2 - On-site Preparation vs. Ready-to-use

PIZZA can be made many ways, which makes it unique among foods. At one end of the spectrum is a pizza made totally from ingredients prepared on-site. At the other end is a product assembled from all pre-prepared or ready-to-use components. And then there are pizzas made from both. Before open­ing a pizzeria you must decide how much ingredi­ent preparation you will do. This chapter examines the various options for creating the crust, sauce, cheese, and toppings—ranging from on-site “scratch” prepa­ration to fully pre­pared compo­nents.

 

There are five options for creating the crust. In order of complexity they are:

  1.   Dough prepared from scratch.

  2.   Dough prepared from a mix.

  3.   Frozen dough ball.

  4.   Frozen rolled dough.

  5.   Parbaked or pre-baked crust.

Here are the advantages and drawbacks of each.

Dough From Scratch

Typically, pizza crust is made from yeast dough. It’s the most complex aspect of pizza preparation. In its basic form it involves mixing together flour, water, salt, and yeast. Some recipes call for additional ingredi­ents such as sugar, shortening, eggs, and milk. To make consistent quality dough, the ingredi­ents must be top quality, measuring must be precise, ingredient temperatures must be right, and mixing must be done for the proper length of time. In addi­tion, dough must be held at the right temperature for fermentation and must be scaled and rounded properly.

ADVANTAGES. Compared to other crust options, mix­ing from scratch has several advantages. First, you can create your own custom recipe. Second, you can modify and improve the recipe over time. Third, the concept of “mixing from scratch” might be used to a marketing advantage—that is, used to influence the public’s perception of your product quality. Fourth, it can result in the lowest food cost per crust. Fifth, some pizza operators feel it gives them the best quality crust.

To a large extent, whether mixing from scratch results in a top quality crust depends on how well the pizzeria owner (or dough-maker) follows proper dough-making procedure. When good procedure is applied, a top quality crust can result; when it’s not, quality won’t occur.

DRAWBACKS. Mixing dough from scratch has two main drawbacks. First, it requires a certain amount of skill, which means one or more persons must be trained in dough-making. Second, because of the number of steps involved it offers opportunity for mistakes. In addition it requires a mixer, which requires an investment of money and floor space.

In an attempt to minimize the above drawbacks some pizza chains have gone to centralized (or commissary) dough-making. The pros and cons of commissary distri­bu­tion are discussed in the Commissary vs. On-site Preparation chapter.

Further attempts to eliminate dough-making draw­backs are discussed next.

Dough From a Mix

A mix—sometimes called a pre-mix or pre-blend—com­bines dry dough ingredients into a bag or box. If the mix comes in a bag that’s pre-portioned for a batch of dough the only thing that needs to be measured is water and, sometimes, yeast. If it’s in bulk form (i.e., 50 or 100 lb bags) then the mix must be weighed out first. There are two kinds of mixes: (1) Those containing all ingredients (except water), called complete mixes, and (2) those con­taining some of the dry ingredients (usually everything but flour and/or yeast), called partial mixes.

The partial mix is a bag of critical ingre­dients, or every­thing but the flour. It comes in bags portioned for one batch of dough. With a partial mix approach a pizzeria purchases flour separately. To make dough, the water is added to the mixer, a bag of partial mix is put in, and flour is scaled and added. The advantage of this approach is that it’s usually cheaper than buying a complete mix with flour included.

It’s also possible for a pizzeria to make its own mix. For the procedure, refer to the Mix Packet Procedure section of the Dough-making chapter.

ADVANTAGES. The main advantage of a mix over “scratch dough” is that it reduces scaling time and the chance for measuring error. In that regard it could improve crust consistency and quality. But, contrary to what some pizzeria owners hope, mixes don’t contain magical ingredients that eliminate the need for proper fermen­tation, rounding, rolling, and baking methods—all of which are necessary for making a good crust. So a mix does not reduce the need for good managerial and dough-making proce­dure. For a pizza company that wants to keep its recipe secret, a mix also helps safe­guard its dough recipe.

