6-kilo max capacity spiral mixer. “Other features include wall-mounted filtered water for use in our dough, and a table made from a recycled paper composite material called Richlite. We love Richlite here, as the table doubles as both a prep table and a dining table for guests when the space transforms to a semi-private space for larger parties at night,” says Pollnow. “The surface has natural grip to it which is essential for portioning dough balls, and it can be cleaned easily, so it offers an aesthetically pleasing dining surface for our guests at night.”

In addition to the mixer, Nittayo wanted to automate his dough-making space. “We have the dough divider and the dough rounder,” he says.” Everything flows. We have the water meter. It measures out 24 pounds, exactly into the mixture.” Automation has paid off tenfold for Nittayo as Rose City is able to generate more output and labor efficiency. The dough-making efficiency, along with new conveyor ovens and reducing the menu size, has even sparked him to lower prices.

Fermentation Temperature

When it comes to dough texture and flavor, one of the most significant benefits is the vital element of dough making: temperature. “Those characteristics can be achieved at any temperature, but without temperature control, your results will be inconsistent from day to day. Having a dough room allows us to control the ambient temperature, which is especially important when using preferments of any kind and when bulk fermentation lasts longer than 30 minutes.”

With Flour + Water’s build out, they took advantage of San Francisco’s mild weather. “The room is equipped with air conditioning, but because of the location of the dough room within our space (away from windows and the heat of our Pizza-Master electric deck ovens and kitchen equipment), the space sits between 72 and 74 degrees, year-round – without the use of AC. We’re constantly monitoring the temp and humidity in the room to portion dough at that true room temperature.

Think of the room itself as a clean room. For Flour + Water and Razza, the spaces are enclosed rooms. Razza has floor-to-ceiling tiled walls and floor drains so it is easy to clean. It also features a window to help employees not feel claustrophobic. At Rose City Pizza, Hannman and Nittayo went with a new version of FRP wall panels with the smooth side out to make cleaning easier.

Since Nittayo made use of an existing dry-storage area that had air conditioning duct work, he was able to simplify the conversion and add clear vinyl curtains at the entry to the area, limiting the exposure to other areas of the kitchen and storage.

While costs can vary depending on size of room and features included, Nittayo’s conversion was a few thousand dollars, according to Hannman, not including the addition of the automated equipment.

Dough Rooms Are ‘a Luxury’

Pollnow realizes a dedicated dough room may not be an option for other pizzerias. “We recognize building a dough room is a luxury, but it’s not a necessity for great pizza production. Because our dough room will be acting as a commissary for satellite Pizza Shops and our retail frozen pizza line, we built it to be large. But if you are looking for similar benefits in terms of temperature control, we do recommend investing in a proofer retarder, especially if you are working in a setting that runs hot because of other equipment.”

Richer concurs. “I’ve been making pizza for more than 20 years, but it’s only in the past three years that I’ve had a dedicated dough room. It is possible to achieve consistency if you truly understand your space, can be flexible in the moment, and are able to adapt to daily changes.”

Denise Greer is Executive Editor at Pizza Today.

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As the popularity of pizza grew, we needed more dough, so we would make two or more doughs and store them in the cooler in hopes of controlling the rate of fermentation and allowing the dough to last longer in the store. What actually happened was that the outer portion of the dough was chilled, but the center portion, the core, remained warm due to the heat of fermentation. It actually continued to get warmer as time went on, resulting in doughs that had different baking properties, depending upon which part of the dough the crust was being made from. In essence, the outer portion provided dough that performed pretty well over a 24-hour period, while the center portion, which continued to ferment, provided dough that was burned out, light in color and had poor rising properties.

To get around this problem, it was soon discovered that subdividing the dough into smaller pieces, one piece for each pizza skin, would allow the dough to cool more quickly and consistently, resulting in improved performance and consistency. This process was so efficient that it allowed the dough pieces/balls to be stored for up to several days in the cooler while still retaining decent performance and finish. As our business continues to grow, we are faced with the task of making enough dough to meet all of our needs, not just for one day but for several, and we want all of our pizzas/ crusts to be of the best quality.

