Tom Lehmann

Frenchbread pizza: know the recipe!

Question: I've heard of French bread pizza but I've never made it before. What can you tell me about this type of pizza? Answer: French bread pizza has actually been around for quite some time. It is a common sight in the frozen foods display case at your local supermarket. … More

Tom Lehmann

Problems with dough and gel: Tom looks closer

Question: We're plagued with the presence of a gel or gum line just beneath the sauce on many of our pizzas. The problem seems to be worse on weekends and during busy, high production periods. What's causing this problem, and how can we correct it? Also, our pizza seems to … More

Tom Lehmann

Hot stuff: temperatures explained

Question: In reading many of your articles and responses on the web site, I see you making reference to how important it is to achieve a specified finished dough temperature. Can you tell me how to determine what water temperature to use in order to achieve a specified dough temperature? … More

Tom Lehmann

The more you know about dough…

Questions, Questions, So Many Questions: As most of you know, I'm an active participant at the PMQ Think Tank. I receive many questions both through the Think Tank and through participation in other pizza related web sites, and direct e-mail correspondence. Much of this correspondence is regarding production or quality … More

Tom Lehmann

The numbers and nuances of dough

In the last issue I said that I would explain more of the advantages to expressing our pizza dough formulas in Baker's Percent. Previously, I explained how to convert a formula from Baker's Percent to a working formula in weight measures, and also how to express ingredient weights as Baker's … More

Tom Lehmann

Take & bake special report

Take and Bake pizza has been with us for many years now, we just never recognized it for what it was. At one time customers would ask us to only partially bake the pizza for them, so they could finish it off in their oven at home. Then came the … More

Tom Lehmann

Q&A with the dough doctor

QUESTION: We are trying to make a New York style pizza, but we have yet to be able to achieve the chewy texture. We have tried mixing the dough more and less, but to no effect. We have even tried increasing and decreasing the amount of water we add to … More

Food & Ingredients

A breakdown of pizza nutrition

From time to time, I get a question regarding how to make pizza a healthier food. It seems that healthy eating is all the rage these days, and rightfully so. With our aging population and reports of overweight youngsters, we really should take greater care in selecting the foods that … More