Rural Area Pizza Place

[MrandMrsca]

We are opening a pizza place on March 23.  We are keeping things pretty basic as is.  I have several questions to ask about getting the best product out their.

We make our own dough.  How long can it be refridgerated before it is no good?  Can it be frozen if not used?
How much topping do you put on a 12" pizza?
We are looking to acquire the same type of bacon that pizza hut uses but not sure what it is called or where to obtain it.  We are from Canada, Manitoba to be exact.  It seems to be grinded or something.  Hope someone can help me with this...
How long would you par cook your crust for take and bake?  I might make that an option for some people as our nearest neighbors are 1/2 mile away...

Thank you in advance.

Sandra & Colin

[chiguy]

 Sandra&Colin,
First off you should be scaling ingrediants and using bakers %. A retarded dough with .25-.75%IDY with a finished dough temperatures between72-84F can be held for 3 days. The higher the yeast % and higher the finished dough temperature the shorter the life of the dough.
The yeast percent and finished dough temperature are the most important for consistent results. A common finished dough temp for retarded dough is 80F.
The take-n-bakes dough  require a stricter formula and process. A lower yeast amount(.25-.25%) is used with finished dough temperatures of (72-80F).
Also special baking trays with instructions should also be included as well as different price structures. There is a take-n-bake pizza in Chicago called Home Baked Pizza that uses parchment paper instead of baking trays. to my knowledge take-n-bake crust are usually not parbaked.    Chiguy

[bodegahwy]

We have done take and bake now for over 8 years.  We do not par bake.  We use 2 1/2 ounces of cake yeast with 25 lbs of flour and cold water.  The dough is still warm when it comes out of the mixer so it goes into cross stacked trays in the walk-in right away.  2 days is no problem.  The dough is usable on the third day, but not ideal.