Mobile Pizza ?'s

[GianaJay's]

I am getting a mobile wood fired oven for festivals and local farmers market. I have everything worked out except for the dough. My question is, HOW do you carry around so much dough with out it rising. I understand that i need trays to put the dough in but i will need 20 + trays, so i will i keep them all cool without buying three refrigerators. Does anyone else do this and what is a inexpensive way to do this. Thanks everyone. I will be the only wood fired oven in this area so we are very excited to get started, so any additional advice will be appreciated. Thanks again!!!

[JAG]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

Hello Gianajay's

Been doing mobile for 3 yrs now and still learning, but what we use is a prep table and insulated bag, we typically bring 150 balls for our 3hr market. What size pizza are you serving, whole, by the slice, personal?

I have seen people use catering boxes and place dough on sheet trays, and have heard some people use insulated bags with ice blankets. Some bags have interior pockets to place the blankets in. One thing to consider is your typical outdoor temps where you live.

With all the BS that goes along with mobile pizza, dough management is probably one of the most challenging aspects. PM me if you want to chat in more detail, it is always nice to bounce ideas around.

John

[GianaJay's]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

We are still in the planning period, i have a bakery that will be making me fresh dough when needed, and they will be 14 oz dough balls. So the problem is we have yet to have weather to test what size we will make. They will either be large thin crust, or a little smaller with thicker crust. We also are planning on selling it by the slice, but if you buy an entire pizza you get a slice free, or somewhat of a cheaper price. Our bakery will individually wrap each dough ball, so i think we will have a few different options on storing them. We will pull the dough balls out of the cold storage, and place them on trays to give them a little time to raise before we use them, of course! But we are excited to be able to provide this area with a great pizza, because there are only franchises in this area, and the small places only use conveyor belt style ovens, which are crappy. We want to show people how with a little bit of skill, pizza can be good again. Let me know what you think about our dough process. Thanks!!

[woodoveneats]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

The trick is how much dough do you need per day at the event. You will always have too much or too little. Like with any business, you want to avoid waste, because this is a direct negative to your profits. We are taking a 2 dough approach: For parties, catering events, etc., we are using fresh made, high quality artisan dough. But for festivals, we use a frozen 8 oz dough ball from Gordon Food Service (GFS). I know this might be taboo to purists, but logistically it works best. It is easy to carry a large supply with us in a freezer, and only thaw/proof what we need that day. In warm summer weather it will thaw and proof in about 4-5 hours.

Additionally, if you have leftover proofed dough (previously frozen or artisan), find alternate products you can make to salvage this surplus dough. We make apple turnovers, pretzels, or simply bake the proofed dough balls to make loaves of bread. These are all products you can sell day 2 at your festival.

[factoryrat]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

woodoveneats, so do you use dough from Sienna Bakery through Gordon Foods

[benny8]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

We are just getting started as well and we have decided on fresh dough balls for catering and par baked crusts for the fairs and farmers markets. We make our own dough and sauce.

[Greenman]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

There is a level of danger to the integrity of 'genuine wood fired pizza' in using par baked crusts. I have seen them at community events in Australia and given the price being asked for them they don't seem to reach the bar.

Neither your arse nor your elbow is my my appraisal. If you are paying for the real thing you should be served the real thing. The rest is best left to the franchises that sell the other stuff.

Just my thoughts, for what they are worth.

[benny8]

Re: Mobile Pizza ?'s

There is a level of danger to the integrity of 'genuine wood fired pizza' in using par baked crusts. I have seen them at community events in Australia and given the price being asked for them they don't seem to reach the bar.

Neither your arse nor your elbow is my my appraisal. If you are paying for the real thing you should be served the real thing. The rest is best left to the franchises that sell the other stuff.

Just my thoughts, for what they are worth.

My crusts are my homemade dough par baked in the woodfired oven during down times.