Frozen Dough Balls

[mikeybmullen]

Newbie at pizza, trying to make frozen dough balls in a small factory.  Any tips?

[Pete-zza]

mikeybmullen,

You might want to post your question in the Ask the Dough Doctor board since making frozen dough balls in a commercial setting is quite a bit different than in a home setting, mainly because of the equipment needed to freeze the dough balls. You might also register and post your questions at the PMQ Think Tank at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewforum.php?f=6. You might want to specify the volume of dough balls you want to make.

Peter

[The Dough Doctor]

I will also need to know what kind of shelf life you are looking for with your frozen dough balls. The main questions are:
1) How many dough balls do you want to make per 8-hour production day.
2) How many dough balls do you project yourself as needing in 3 to 5-years (this should be in your 5-year plan).
3) What kind of shelf life (days, weeks, months) do you want to have?

Keep in mind that there can be a big difference in equipment cost between 10 to 12-days and 3-months.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[mikeybmullen]

We will be using about 200lbs of flour in a day.
We don't really have a 5 year plan, as we  are primarily a pasta factory, so for now we will be using the equipment we have:
a Hobart 140QT mixer and a conical rounder.
We also have a large walk-in freezer and numerous bun racks.

The customer uses frozen buns which are packed in unsealed poly bags. They make a thin crust pizza in a wood/coal fired oven.
I believe the sizes are 7, 10, and 20 oz, made with bleached flour.  Also the same basic dough with a multi-grain mix added.

What is the difference in process and ingredients between product with 10 day and 90 day shelf life?

Really appreciate your help in this.