Pizza Tossing

[Sour_Jax]

I am absolutely befuddled.  I want to learn about Pizza Tossing and all I can find is sites about the Pizza Tossing Championships and a seemingly rather large recipe for Acrobatic Dough.  But I can't really find step by step detailed instructions on tossing dough, the closest tutorials I can find are fairly vague.

Any chance I overlooked a website or other source?

Thanks in advance.

Sour Jack

[Pete-zza]

Sour Jack,

The large size acrobatic dough recipe can be handled fairly easily (I am now in the process of downsizing it and will report the details later today in response to your post on the subject). Dough spinning comes with time and experience. Like you, I have not found much in the way of detail on the subject through Google searches. Have you looked at the threads on this forum that deal with dough shaping and tossing?

A technique you might consider until you find a more suitable method is one that was advocated by fellow member Road Pizza to pizza workers he trained. It makes use of a square towel. The post is at Reply #5 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,223.msg1791/topicseen.html#msg1791.

I suspect you may have already seen the taunton piece on dough shaping. Again, it doesn't have a lot of detail, but if you haven't yet seen it I can give you the link.

Peter

[Sour_Jax]

Wow that's almost exactly what I've been looking for, thanks.

Sour Jack

[giotto]

Sour-Jax:

I don't know why there are 2 threads on this.  But I'll be happy to state the realities here as well.

I have gotten to know Tony Gemignani through his pizzeria and have great respect for him.  What they have on PMQ is not to be confused with the real thing, including Tony's restaurant or competition recipe.  And as you suggest, there is SO much more to handling dough than making the stuff.  Tony has taken his team out of PMQ.

Here's the real thing, it's called PRO DOUGH. It includes an excellent DVD and it's not made of Plastic. It can't be since Tony continues to use it himself for training and while in hotel rooms and travelling while awaiting competitions. http://www.prodoughusa.com/tony_gemignani.html

A leather basketball doesn't teach you to play the game.  Technique is a rare thing to learn, and Tony's video will teach it to you in tossing.  There is a reason why I have no problem with dough ripping, while others do.  Tony created PRO DOUGH himself and the DVD shows how to properly handle dough in order not to rip it.  When he walks you through how you should really toss dough (Reinhart's example in American Pie is a prime example of how NOT to do it), along with several tricks, you'll have a greater appreciation for how dough should be handled when not on a board. 

Every day, Tony perfoms outstanding tricks while making each dough for his customers.  This requires very special handling techniques without ripping the dough (he'll spin it like a basketball among other handling techniques for a couple of minutes before laying it down for toppings).  Only for championships does he modify his real recipe.

I have taught several people with Tony's PRO DOUGH, and his material which simulates real dough has a huge advantage over dough when first learning.  Not only do you not have to worry with it; but you learn from the 5x world champion (and recent national team champion with objective judges like Mario Batalli) how best to handle dough in the air.

[Perk]

Sour-Jax:

Here's the real thing, it's called PRO DOUGH. It includes an excellent DVD and it's not made of Plastic. It can't be since Tony continues to use it himself for training and while in hotel rooms and travelling while awaiting competitions. http://www.prodoughusa.com/tony_gemignani.html

A leather basketball doesn't teach you to play the game.  Technique is a rare thing to learn, and Tony's video will teach it to you in tossing.  There is a reason why I have no problem with dough ripping, while others do.  Tony created PRO DOUGH himself and the DVD shows how to properly handle dough in order not to rip it.  When he walks you through how you should really toss dough (Reinhart's example in American Pie is a prime example of how NOT to do it), along with several tricks, you'll have a greater appreciation for how dough should be handled when not on a board. 

Every day, Tony perfoms outstanding tricks while making each dough for his customers.  This requires very special handling techniques without ripping the dough (he'll spin it like a basketball among other handling techniques for a couple of minutes before laying it down for toppings).  Only for championships does he modify his real recipe.

I have taught several people with Tony's PRO DOUGH, and his material which simulates real dough has a huge advantage over dough when first learning.  Not only do you not have to worry with it; but you learn from the 5x world champion (and recent national team champion with objective judges like Mario Batalli) how best to handle dough in the air.

I am seriously thinking about getting Tony's practice pie and DVD's.
http://www.prodoughusa.com/
I mean seriously why not learn from the BEST!

And Good thing I didn't try out Reinhart's tossing technique in American Pie!

[Shin]

Hi
Are there any pizza tossing video clips out there?

I spotted a link on another thread (A16) with a video link but it was broken.

I just wanted to see a clip of the eerrr tossing technique  - no pun intended.

[PizzaDanPizzaMan]

See Peter's link above in reply #1.

[RoadPizza]

Sour Jack,

The large size acrobatic dough recipe can be handled fairly easily (I am now in the process of downsizing it and will report the details later today in response to your post on the subject). Dough spinning comes with time and experience. Like you, I have not found much in the way of detail on the subject through Google searches. Have you looked at the threads on this forum that deal with dough shaping and tossing?

A technique you might consider until you find a more suitable method is one that was advocated by fellow member Road Pizza to pizza workers he trained. It makes use of a square towel. The post is at Reply #5 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?board=5%3baction=display%3bthreadid=223%3bstart=msg1815.

I suspect you may have already seen the taunton piece on dough shaping. Again, it doesn't have a lot of detail, but if you haven't yet seen it I can give you the link.

Peter

Actually, I now use a wet 3-ply towel that's sewn together