POSSIBLE DRAWBACK. A mix might cost more than making dough from scratch, with a partial mix costing more than a complete mix. However, when labor savings are factored in, using a mix might be as cheap, or even cheaper, than mixing from scratch.

Generally, a mix reduces training time and the chance of human error, which might enhance quality consis­tency. It also allows a company to keep its dough recipe secret. For these reasons a mix has greatest merit for a company where many people make dough—such as might occur in a chain, or multi-unit business.

Frozen Dough Ball

There are companies that sell frozen dough balls for pizzerias. This crust option eliminates dough-making altogether. However, frozen dough is not problem-free—the balls must be thawed and fermented prior to rolling.

ADVANTAGES. Using frozen dough balls eliminates the need for the scaling, mixing, dividing, rounding, and clean-up involved in dough-making which, in turn, reduces labor time, cost, training and supervi­sion. It also could eliminate the need for investing in a mixer and related equipment. Finally, it reduces the number of ingredients that must be purchased and stored.

DRAWBACKS. Frozen dough costs more than mix­ing dough from scratch or from a mix. In addition, some pizzeria owners feel that frozen dough doesn’t rise or proof up as well as fresh-made dough. It also eliminates the opportunity to create a custom recipe. Finally, it requires a freezer.

Frozen Rolled Dough

There are companies that also sell frozen dough in rolled or sheeted form. With that, the pizzeria owner need only place the frozen rolled dough on a screen or pan to thaw, and then make it into a pizza.

In addition to requiring no mixing, frozen rolled dough also eliminates dough rolling, which elimi­nates the need for dough-rolling equipment. The drawbacks to the product are the same as for the frozen dough ball.

Parbaked and Pre-baked Crust

The ultimate in crust handling convenience is the par­baked and pre-baked crust—sometimes known as a “shell.”

Parbaked describes a product that’s baked to partial doneness. During parbaking the yeast dies, the protein in the flour coagulates, and the starch gelati­nizes, or sets, thereby making the product shelf stable. It’s unbrowned, so before serving it must be further baked or “finished off” to fully brown the outside. Basically, a par­baked crust is similar in function to a brown-and-serve dinner roll.

Parbaking is accomplished with either an oven or a hot press; thereby resulting in two types of parbaked crust: (1) pan-proofed oven-baked and (2) sheeted press-baked. With a pan-proofed oven-baked crust, the dough is allowed to proof or rise in a pan and then is baked in an oven. The baking occurs at a lower temperature and for a shorter time (around 3 to 4 minutes) than regular pizza baking. With a sheeted press-baked crust, dough pieces are put into a hot press and stamped out. To accomplish this, two hot plates flatten the dough and, at the same time, heat it enough to kill the yeast and gelatinize the starch. Sheeted press-baked crusts are usually dense and thin; pan-proofed oven-baked crusts are airier and thicker. So press-baked are generally used for thin-crust pizza and oven-baked for thick crust.

A pre-baked crust is made by baking proofed dough to full doneness. One common brand is Boboli. This type of product is often marketed as focaccia. Whereas a par­baked crust is white, a pre-baked crust is light brown. It can be eaten without further baking.

ADVANTAGES. There are several advantages of par­baked and pre-baked crust. First, like frozen rolled dough, the parbaked crust requires no scaling, mixing, dividing, rounding, and clean-up—so almost no labor is required and very few errors occur. There’s also no proofing required as with frozen dough.

Second, there’s no rolling or sheeting involved, which makes for one less thing that pizza-makers must learn. Also, no rolling equipment is required.

Third, because there’s no fermentation, as with fresh and frozen dough, crust thickness and degree of proof­ing is the same from pizza to pizza. In that sense par­baked crust is highly consistent.

Fourth, since it’s a firm product it’s easy to handle. Unlike dough it can be moved without a pan or screen. It also can be placed directly on a conveyor belt, which can be a handy feature in some opera­tions.

