The Dough Doctor answers a question about the use of baking powder in pizza dough Q: I’ve heard that baking powder can be used in making pizza crusts. Is this true? A: Baking powder can and has successfully been used in making pizza crusts for many...

Tony’s tips on making the perfect crispy thin-crust pizza So many students ask me how to make a good, crispy thin-crust pizza. Is it the dough recipe or the technique? It’s a little of both, actually, but definitely more technique. One of my most...

100 Percent Sure Q: I see that most of the dough recipes that you talk about are in percent rather than in weights. How do I go about converting the percentages into ingredient weights? A: I get this question asked quite frequently so it never hurts ...

The Dough Doctor breaks down dough mixing procedures I’ve noticed that the dough-making procedures used by many operators seem to be getting more and more detailed, long and drawn out. I like to think that we are just making pizza dough, not rocket...

Q: Why is my dough wet and sticky when I remove it from the dough box? A: While some may believe that this is caused by excessive dough absorption, the truth of the matter is that it is caused either by failure to cross-stack the dough boxes during r...

Q: What’s causing your crust to be too chewy? A: There are a number of factors that can contribute to a tough and chewy crust characteristic. For example, use of a flour that is overly strong (high in protein content) for the dough management proce...

The Dough Doctor talks about the use of fats in pizza dough   Q: What is the difference between using shortening and oil in pizza dough, and does it make a difference if the shortening is melted? A: There are a number of different aspects to usi...

Solving a Soggy Pizza Crust Bottom Q: We are experiencing a clammy bottom on our pizza, but our conveyor ovens were just recently cleaned. Where should we start trouble-shooting? A: There is no escaping this one –– you have to begin trouble shoot...

The Dough Doctor talks white pizza, laminated dough   Q: We want to do something a little different and offer a white pizza. Can you give some suggestions to help get us started? A: The two approaches that I’ve used successfully to make white ...

The Dough Doctor talks salt, breakfast pizza   Q: We are thinking about opening earlier in the morning to get in on some of the breakfast trade. Do you have any suggestions as to what we could make that would be well accepted? A: While some stor...

The Dough Doctor answers questions about flour differences and their impacts on pizza crust   Q: What is the difference between enriched and un-enriched flour, and bleached flour versus unbleached flour? A: As in many things that we like to eat,...

Is there a correct way to mix ingredients?   Q: I see differences in dough make-up procedures. Some call for stirring or whipping the salt, sugar, yeast and oil into the water and then finally adding the flour and mixing, while other procedures ...