Producing pizza dough that can be stored in the cooler and produce essentially the same quality product from days one through three is where the challenge lies. The key here is to control the finished (mixed) dough temperature to 80 F to 85 F, then take the dough directly to the bench for scaling and rounding (balling). Taking the dough balls directly to the cooler is an important part of the process. If allowed to remain out of the cooler for any length of time, the dough will begin to ferment, making it less dense and more diffi cult to cool uniformly. The dough balls should be lightly wiped with oil prior to going into the cooler to prevent drying in the cooler.

Next, the dough should be placed in the cooler in such a way as to allow for maximum airflow around the dough balls. If they are placed in plastic dough boxes, it is recommended that they be cross-stacked when first placed into the cooler. The length of time that the dough balls are cross-stacked, or exposed to the airflow, will depend upon the size/weight of the individual dough balls. As a general rule, dough balls weighing 16 ounces or less should be cross-stacked for at least two hours. Dough balls weighing 17 to 22-ounces should be cross-stacked for two-and-a-half hours, and anything over 22-ounces should be cross-stacked for three hours.

After being cross-stacked for the requisite time, the dough balls should be sealed tightly to prevent drying. If the plastic dough boxes are used, this means that the boxes should be down stacked. This is where the top box is placed at the bottom position of a new stack, with the stack being assembled in reverse order. As the boxes are stacked, they will seal the box below it; then, only the top box on the stack will require a lid. If the dough balls are not placed in plastic dough boxes, they should be covered to prevent drying.

It is always a good idea to try to have a dedicated place in the cooler to store dough, preferably one away from the front of the cooler where opening and closing of the door will typically affect the operating temperature of the cooler, potentially leading to inconsistent dough performance. When made and stored in this manner, you can expect to
have your dough last up to three days in the cooler.

Another question that frequently comes up has to do with freezing dough. I’ve never seen the performance of typical, or normal, dough improved by subjecting it to freezing. There is always a price to be paid in the loss of some quality. With that said, yes, we can freeze our pizza dough using nothing more than a chest, reach-in or walk-in freezer. This is known as “static” freezing. To freeze dough in this manner, immediately after mixing, take the dough to the bench for scaling and forming into balls. Set the formed dough balls aside to rest for not more than 10 minutes and then manually press them down to form a “puck” shape, about 1½-inches thick. Place the dough pucks on a very lightly oiled sheet pan, allowing about a 2-inch space between pucks, and place them in the freezer as quickly as possible so as to allow for as much airfl ow around the dough as possible. Allow the dough to remain in the freezer until the center/ core temperature of the pucks is at 10 F. At this time, the pucks can be given a very light application of oil and bulkpackaged in a corrugated box with a 2-millimeter (thousandths) thickness plastic bag approved for food contact. Twist the mouth of the bag to close it, and tuck in along the inside of the box to hold it closed, then seal the corrugated box and be sure to mark it with a production date as well as a use-by date. The maximum shelf life of this frozen dough will be 14 days, so I always like to project the use by date out 10 or 12 days, knowing that someone will always want to push the envelope, and use it the day after the expiration date. At least this way, I know the dough will still perform up to standard.

To use frozen dough, we suggest that it be placed onto lightly oiled sheet pans, or dough boxes (no need to oil the dough boxes), and allowed to slack out (thaw) for 18 to 24 hours. The dough can then be used in the normal manner as you would any refrigerated dough. While this is a slightly different procedure than what is recommended by many commercial frozen dough manufacturers (thaw overnight in the cooler and use), it does provide for a better-fl avored fi nished pizza crust. As with all frozen dough, this dough doesn’t perform all that well when used on the second day after you begin using it, but don’t toss it in the trash just yet. Any unused dough at the end of the day can be formed into focaccia bread, breadsticks, or garlic knots, par baked and saved (at room temperature) for reheating and use on the following day. Effective dough storage isn’t all that diffi cult. But, as you can see, it does require some attention to detail to have a consistently high-quality product over the course of time. ?

Tom Lehmann is a director at the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas.

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What makes our pizza healthier is a combination of things. It first starts with the dough we use — our organic ancient grain crust is a nutritionally rich proprietary blend of ancient grains without the added sugar, molasses, high fructose corn syrup or other fillers in a lot of other pizza dough. It’s the pure grains delivered to you in pizza dough form. Since our bodies need good carbohydrates, this dough has been really well received by our diabetic customers.