Fifth, because it’s partially cooked it results in a short­ened bake time by 1 to 3 minutes. In a hot oven a thin-crust parbaked pizza can be finished off in 3 to 4 minutes. For a quick-serve operation, such as a concession stand, this could be an advantage. Generally speaking, par­baked crust pizzas should be baked with more top heat and less bottom heat than a fresh dough pizza.

Sixth, some brands bake up with a crunchy bottom—a feature that some pizzeria owners and customers like. Also, some people feel parbaked crust makes a better (i.e., less soggy) product for microwaving.

DRAWBACKS. The drawbacks of parbaked and pre-baked crust vary from brand to brand. Generally speak­ing, however, one or more of six limitations can occur. First, because of the shortened bake time the crust interior may not be as hot as a pizza that’s baked from raw to done in one step. Interestingly, if the pizza is eaten right after baking, this might not be a drawback. In fact it could be an advantage since the pizza is easier to handle and chew. However, if it’s held for a time before serving—as is the case with delivery or carry-out pizza—it tends to result in a colder product than pizza made from fresh dough.

Second, after baking, the crust tends to dry out or stale more quickly than does crust baked from fresh dough. Again, if the product is eaten immediately this isn’t a problem. But if it’s held for a time, it could be. Some manufacturers offset the dryness by using a high amount of shortening in the dough formula. Operators often over­come the dryness by applying extra-large portions of sauce and cheese. That’s a feasible solution in a captive (non-competi­tive) market, such as is the case with most conces­sion stands, but is more difficult to do in a price-sensitive situation.

Third, with parbaked crust there’s greater tendency for cheese and toppings to slide off when it’s bitten into—especially after the product has been held for a few minutes and toppings have started to cool.

Fourth, the top edge of the crust which contacts the sauce can have a raw or doughy appearance where it’s bitten into. This occurs in parbaked crusts. In an effort to overcome this drawback, some pizze­rias brush the top with oil before adding the sauce. Others try to camouflage it by using extra-large amounts of cheese.

Fifth, as with all prepared components, the food cost is higher than when it’s prepared from scratch.

Sixth, most likely a freezer is needed to store it.

In conclusion, parbaked crust offers unique advan­tages and drawbacks. In some situations the draw­backs could be major; in other cases they’re hardly noticed and, in fact, might turn out to be an advantage. Gener­ally speaking, parbaked crust has greatest merit in situa­tions where quick baking can result in better service, where the pizza is eaten instantly or held for only a short time, and where the price structure will support ample portions of sauce and cheese. Accord­ingly, operations such as bars and concession stands (stadiums, airports, theaters, fairs, fund-raising events) could be the main beneficiaries of parbaked crust.

 

Generally, there are three levels of sauce prepara­tion:

  1.   All fresh ingredients.

  2.   Canned tomato product combined with spices in the pizzeria.

  3.   Ready-to-use or fully prepared pizza sauce.

All Fresh Ingredients

Although few pizzerias do it, sauce can be prepared from all fresh ingredients. For example, toma­toes can be purchased whole, then cored and skinned and, finally, chopped or pureed in a food cutter or grinder. Fresh herbs—for example, basil—if they can’t be procured, can be grown in a hydroponic garden. And other ingre­dients for pizza sauce, such as onions and garlic, can be purchased fresh, then minced or puréed and added to the sauce.

ADVANTAGES. Anyone who does all this believes they’re producing a superior product. In addi­tion, this approach could have strong promotional value in terms of advertising an “all-fresh pizza sauce, made from whole fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs, … etc.”

DRAWBACKS. The first drawback to preparing sauce from all-fresh ingredients is the amount of labor involved in processing the ingredients. Wash­ing, coring, peeling, and mincing tomatoes takes time. The second drawback is possible inconsistency as the quality of fresh tomatoes changes from season to season and grower to grower. In addition, except for a few months per year, most fresh tomatoes are not grown in a local area. Instead they’re grown in another region, where they’re picked green, and then ripened in transit. That can result in less than optimum flavor.

One possible compromise is to add fresh tomatoes to a canned tomato product in a ratio of, say, 10 percent fresh tomatoes to 90 percent paste, puree, or sauce; thereby, allowing a pizzeria to advertise that it includes “fresh tomatoes” in its sauce.

