Sponsored by Lesaffre.
Consistency is a battle for every independent pizzeria, but the right dough additions can improve performance, flavor, and reliability without adding labor. In a recent demonstration with PMQ, Anthony Iannone of the North American Pizza & Culinary Academy showed how Lesaffre’s functional ingredients can help operators tighten production while reducing daily variables that often lead to inconsistency.
Every pizza operator knows great dough happens when craft, labor, and science come together. But producing the same dough from shift to shift is harder now. Staffing is tight, training time is limited, and ingredient changes put pressure on established recipes.
For smaller operators, those challenges are even more pronounced because there is less room for error. Iannone highlights Lesaffre ingredients’ uses to address these ongoing issues; he describes them as “functional ingredients that operators can drop right into recipes to boost strength, flavor, consistency, and overall performance without adding labor.”
This support matters at a time when flavor trends demand more diversity from menus. Sourdough is a rising star on menus, but scratch production remains labor intensive. Building a traditional, sourdough flavor profile takes time, planning, and staff, many independent shops simply don’t have. Lesaffre’s Livendo AF200L is designed to help close that gap. AF200L is a liquid sourdough that can be added directly into a dough formula or brushed on before the bake for a more pronounced flavor. “It really adds a level of flavor to a dough with just an ingredient,” Iannone says.
For independent operators, ease of execution is just as important as flavor. A dough system may look great on paper, but if it is difficult to stretch or inconsistent in the hands of different employees, it can quickly create problems on the make line. That is where SafPro Relax Y+F can offer another advantage. “Relax Plus Y+F is going to give yeast flavor in a dough, but it’s going to relax the gluten, so it’s going to make it a little bit easier stretching,” Iannone says. For pizzerias managing turnover or relying on less-experienced employees, that can mean a dough that is easier to handle and more forgiving during service.
Lesaffre’s ingredients also address a broader operational concern: maintaining dough strength and consistency as flour standards and ingredient requirements continue to evolve. Instead of forcing operators to rebuild a dough formula from scratch, these products can help preserve performance with smaller adjustments. “Operators can just change their yeast ingredient and still get that strength out of there,” Iannone says. A point that resonates with independent owners who need practical fixes rather than major process overhauls. He also says Lesaffre add-ins can help restore lost performance in changing flour systems: “It’s creating strength. It’s replacing that strength that was lost with the non-bromated flour.”
Taken together, products such as Livendo AF200L and SafPro Relax Y+F offer independent pizza operators a way to reduce labor pressure, narrow the skilled-labor gap, and improve consistency from batch to batch. SafPro Relax Y+F can save up to 13 percent on mixing times and increase CO2 retention while delivering some of the flavor and functional benefits associated with a longer fermentation. For independent pizzerias trying to protect quality while simplifying execution, that combination of performance, flavor, and ease of use can make a meaningful difference.
Learn how to master the NY Style with Iannone here, and discover the difference Lesaffre can make here.