The sprouted ancient grain is a proprietary blend of grains including, but not limited to, quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. It has only a small amount of wheat to provide the gluten necessary to transform it into pizza dough. Because it is only a small percentage of wheat, it tastes nothing like traditional wheat crust. The flavor profile is nutty and earthy and quite unique. The characteristics of the crust are light and airy, thin with the perfect amount of chew and crisp.

We then use an organic, low-sodium tomato sauce and a variety of low-fat cheeses as the base for an unbelievable finished product. Our toppings are sourced through our local farming community or organic grow houses in the Southeast. We believe in supporting agriculture that practices organic and sustainable farming methods. Inherently, it all goes into our bodies — the chemicals, antibiotics and hormones used in most conventional/commercial approaches — therefore we choose to be a part of a healthier solution for our future.

Our current location adds to our mission because we are nestled inside of an urban space — The 7th Street Public Market. We are surrounded by other locally focused food purveyors with a common goal of offering high quality, local and organic foods that focus on our region. It’s a very collaborative space. We are fortunate because we buy from several of the other shopkeepers — things like cheese, produce, bacon, ground beef and olive oil/vinegar. We are a “location within a location” so there are definite pros and cons. We are the benefactor of ambient traffic flow, but then again, we are one of the major drivers of foot traffic within the market.

Because we are a different kind of pizzeria, we really had to make a strong connection with those pizza lovers out there. And, because of our location, we had to establish our own identity. So well before we sold our first pizza, we were social media crazy!

It was a hard sell at first to convince my business partner of the need to hire a professional videographer to film us. But when he saw the first video produced and the response to it from our social media outlets, we were off to the races to produce more. The intention was to create a visual interpretation of Farm-2-Fork. We went on location to a variety of our partners to show who they are and what they do; everything from a mushroom farm, a 40-year organic farm, one of Charlotte’s favorite local breweries and a bee keeper. The followers really connected in a resounding way. We had fans says, “How can I be craving something I’ve never tasted!”

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A: Pizza screens and many pizza pans should be seasoned before they can be used. Failure to do so will result in the pizza (crust) and the pan or screen becoming as one — not to mention a poor bake quality.

To season new pans or screens, first wash them to remove any protective oil or residue from the manufacturing process. Then thoroughly dry with a clean towel and pass them through the oven for a couple minutes to evaporate any remaining water. Next, wipe the pan/screen with any type of salad oil. Be sure to wipe both the top and bottom surfaces. Then, brush on the oil. A thin coating will do. Place the oiled pans/screens in an oven set at not more than 425 F. This is important to remember, because the fl ash point (temperature at which the oil ignites) of most oils is at around 440 F. If you season pans at this temperature, or higher, there is a possibility that the oil could ignite, resulting in a bit more excitement than you might have bargained for. Allow the pans to bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

When the pans have been properly seasoned, they will have a slight golden tint to them. Then, as the screens are used in the future, they will not need to be oiled again. Pans, on the other hand, will typically need to have a small amount of oil applied to them to facilitate release of the baked pizza from the pan and to provide for a uniform baking across the bottom of the pan. As the seasoned pans and screens are used, they will continually darken in color (eventually becoming almost black). This darkening in color helps provide for a better baked pizza.

Note that it is important that the seasoned pans and screens be protected from exposure to water. If it is necessary to wash the seasoned pans/screens, do not allow them to soak in water. Doing so will result in the seasoning coming off of the pans in sheets, much like a bad sunburn. The result will be the need to chemically strip all of the old seasoning from the pans/screens and begin the process all over again. The accepted way to wash your seasoned pans/screens is to grasp the pan in one hand, and a soft, plastic bristle brush in the other. Dip the pan/screen into the soapy water and lightly scrub with the brush, then rinse, and dip into the sanitizer, immediately wipe dry with a towel, and place into a hot oven to evaporate any remaining water. Properly cared for, your seasoned pans should remain in good condition and not need to be re-seasoned for several years.

Can you share one of your favorite “tricks” for making a great pizza?