Canned Tomato Product Combined
with Spices in the Pizzeria

Most pizzerias buy a processed (i.e., canned or bagged) tomato product—such as paste, puree, sauce, or chop­ped tomato—and then add spices and other ingredi­ents. The other ingredients can be fresh, but often are dehydrated, frozen, or canned. The sauce may or may not be cooked. Some people feel that cooking enhances the flavor. However, tomato product manu­facturers dispute this claim, saying that it actually could end up dissipating flavor.

Some large chains have the packer add the spices during canning. In place of spices, oleo­resin flavor­ings are sometimes used.

ADVANTAGES. The main advantage of using canned tomato products is consistency. Although canned prod­uct can vary from batch to batch, it doesn’t vary as much as fresh produce. In addition, making sauce from canned products is relatively simple to do, especially when it’s not cooked. Cans are opened, spices are added in measured amounts, and the batch is mixed for a couple minutes. A third advantage of this method, when compared to buying fully prepared pizza sauce, is that a pizzeria can create its own custom recipe.

DRAWBACKS. Compared to buying fully prepared pizza sauce, one drawback is the work involved in mix­ing the sauce. Another drawback is the chance that the spices might be mismeasured, or that low quality spices might be used. A final drawback is that a mixer (either stationary or hand-held) is required for volume produc­tion.

However, the work involved in mixing is minimal. And if care is exercised in purchasing and measur­ing spices, quality consistency is easy to achieve. In short, there’s virtually no drawback to this method of sauce preparation.

Ready-to-use or Fully Prepared Pizza Sauce

Some pizzerias prefer to minimize work. For them a fully prepared pizza sauce (i.e., a tomato sauce with pizza spices) is the answer.

The main advantage of this approach is convenience. No measuring, no mixing, no muss, no fuss—just open a can.

The main disadvantage is that your sauce will taste exactly like the pizzeria’s down the street if they’re also using the same product. If you’re in a non-competitive situation—such as a concession stand—this might not matter.

 

There are two basic options for cheese:

  1.   Block or loaf cheese.

  2.   Ready-to-use cheese.

Block or Loaf Cheese

In loaf form mozzarella typically comes in a 40 lb case, consisting of eight 5 lb loaves. It also comes in a 20 lb block. When purchased as a loaf or block the pizzeria must process it—that is, slice, shred, dice, grind, or chop it. Some cheeses, such as provolone, come in shapes other than block but, regardless, it still requires proces­sing.

ADVANTAGES. The main advantage of buying loaf cheese is that a pizzeria can easily create its own custom blend by mixing together two or more kinds. If a cutter-mixer is used for chopping cheese, creat­ing a blend is easy.

Another possible advantage is that loaf cheese has a lower food cost than prepared cheese; however, the price difference has been diminishing in recent years.

A third possible advantage is that loaf cheese can be smoked to give it a distinctive flavor. This requires special equipment and extra work—and for that reason very few, if any, pizzerias do it any more.

DRAWBACKS. The main drawback of loaf cheese is that it must be processed. To prepare the cheese the loaves must be unwrapped, then cut into smaller units and, finally, inserted into a machine. Depend­ing on the equipment available this can be easy or difficult.

A second possible drawback of loaf cheese is that it’s constantly aging. For good baking, mozzarella must be 14 to 28 days old (although some low-moisture brands will keep longer). If too young or too old it doesn’t bake well; so it must be used at just the right time. By comparison, frozen ready-to-use cheese can be kept frozen for several months.

Ready-to-use Cheese

Cheese for pizza—most typically mozzarella—can also be purchased ready-to-use. The three most common forms are chopped, shredded, and diced. It’s packed two main ways: Gas-flushed and quick-frozen in a poly bag. Gas-flushed has about 30 days refrigerated shelf life. Frozen can be kept for several months in a freezer.

