These are the other pictures that I had time to take from yesterday and a few more comments.
I only weighed the AMPI mild white cheddar and the mozzarella blend for one of the Buddy’s clones I made yesterday for a cheese pizza, but that weight was 6 ounces. That was enough cheeses for a Buddy’s clone in my opinion to have enough melted cheese on the top and also have the caramelized edges. I don’t think I am not using as much cheeses on my Buddy’s clones as Buddy’s does, unless they also use less cheese on some of their pizzas from freehanding the cheese.
I think, but am not sure right now, that I do like MFB shortening better than Canola oil to oil the steel pans. The dough presses out very easily using either and also browns the same on the bottom crust, but somehow the dough balls seem easier to press out using the MFB shortening. The one dough ball that I didn’t oil with olive oil I couldn’t even find. I didn’t mark it, but all the dough balls in the steel pans with the processing caps on stayed moist on the dough balls and while tempering.
I used the mild Widmer’s brick cheese on the one pepperoni and cheese pizza yesterday. It can be seen how yellow that mild brick cheese was. When Steve and I tasted it plain before the bake it was good, but nothing special. When the Widmer’s brick cheese was baked on the pepperoni pizza it had the best flavors, being it was very buttery and the cheese did stretch very well. If I had access to Widmer’s mild brick cheese and it was a decent price I would use that brick cheese for my Buddy’s clone pizzas. Steve and I both did agree that Widmer’s brick cheese is very good, even though the brick cheese is yellowier in color. The edges using the Widmer’s brick cheese didn’t caramelize the same in color, but that was okay because they still were crispy and tasty.
I didn’t have time yesterday and ran out of dough balls yesterday before had a chance to try Jeff’s aged brick cheese and Widmer’s aged brick cheese. Hopefully next week I can try them.
Jim, the manager of the Old Mill Antique and Flea Market really likes Pete-zza’s TexItaliano pizza. He said the flavors of everything blend so well together and the taste of that Buddy‘s clone pizza is perfect to him. Jim purchased a few slices of it yesterday and gave one slice to Finky the french fry man. Finky then came and ordered a large Pete-zza’s TexItaliano for next week later in the day. This week I used red and yellow diced sweet peppers along with the jalapenos. The meat balls I get from my foodservice provider are very good. They are already precooked, but I heat them up in the deck oven for a little to get better flavor out of them and then put them in the pizza prep fridge before slicing the meatballs. Steve has the pictures on his camera that he said he is going to post of the one 8-square Pete-zza’s TexItaliano pizza that shows how much higher in height that crust was at the edges and center of the pizza. As I posted last evening I wonder why that pizza got so high in height when I used 19 ounces of dough and the tempered dough didn’t look any more fermented than other Buddy’s clones I made yesterday. Steve and I both wondered how that happened. The one Pete-zza’s TexItaliano Buddy’s clone I am posting pictures of did have the sauce applied under the veggies, but the one Steve is going to post pictures of does have the sauce applied on top of all the other dressings. I think I prefer the sauce applied on top.
None of the doughs when tempered in the Hatco Unit (the same time as last week) didn’t look as fermented before adding the dressings. A few doughs in the steel pans were pulled out of the Hatco Unit and just let at room temperature until I had time to dress them and then do the final bake.
On the cheese and pepperoni Buddy’s clones made yesterday the pepperoni was put on in the last 4 minutes of the bake. That seems to bake the pepperoni okay without browning it too much.
I didn’t know how Steve prepared his Mesquite chicken for his Marco Pollo Buddy’s clone last week, so I just made a Ev’s Marco Pollo this week with white breast chicken and Frank’s hot sauce and added celery and dressed with Ken’s chunky blue cheese after the bake. The white breast meat was fried in butter.
These Buddy’s clone pizzas are very easy to dress and then put into the oven after the dough is tempered in the Hatco Unit. The bake time doesn’t seem as critical as when making other pizzas. I still am having problems with having different toppings Buddy’s clone pizzas ready for customers though.
One good thing was the AMPI mild white cheddar in the 5 lb. block did go down by .35 a lb. this week, but who knows what will happen the weeks to follow.
Norma