We all have our own special, little things that we do to make our pizzas just a little better than those made by someone else. Here is my special, added touch. Mozzarella cheese is, in my opinion, somewhat monotone, bland and unexciting. I think it is just begging to be blended with another flavorful cheese. For me, that cheese is Parmesan. After applying the requisite amount of mozzarella cheese, I like to finish the pizza with a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan. If there is a significant amount of crust (heel) exposed, I make sure to get some of the Parmesan cheese onto the exposed heel portion, and then spread the remainder over the mozzarella cheese. This provides for both a visual enhancement to the crust, as well as providing for a more complex cheese flavor to the rest of the pizza.

We are making our pizza slices from a par-baked crust, and we keep having problems with the dough bubbling, sometimes even turning into what looks like a giant pita bread. We already dock the dough, what else can we do to prevent this excessive bubbling?

Since you’re making slices from the crust, the easiest way to control the bubbling of your dough during baking is to apply a thin layer of sauce to the surface of the dough just before you place it into the oven for baking. This seems to do a good job of controlling the bubbling. Since you will probably be holding the sauced, par-baked crusts for a period of time, I like to apply a very thin application of olive oil to the crust before applying the sauce. This helps to prevent any moisture from the sauce from soaking into the crust and contributing to a gum line later on, when the slice is baked for the second time. My own personal favorite is to apply some diced garlic to the crust along with the olive oil, as this will add another dimension of flavor to the finished slice. Also, remember to add a little more sauce, tomato filets, or fresh tomato when dressing the slices as this really improves the flavor of the reheated slices.

We are using compressed yeast but we are thinking of changing over to instant dry yeast. How much instant dry yeast should we use to replace our compressed yeast?

There are a number of different thoughts on this. Many manufacturers will suggest that you use a third of the compressed yeast amount as instant dry yeast. However, I’ve had much better success using a little more of the instant dry yeast. My recommendation is to multiply the compressed yeast level by .375 to find the amount of instant dry yeast needed to replace a known quantity of compressed yeast. Thus, if our dough formula calls for 6 ounces of compressed yeast, we would multiply 6 ounces by .375 to get 2.25 ounces of instant dry yeast needed to replace the compressed yeast. You would then add the difference between 6 ounces and 2.25 ounces (3.75-ounces) as additional water to compensate for the slight drying affect of the dry yeast. ?

Tom Lehmann is a director at the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kansas.

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Power Pizzeria
South Beach, Florida

EJ Martinez first conceptu­alized Power Pizzeria while a disc jockey in South Beach, Florida in 2004. After rebooting the concept with four com­pany-owned locations in south Florida, Martinez began franchis­ing the pizzeria this year.

Everybody knows that ‘fat pizza feeling’ you get after chomping down a greasy pizza with high fat and sodium. Our pizza lets the customers indulge in their favorite foods without the guilt! We do this by blending whey protein in all of our dough. We also use a part-skim mozzarella cheese and top our pizzas with all-natural meat top­pings and fresh cut veggies. The com­bination leaves consumers with a less greasy pizza and a much better and sat­isfied feeling afterwards. The end result is a pizza that tastes great and makes the customer feel good about themselves both physically and mentally.

Whey protein is a high quality complete protein that contains all of the essential amino acids your body needs. It is easy to digest and helps maintain a healthy weight. We decided to add whey protein to our dough because it adds a high quality protein to a food that traditionally has been all carbohydrates. It also adds a nice crisp to the pizza dough.

After closing the first Power Piz­zeria in 2004, I felt that we had an amazing concept with great potential. The problem was not the concept. The problem was my lack of knowledge. I took a step back and learned everything that I needed to know about the industry and applied what I learned from my mistakes in my first restaurant. I attended Pizza Expo in Vegas, and hired consultants to refine my system. I’ve learned from trial and error and I’ve built training, purchasing and marketing systems that work.

Franchising was always the goal. I know the Power Pizzeria concept is a winner and I feel that franchising will let us grow at a rapid pace that we would not be able to achieve by owning all of our stores.

I wanted to take my time developing our concept and making sure that our systems were in place. Our goal was always to open four stores and then franchise. Owning multiple stores has allowed us to know how our business works and will allow us to properly train franchisees and make sure that they are profitable.

Our goal is to open 50 stores in the next five years.
 

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