ADVANTAGES. The main advantage of ready-to-use cheese is that there’s no work required—simply open the bag and apply. This can result in labor savings. Second, no cheese-cutting machine is required. Third, the sellers of ready-to-use cheese—especially of the frozen variety—maintain that the product is more stable, or less susceptible to changes from aging, than is block cheese.

DRAWBACKS. As already stated, ready-to-use cheese costs more (although that cost might be recouped by labor savings). In addition, because it’s already chopped, diced, or shredded it’s more diffi­cult to create a cheese blend. Nonetheless, ready-to-use cheese is gain­ing in popularity.

 

From a processing standpoint there are two basic cate­gories of toppings:

  1.   Unprocessed toppings.

  2.   Ready-to-use toppings.

Unprocessed Toppings

Typical unprocessed vegetable toppings include fresh whole onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. The products must be prepared—i.e., washed, cored, skinned—then put through a slicer or cutter.

Unprocessed meat toppings include canned ham and pepperoni sticks, and also whole cuts of beef and pork. To prepare ham and pepperoni the product must be removed from the casing and put through a cutter or slicer. To prepare sausage or ground beef from whole cuts, the meat must be trimmed and then ground up with spices added.

ADVANTAGES. The main advantage for a pizzeria in processing its own toppings is the opportunity to adver­tise the use of “fresh toppings, prepared on-premise.”

The second advantage is that the product can be custom prepared so it won’t be like competitors’ pizza. For example, meats and vegetables can be cut to the shape and thickness desired. And sausage and beef, if ground on-site, can be flavored with custom seasoning.

The third advantage is “more natural looking” product. Of course, food appearance—like beauty—is in the eyes of the beholder. What’s appealing to one person might not be to another.

The last advantage of buying unprocessed ingredi­ents and preparing them on-site is that they cost less. How­ever, as sellers of ready-to-use products point out, when computing food cost be sure to figure it on the yield of finished product after trim is removed, not on the weight of purchased product. When done that way the price gap often narrows greatly.

DRAWBACKS. There are several potential draw­backs to on-site topping preparation. First, unproc­es­sed top­pings require time and labor in cleaning, trimming, and slicing the product, as well as in cleaning up. This can increase payroll cost and also require added training and supervision. Second, during preparation, mistakes can occur. Also, with poor preparation methods, waste and higher food cost can result. Third, if good proce­dures aren’t followed, product inconsistency can result. Fourth, raw meat is more difficult to apply in pizza-making than is pre-cooked meat. Fifth, on-site preparation requires extra equipment, such as a slicer, vegetable cutter, and/or meat grinder or cutter-mixer.

Ready-to-use Toppings

Ready-to-use vegetable toppings include all forms of frozen, dehydrated, and canned products, as well as diced and sliced fresh products. Fresh products are usually packed in either gas-flushed or vacuum-sealed poly bags.

Meat toppings include sliced and diced ham and pepper­oni, raw ground beef and pork sausage with the spices mixed in, and pre-cooked bacon, ground beef and pork sausage chunks, sized for pizza application.

ADVANTAGES. As with other processed ingredi­ents, the main advantage of ready-to-use toppings is the elim­ination of on-site preparation drawbacks. To summa­rize, there’s no work, no mess, no labor—which usually results in lower labor cost. Second, there’s fewer mis­takes and no chance of waste from poor preparation methods. Third, the product is usually more consistent than that prepared on-site (however, that depends on the supplier as well as the on-site preparation methods employed). Fourth, there’s no raw meat to handle and no pre-cooking to deal with. Finally, there’s less equip­ment required—no slicer is needed.

DRAWBACKS. The main objection to ready-to-use toppings is higher food cost. However, in making a cost comparison, total cost should be used—includ­ing labor cost, cost of mistakes, and cost of equip­ment. And, as already mentioned, when figuring the cost per pound of unprocessed ingredients, be sure to figure it on finished weight or final yield, not purchased weight.

Other potential drawbacks of ready-to-use toppings include “unfresh” appearance of pre-cooked meats and lack of differentiation from the competition.

In conclusion, ready-to-use toppings are generally of good quality, or at least acceptable. As a result they’ve been growing in popularity.

