My take on the quintessential classic New York Style Pizza John Updike famously said, “The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.” In my lifetime of visiting New York City, and t...

In Crust We Trust — Perfecting a light and chewy finished pizza crust Every time I look at social media, I am bombarded with pictures of pizza crust close-ups. People displaying the huge air pockets in a cross section of crust, also known as a ...

Subtle changes can help create a more consistent pizza In the world of independent pizzerias, we are always looking for the next big thing that will make our restaurants stand out. More importantly, we are striving for consistency in our product. The...

All Systems Dough Your dough is the heart and soul of your menu. No question. When I opened Andolini’s, I made the dough alone every morning. If something went wrong, it was on me to figure it out. After a year of working every day and dealing with...

The Dough Doctor answers your questions Q: I’m thinking of adding take-and bake pizza to my menu. Can I use my regular dough, or do I need a special dough? A: Making take-and-bake pizza can be a pretty simple proposition, or it can be a bit more in...

It all starts somewhere, and where it starts can make a huge difference Everyone knows, or at least they should, that the most important part of a pizza is the dough. It is what defines the style of pie you are making, holds up the gorgeous sauce you...

The More You Dough A pizzeria’s greatest tool to establish their unique style and brand is in their pizza dough. Pizza dough gives you the ability to show off what makes your pizzeria unique and different. Your pizza dough has so many factors that ...

How to get the pizza off the peel without sticking What’s causing my pizza to stick to the peel? There are a couple of things that might cause the dough to stick to your peel. If you are using malt in your dough, make doubly sure that it is non...

It’s Alive!   Help! We are having a problem with our dough growing in the cooler. A: There are a number of things that can result in the dough “blowing” in the cooler. The first cause could be excessive amounts of yeast in the dough. M...

Dough Doctor answers your questions on stretching, sticky dough and temperature controls Q:  I’ve heard you mentioned that there was an ingredient that we could use to reduce the snap-back of our dough, making hand stretching a lot easier for us. ...

What causes a gum line on pizza just below the sauce? A: They don’t call it the “dreaded gum line” for nothing. A gum line can be caused by a number of different things, and some of them are inter-related, but the “kicker” is that it won’...

Dough Doctor discusses water temp and pizza peels   Q: Does the temperature of the water matter that much when making pizza dough? A: The temperature of your dough is vitally important because it sets the stage for everything else that will happ...