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[RoadPizza]

One of the managers was able to take a picture of the Chicago-Style Cheesesteak yesterday.

[bhummel]

Just my observation, but some SERIOUS man handling/over working of the dough is hurting your final product in my opinion. The whole dough "mold" thing to me is frankly another symptom of lazy Americanism hurting a craft art. I would never allow such a thing when training but thats just me.

[Matthew]

Just my observation, but some SERIOUS man handling/over working of the dough is hurting your final product in my opinion. The whole dough "mold" thing to me is frankly another symptom of lazy Americanism hurting a craft art. I would never allow such a thing when training but thats just me.

Are you seeing something that the rest of us don't see because the final product looks fine to me.  That's a pretty arrogant statement to make considering you have yet to post any photos of your masterpieces.

Matt

[RoadPizza]

Just my observation, but some SERIOUS man handling/over working of the dough is hurting your final product in my opinion. The whole dough "mold" thing to me is frankly another symptom of lazy Americanism hurting a craft art. I would never allow such a thing when training but thats just me.

Training takes a long time and the pizza mold is a means to an end.  It takes about 6 months to 1 year for a pizza maker to become good. We can train just about anyone to make pizza in 2 weeks with a pizza mold, but that 6 month to 1 year investment is an incredibly dicey gamble (specially in a country in the Southeast Asia where pizza making is not part of the culture as it would be in Italy or the US) when workers can leave you for another job abroad.  Most of our veteran pizza makers can make pizza without a mold and many prefer to because they can make a pizza much faster without one.  A pizza mold is a great help for those who aren't very good yet (in that 6 month to 1 year range), because it helps to build up their confidence handling dough.  And pizza making is pretty much about confidence and repetition.

Though we use pizza screens, I still make a point of teaching the better pizza makers how to use a wooden peel to put a pizza directly on the brick.  If they take their craft seriously, I'll teach them more and more (even if I know I would eventually lose them because of it).  

We like to think of pizza making as a craft (and it is).  But there's also a business side to it.  Not everyone who works for you will look at pizza making as an art.  Most see it as a means to an end: a better job, better pay.  Not everyone who picks up a piece of dough will treat it with the respect it deserves.  You have to teach it to them.  And even when you do, some won't care and will never care.  Some, thankfully, will.  And sometimes, it's just very hard to find those people, because they see pizza just as fast food or mall fare.  But even when you can't find great pizza makers, you still have to make do with the people you have.  And the pizza mold helps a lot.  Don't demean it because you don't understand it.

I included those pictures of the pizza mold in use because there are forum members who are interested in seeing the mold.

[Pete-zza]

The Sbarro and Papa Gino's chains both use pizza molds, so they must see some value in using them. The last numbers I saw, Sbarro owns or franchises almost 1000 stores in about 40 countries. Papa Gino's has about 170 stores, all of them in the U.S. (the Northeast). I have seen the use of the molds in both companies.

Peter

[Pete-zza]

RoadPizza,

What surprised me the most in this thread was the Chicago style deep-dish pizza. I would expect to see such a pizza in the U.S. but not in the Philippines. In the U.S., it is common to see the same dough used to make both thin and deep-dish pizzas. Do you do the same, or do you make a separate dough for the deep-dish? I would think that the deep-dish pizza would be a novelty in the Philippines. How have customers reacted to it?

Peter

[RoadPizza]

RoadPizza,

What surprised me the most in this thread was the Chicago style deep-dish pizza. I would expect to see such a pizza in the U.S. but not in the Philippines. In the U.S., it is common to see the same dough used to make both thin and deep-dish pizzas. Do you do the same, or do you make a separate dough for the deep-dish? I would think that the deep-dish pizza would be a novelty in the Philippines. How have customers reacted to it?

Peter

I realize that this might be a little sacreligious, but we use the same dough for the NY and Chicago pizzas (because it's in the recipe book).  However, we use a LOT of butter in the deep-dish pan and we use a different sauce for it.  I also make a chocolate calzone (my own recipe) with our dough and you would never think that it was the same dough if you tasted it.

You're right.  It was/is a novelty.  We just happened to try it because no one else in the country was making a pizza that large (and we were already known for our large portions/slices).  We didn't expect it to do well, because of the higher price point (around $3.50/slice) in a country where the minimum daily wage is around $7.00/day.  However, it has done exceptionally well - it is our best selling item nationwide (because there is a lot of value for money in it) and it is widely copied by the competition (google Pizza Hut's Lasagna Pizza and Greenwich's new Pizzas for Men).

[RoadPizza]

I finally got a real photographer to take a picture of the Chicago-Style Cheesesteak.

[TXCraig1]

I couldn't resist bringing this post back to the subject of Pizza w/ Arugula. It is a perennial favorite at our house. We top ours with fresh mozzarella and halved grape tomatoes before it goes in the oven then layer on the prosciutto, dressed arugula, and some grated Parmigiano after it comes out. We toss the arugula with a light dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic ground to a paste with sea salt, and freshly crushed black pepper before putting it on the pizza.

[pizzablogger]

TxCraig.....looks tasty on this end....nice!

Thanks for posting and now I'm hungy