By Charlie Pogacar
Most pizza makers will tell you that the key to any great pizza is the dough it is made with. At the Pizza Power Forum, hosted by PMQ at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis on September 4 and 5, five experts participated in a dough panel moderated by PMQ’s own Brian Hernandez. The session was called: “Perfecting Your Dough: Tips and Tricks,” and it was one of the eight educational sessions held at the inaugural event. (Sidenote: mark your calendars for next year, as the Pizza Power Forum is coming back September 2 and 3, and will once again be held at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis).
Much of the session consisted of panelists taking questions directly from attendees. However, at the beginning, Hernandez asked one general question to the panelists as a way of breaking the ice: “What do you guys think is the best procedure for a standard dough?” The answers were illuminating.
Here’s a recap of what the five experts said. Whether you’re an experienced pizza maker or just starting out, there may be some pearls of wisdom that shape the way you go about your dough-making process. (Editor’s note: quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Related: Triple Beam Pizza: The Advantages of Scaling With a Commissary Kitchen Model
Louise Joseph, owner/operator, Dough Girls Pizza Truck
“For me, the two most important aspects of your dough are temperature and choosing what you want to get out of your dough. For temperature, take the temperature of everything: the flour, the water, the ambient temperature in the air. And then, my dough is fermented. Some are not. Some are same-day doughs, and that’s fine—there’s nothing wrong with that. But you have to choose which dough you want to do and work with. You might want to do same-day dough like an old school New York-style, or you might want to do fermentation. It’s up to you, but you have to decide before you make your recipe.”
Joey Karvelas, co-owner/operator, Karvelas Pizza Company
“So, I think that the most important thing is to have the dough—to make sure you’ve got [enough]. Don’t run out. What I mean by that is this: We started with one little small shop, which was 800 square feet, and I made every single dough ball. I didn’t let anybody else make it. I was really cautious about that. Now we have six locations, and a lot of different people are making dough. So as long as we have the dough in-house, I’m good. These days [use] speed racks. We don’t set it in those plastic containers. We put it on sheet pans, we wrap it in plastic and put it in the speed racks. Depending on the day, we try to keep at least one full speed rack of dough, and we pull it out and let it proof. So for me, it’s not really about the dough recipe—it’s more about what you do with it after.”
Alessio Lacco, co-owner/operator, Atlanta Pizza Truck
“For me, it comes down to the quality of the ingredients. It’s using the right flour for the right type of pizza—the sea salt, the yeast, the pH of the water. You have to really understand what kind of dough you’re trying to achieve for the pizza that you’re trying to make. So in order to do this job correctly, try to understand where you want go [with your dough] and work backwards in order to achieve it.”
Alexandra Castro, Pizza with Ale
“Yeah, I think, as [Louise and Alessio] said, it’s very important to know which dough you’re going to be using and which pizza you want to make. So that’s the start. And what I like to do is keep things very simple. I use a direct dough method. But besides that, I mean, of course, your ingredients are very important, but I think the question is: What is the best procedure for a standard dough? And for me that means definitely keeping [in mind] the temperature of the ingredients so we don’t over-proof the dough. You have to give the dough time to rest. Like Louise said, it’s going to depend on what you want—if you want the dough for the same day or if you want more like a slow fermentation process. So it’s going to depend on that, but I like the direct method. For me, it’s much easier.”
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Wilhelm Rodriguez, owner/operator, Papa’s Pizza, Puerto Rico
“My friends here mostly covered everything, but I really want to add the importance of the water: fresh water, always purified water, never from the tap. I think that’s one of the best clues that I could give you today because you don’t want your pizza tasting like Clorox or some additives that they add to the water. Fresh water and purified water, I think, is one of the best components for you to have a nice dough. And also the final dough temperature is very, very, very important for me. That’s the life of the dough: the water.”