 

Many pizzeria owners and owners-to-be believe there is one best type of pizza and pizza preparation system. How­ever there is no one best crust formula, mixing method, sauce recipe, pizza-making proce­dure, baking method, or anything else pertaining to pizza. Rather, what is best is what works best for a particular pizzeria or pizza company. And that varies from pizzeria to pizzeria and region to region. In short, going with fresh, unprocessed ingredients is not necessarily better than going with ready-to-use ingredients, and vice versa. The best system is the one that comes closest to achieving your business goals.

To decide which options are best for your pizza business, consider seven factors:

  1.   Customers’ product expectations and percep­tions.

  2.   Space availability.

  3.   Start-up budget.

  4.   Operating costs.

  5.   Investment cost.

  6.   Flexibility requirements.

  7.   Labor and management availability.

Customer’s Product Expectations & Perceptions

Don’t assume that everyone likes fresh ingredients best. Some people do; others don’t care; and still others prefer the flavor of processed foods over fresh because processed food is what they grew up on. Before selecting an ingredient try all varieties and brands and, if possi­ble, have other people, including potential customers, try them, too.

From a quality standpoint, the best food is not necessar­ily the one that’s the freshest, or the one that contains the costliest ingredients. Rather, it’s the one that your customers prefer most. That may or may not be the freshest or the costliest. You should also ask the ques­tion: “Can I gain marketing lever­age or competitive advantage by claiming that I use ‘secret recipes and freshly-prepared ingredi­ents?’” If so, then processing your own ingredients takes on added value.

The key questions are: Which type of ingredient will most of my customers prefer? And which type, if any, will give me greatest competitive advantage?

Space Availability

In many pizzerias space isn’t a critical factor—there’s room for a mixer, slicer, work table, 3-compartment sink, and so forth. However, in a few operations there’s barely enough room for an oven and pizza-making counter. In other words, a mixer and slicer won’t fit. In these situa­tions lack of space dictates the use of frozen dough or parbaked crust and other ready-to-use ingredients.

Start-up Budget

A mixer and slicer can cost thousands of dollars. In most cases a budding pizzeria owner can raise the financ­ing. However sometimes it simply can’t be afforded. In these situations lack of funds might dictate the use of frozen dough or parbaked crust and other ready-to-use ingredients.

Operating Costs

Generally, unprocessed ingredients cost less than ready-to-use, but ready-to-use require less labor. So in compar­ing the operating cost of unprocessed vs. ready-to-use ingredients, consider the combined food and labor cost, or the cost of the food plus the cost of labor to process it. With this approach some pizze­rias will find it most economical to use unprocessed food, while others will find ready-to-use is cheapest. How it turns out depends, in large part, on the average hourly wage, the amount of preparation time required, and the amount of preparation done by owner or salaried manager. Prepa­ration time depends on the type of equipment that’s used and the amount of training and supervi­sion the staff receives.

Investment Cost

In addition to food and labor cost, also factor in the investment cost of equipment used for processing and storing the food. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that equipment depreciates at 10 percent per year. So, take 10 percent of the equipment cost (for mixer, slicer, freezer, etc.) and spread it over 52 weeks. To determine the true cost of food, add that to the weekly food and labor cost of prepar­ing unprocessed ingredients.

Flexibility Requirements

Do you desire the freedom to tinker with recipes, make enhancements to your product, and create special menu items now and then? If so, you’ll probably need to go with on-site preparation because you can’t easily change ready-to-use products except by switching brands.

Labor and Management Availability

Is food prep labor readily available? Will there be a manager available to train and supervise food prepara­tion staff? If the answer to those two questions is no, then you’ll want to seriously consider ready-to-use ingredi­ents. On the other hand, if food prep labor is available and training and supervision is not a problem, then processing your own ingredients might be preferred.

IN CONCLUSION, before opening a pizzeria you must first determine what ingredients the pizza will be created from—unprocessed or ready-to-use. Then you must decide what type of pizza you will sell and, if it’s a fresh dough pizza, the process that will be used for making the dough.

 

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