Q: What’s the best way to add yeast during the dough mixing process?​ A: Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the basics of dough production. In the coming months, I plan to address many of these questions, one at a time, in this space. Yeast is an essential but … More

You can add scrap dough to your fresh dough at no more than 15% of the new dough weight. You can also use leftover dough to make side items like breadsticks and garlic knots. Q: What is the best way to handle leftover pizza dough?​ A: To prevent food waste, … More

Q: We have a small store in a high-traffic location and would like to offer an early-morning breakfast item. Any suggestions? A: How about a small, individual-size breakfast pizza or breakfast calzone? To make a breakfast pizza, size your dough to make a 6” or 8” pizza (thin crust … More

QUESTION:  Can you offer any tips on how to convert my thin-crust pizza dough to a deep-dish dough?   ANSWER: Last month we tackled the pesky problem of tough, chewy deep-dish crusts. So it makes sense to delve a little deeper into the deep-dish dilemma: How do you add … More

QUESTION:  What is the difference between malted and unmalted flour? ANSWER: Malted flour contains sprouted barley malt, a source of amylase, which is an enzyme that breaks some of the flour’s starch down into sugars. The yeast uses these sugars as nutrients to support fermentation. Unmalted flours don’t contain … More

QUESTION: We have been struggling with soggy pizzas and soft crusts for some time now. No matter what we do, we can’t fix the problem. We bake our pies in deck ovens at 550°F, and we probably use more toppings than we should, but that’s what our customers want. … More