Any tips for a new pizza vendor!

[kstronach]

hi,

ok i say "pizza vendor" that's probably talking it up a little bit but in the next few weeks i'm going to be starting providing a few pizzas for friends and families on weekends, its not going to be a regular thing but just as and when i light the oven with donations to help towards the cost of toppings and wood etc. Eventually the view is to go into business with a friend with a mobile build.

So has anyone got any tips for me when making larger quantities of pizza?

I've ordered 2 pizza screens to see if this makes managing two pizzas in the oven at once easier, has or does anyone use these?

also if anyone has a good go to dough recipe for 20 or 30 dough balls that would be great too!

thanks all

keith

[cobblerdave]

G'day kieth
A vendor I'm not but I've feed a few from my pizzas from my oven.
I see things as three main ones
Flattening the dough
Toppings.
Finally getting them in the oven, cooked one out. Or two or three
Break them into parts and you have it made.!
2 team members and yourself, on the oven.
One on dough, one on the toppings. Quike and fast so it doesn't stick to the peel.
Into the oven so your full attention is to what you have in front of you, and not on what you have too do to prep the next.
In this way you have the advantage of the 90 sec/ 120 sec pizza over the preparation time. It always takes longer than the cook really.
Hope this helps in some way
Regards dave

[oblertone]

Having managed a few 70+ pizza evenings I'd say the following rules should apply:

1) Don't let the punters anywhere near your dough
2) There's no such thing as 'too much semolina'
3) The Cook has enough to do so stay away from the prep table
4) Use paper plates & kitchen roll.

A few further reflections; I started out making roast pepper and garlic tomato sauce, I now just use quality chopped tomato straight from the tin, no-one noticed. A domestic food mixer can only handle 1Kg of dry ingredients (enough for 10-12 bases) so make your dough in batches timed to cater for your throughput and keep them balled in plastic lidded boxes; nb - See rule 2 above. A friend has invested in a pizza dough rolling machine from a catering auction site, it takes much of the guesswork out of 'how thin is thin'. Try doing a few plain bases with garlic butter to start, let's you judge how hot your oven is.
These are just my ideas, others will be along shortly ...

Basic dough:
500gm white bread flour
500gm 00 Pizza flour
1tsp Fast Acting yeast
1tsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
Enough water to combine the above, approx 600ml/1pint

Put all dry ingredients in a food mixer with a dough hook and add most of the water, combine on slow/med speed adding the rest of the water until all the flour is just taken up. Up the speed and let it knead for 5 mins, then cover and set aside for at least an hour or until it has doubled in size. On a floured surface knock the risen dough back and divide into balls of 150-200 gm, then roll the individual balls in semolina (see rule 2) and place in plastic box with a lid, the semolina stops them sticking together. Once they've risen again they are ready to be rolled out into pizza bases; you can retard the second rise by putting the box in a fridge.

Good luck !

[kstronach]

Thanks for the advice guys!

Unfortunately there's only going to be me making and cooking the pizzas! i'll have all the ingredients preped ready and i'm thinking of sticking to three or four set toppings (bbq chicken, pepperoni, margherita, hawian) and one topping that will vary from week to week. Also do you think i can pre strech bases and leave layered up in between pieces of grease proof paper ready to go or will this end in disaster?

Dough wise, i don't have a stand mixer so it will be mixed by hand! i had a look tonight on the Lehmann dough calculator over on pizzamaking.com and sort of came up with a dough for 20 dough balls, i'm thinking of mixing in a 15 liter bucket (possibly a overnight preferment first) then balling and storing the balls in one of those lidded underbed storage boxes overnight in the garage ready for use the next day.

I've never used semolina i'll give that a try i've found sometimes flour can burn on the bottom of the pizza.

Oh god what have i let my self in for!!

[spinal]

If going in business, I think two things are nearly essential...

1. A good mixer, ideally with a 6l+ capacity
2. A good helper!

Doing everything yourself is doable, but gets challenging if you want to put out a few pizzas quickly. Remember that the clock starts ticking when you put the tomatoes on (don't want the dough too soggy!). Also collecting money is a problem, as from a health & hygiene perspective you don't want to be handling very dirty stuff (cash) and your dough at the same time.

When you say mobile oven, I presume you cook to order rather than cook and refrigerate, so your worries aren't so bad. You'll need a cool-chain to ensure your cheese and other perishable toppings are kept under 4c all the way.

Pre-stretching isn't a good idea if you're going very thin. What you can do is half-stretch (to about 5-10mm thick) and then finish off before topping. Greaseproof paper wont work as it retains moisture, so as the moisture leaves the dough it'll cause it to stick. If you're going all out, looking at a dough-stretcher is a good idea (essentially two rolling pins connected to a motor, 2-3 passes and you have thin dough... but it's not stretched, it's rolled, so getting the crumb & raise right becomes harder).

My personal suggestion is spend 2-3 months working in a pizzeria... It's tough work, but gives you a flavour/idea of what's needed when very quickly.

M.

[kstronach]

To start with I'm just doing it from home from the garden! The mobile oven is looking to the future! Money wise I'm going to make a donation box to leave on the side then I'm not handling it like you say! Yea speed is of the essence I need to master two pizzas at time! My pizza screens have arrived not sure what I think to them, I'll give them a try anyway.

[oblertone]

Try a test run with your dough scheme, flour isn't too expensive but I fear your overnight storage plan may overwhelm you. Once the dough is mixed it takes on a life of its own and containing it can be a challenge.

Good luck

[cobblerdave]

G'day
Storage of pizza dough is easy really. You just need a fridge.
It slows the dough down but alows it to slow ferment. Which means a lot easier a dough to form and use.
But that's up to a point. Three days usually, and the yeast runs out of food. After this this the rise isn't as good.
Be warned over that three days even in the cold, the dough will rise and have to be punched down, otherwise it will grow all over the container and into your fridge. Check it ever 12 hours
Regards dave

[kstronach]

yea normally I store in the fridge but with bigger quantities I'm not going to have the room, that's why I'm thinking the garage is going to be cooler than the kitchen! I'm going to keep the yeast quantity low (0.3%) to try and avoid too bigger rise. I'm also wondering whether to use 10 or 15% of the total flour as wholemeal for better flavour.

[albacore]

I'd keep it 100% white flour personally; I think you run the risk of heavy/stodgy bases if you start adding wholemeal. Plus it is not traditional Napoli! If you are storing your dough balls for a day or two, then you will get good dough flavour development anyway.
If you are storing the dough for extended periods I think it's considered better to use stronger flour. Eg from the Caputo range then Caputo Red (Rinforzata) is considered better for this than Blue. You could probably get the same effect by replacing 10 - 20% of your standard 00 flour with Canadian hard wheat flour (or one of the extra strong brands of flour).

[kstronach]

An update from last night! It went ok, managed two pizzas in and out of the oven ok, the dough wasn't 100% how i wanted it, but it got good feedback so it can't have been too bad i suppose! As was said the dough did go mad overnight and had to be re balled twice before the night, it didn't seem to harm it too much though it still got oven spring. I'm on with making tonight's dough now so hopefully i won't have the same problem again, also i had some dough left so going to re ball those too ready for tonight. I used the pizza screens, sacrilege i know, but it made it easier and stopped any issues of flour burning on the bottom and as soon as the pizzas had firmed up enough they were moved directly on to the oven floor.