Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

[brickie in oz]

Making and storing bulk pizza dough?
How would you store it, proof it, transport it?
How long would it keep until the goodness and flavour starts to go out of it?

Here is a thread I started the other day, this thread is a follow on to that one.
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/c...ney-16978.html

[tusr18a]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

I started a mobile wood fired pizza business about a year ago. Managing the dough is one of the most challenging parts of the business. Here is a little of what I have learned. First, do not try to mix the dough by hand. We nearly killed ourselves trying to keep up with demand while mixing by hand. We ended up finding a local church with a commercial kitchen that was willing to let us use their kitchen. The kitchen has a 20 quart Hobart dough mixer. We can make about thirty 8 ounce balls from each batch of dough that comes out of the mixer. An average event requires about 100 balls of dough which meant that we had to mix up three separate batches to yield that many dough balls. After cutting and weighing the dough, we round it off and place the individual pieces of dough in oiled disposible clear plastic containers, which you should be able to find through any restaurant supply company. We purchased about 200 of these dispisible containers. They cost about $1 US each. After each event, we stack the containers up and bring them back to the commercial kitchen to wash. Right after putting the dough in the container, we put it in a refrigerator and allow the dough to rise slowly for a few days. On the day of the event, we will remove the dough from the refrigerator and transport them to the event in large coolers. Early on, we would just leave the dough in these coolers. Unfortunately, we found that on hotter days the dough would get very difficult to work with. We had no trouble pushing the dough out into a round. However, it would often rip making it hard to build the pizza. We eventually decided to buy a $3,000.00 True refrigerated pizza table. These units have ample space underneath the table to store the dough in a refrigerated environment. This allowed us to only pull out as much dough as we would need for the next half hour or so. Once we figured this out, dough management became a lot easier. Some of the draw backs of this approach are as follows. First, there is a lot of labor that goes into washing the containers. The trade off is that we can stack the containers making it possible for us to use all the available refrigerator space. Also, if we do not use all the dough one day, we can use it the next. While we would love to use dough trays, we simply have not figured out how to keep dough on trays cooled in a mobile setting. On top of that, we use a very wet dough, which does not do well in dough trays. All the balls tend to meld into the other balls. Second, the refrigerated table is designed to be used in a commercial kitchen setting. Rolling across fields, lawns, roads, and sidewalks is possible. However, the refrigerated unit took a lot of abuse. We tore more than one wheel off requiring emergency surgery to repair. Third, we ended up having to buy an enclosed trailer to transport the refrigerated pizza table, which cost us another $3400. If that is not bad enough, my business partner ended up having to trade in his cross over SUV for a full size pick up to pull the enclosed trailer. Yes, this mobile pizza business can get very expensive very quickly. While I am sure that there are other solutions, this was our solution. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. No need for others to go through the initial pain that we did. As to how long the dough lasts, we would use the dough for up to seven days. You could probably use it longer. However, as a new business, we did not want to risk the quality of the product going down. With longer fermentation times, we found that the older the dough was, the better the favor.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

Great reply thank you.

Ive found the dough matures to a better flavour too when we have friends over for a pizza night.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

You can't store bulk. It has to be balled for storage. That is what the proofing bin is for.

[david s]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

We make up the dough and refrigerate it. Then the day it is required we make it into balls and place it well floured into a plastic drawer unit. The balls do puff up and stick together a bit, but it's not much trouble to roll it back into a ball and stretch/roll out the base.with practice you get reasonably quick at it.

[mrchipster]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

What about plastic zip lock bags or stretch wrap instead of small tubs? That way you just toss the waste and no washing required? Also what about freezing the balls and thawing them for later use?

Chip

[chidding]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

I'm not really a fan of using dough after more than 72 hours, wether thats because of habit, or because it starts to feel/look different.. even smell different?

I like fresh dough, heck i'd love to make the dough 4 hours prior so i know its the freshest it can be.. but most time's ill make the night prior..

Would be nice to see someone test how it goes when freezing? and even try leaving a dough in the fridge for weeks to see what happens?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

When we have a party I usually make the dough around 4 hours before hand, Ive noticed later in the evening when ppl go back for the second or third pizza the dough has a sourish(dough) smell and tastes even better.

[chidding]

Re: Making and storing bulk pizza dough?

When we have a party I usually make the dough around 4 hours before hand, Ive noticed later in the evening when ppl go back for the second or third pizza the dough has a sourish(dough) smell and tastes even better.

Have noticed this aswell! glad i wasnt going insane, feels like it has some more air in the dough aswell?