PAUL SCHNEIDER FINELLI PIZZA ELLSWORTH, MAINE Paul came up with several good ideas for serving desserts. "Desserts create a grab-and-go concept, so they must be displayed properly [so the customer can see them]," Paul said. His recipe for canolli has people buying them by the bagful. "I pay $66 for … More
Columbia: the next pizza frontier
At a recent Washington D.C. hotel restaurant show, I was preparing food and saw many mouths watering in anticipation except for one person that I noticed staring at me and not eating. I felt a bit uncomfortable seeing this well-dressed man watching me with such curiosity. I asked him if … More
Packing a punch into your perfect pizza
Ever wanted to add garlic to your crust to give it that little bit of extra flavor but found that you couldn't add it without overpowering everything else or ruining the action of the yeast? Well, now a company out of England gives you a way to add not only … More
What to Do About Blown Pizza Dough
Q: We are having a continuing problem with our dough over-rising in the cooler. What are we doing wrong? A: Blown dough, as it is affectionately called, can be caused by a number of things. So, let’s start at the beginning of the process and work our way through and try to … More
Get some experience
In my past articles you have probably noticed I like to experiment with dishes. To come up with something new or different, you need experience. This comes with being exposed to many different kinds of foods and cultures. It would take too long to write about my 34 years of … More
Chef Bruno
I hope everyone is having a great summer, but we all know that summer months can be a slow time for some pizza operators. It's a time when you want to kick back and sip on a beer in the shade, but rather than drinking the beer, you can also … More
Using a Hot Press to Duplicate Hand-Tossed Dough
Question: We currently hand-toss our dough, but with new stores opening we want to automate our dough forming operation. What is the best way to form our dough so it still looks like hand-tossed? Answer: There are two preferred methods to use for a machine to produce a formed dough … More
PMQ's pizzeria internationale
By traveling to many different restaurants all over the country and sampling a variety of dishes, I have come up with many recipes of my own. I customize these recipes to compliment my menu, and to blend with the style of cooking that I had grown up with as a … More
Corner to corner
Last year I made several trips to New York City tracking down ten of New York's landmark and legendary pizzerias. While traveling throughout the Bouroughs, I learned there were a lot of other legendary pizzerias besides the well-known ones. This year I thought it would be nice to pay tribute … More
Don't be a chicken: add some Italian entrees
We here at PMQ hear it time and again: How do I add other meal options to my current menu? One thing that makes perfect sense to add to your menu is pasta. For relatively inexpensively, you can add several pasta dishes, using your already existing supplies as toppings and … More
PMQ's pizzeria internationale
My name is Tim Duffey and I have been general manager of DeFelice Bros. Pizza, Inc., St. Clairsville, Ohio for five years. The DeFelice Bros. Special has been voted best in the United States twice, first at The North American Pizza & Ice Cream Show and then in Italy at … More
Hole-y dough
Ever wondered how to make your pizza better by the way you bake it? Some people believe that deck ovens bake a better pizza while others claim that the secret is all in the dough. Preston Williams says that the secret to a better, faster bake is all in the … More