Dough making for new to the scene pizza delivery in UK

[Camillig]

Hi,

I am looking to establish a pizza delivery service in a UK town that has not yet been overcome by a corporate concern. There is already a pizza delivery service but it is crap! They use pre-made frozen bases and their toppings leave customers wishing there was a decent provider able to deliver the goods. I make my own home made pizzas, but clearly my current method would not be suitable for commercial purposes.

I have read elswhere that pre-made fresh dough is the way-ahead, but I would love to hear from any established experts out there.

Cheers Rich

[OnlyBleedinMassive]

Hi there, i've just opened a place in dublin.  I would advise you not to go pre made, not even to buy your dough in, what you need to do (starting out) is to keep your costs to a complete minimum.  Buy yourself a planetry mixer, at a catering auction, hilditchauctions.co.uk (i think), you'll get one there for cheap as chips.  Get yourself a 40ltr Hobart, (workhorse) and experiment with the dough receipes on this site.  this is what i did. Only operating a few days, and the punters love it!

best of luck

[pizzanapoletana]

Yes no pre-made.....

Fresh dough only, however forget about a planetary mixer: It is not good for dough making. 

Ciao

[Buffalo]

Pizzanapoletana;
If not a planetary mixer,  what would you recommend for mixing LARGE batches of
pizza dough?
Buffalo

[pizzanapoletana]

The planetary mixer is ONLY good for Pastry making, in details wisking the egg white and making shortcrust pastry!!!

There are various types of mixer more suitable for dough making.

In Europe (but UK) you won't see a planetary mixer in a bakery or pizzeria operations

[OnlyBleedinMassive]

Sorry pizzanapoletana,

I actually got mine from a baker in dublin, and a very successful one at that.  If your starting out, and you want a workhorse, you should get one, and put the remainder of your energy in to the toppings.  I'd like to know what you would suggest otherwise?  I'm not having a go, but when you set up a joint, you want something to do the major dog work, so that you can focus on the other stuff.

look forward to hearing from you.

[chiguy]

 Hi OnlybleedinMassive,
just curious what style of pizza are you making over there in Ireland? And who or what are the punters?  chiguy

[pizzanapoletana]

Sorry pizzanapoletana,

I actually got mine from a baker in dublin, and a very successful one at that.  If your starting out, and you want a workhorse, you should get one, and put the remainder of your energy in to the toppings.  I'd like to know what you would suggest otherwise?  I'm not having a go, but when you set up a joint, you want something to do the major dog work, so that you can focus on the other stuff.

look forward to hearing from you.

OK UK and EIRE...

I never say that a mixer was not needed, just the the planetary one was not the most suitable to dough making.

Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy etc....

Use different mixers, and more appropriate one.

I did not say that you did not need a mixer, but technically the action of the planetary mixer is not ideal for dough making. For bakeries work there 3 more suitable models that are still work horses.... Diving Arms, Fork and Spiral...


Sorry, but with go or without, your points do not make sense to me....

The dough and the topping are both important, and the dough more as for the topping you only need to buy top quality ingredients while is the dough that get full preparation in HOUSE.

Ciao

[Repguy]

If you actually worked in a pizza shop you could defend your position. BleedinMassive actually works in a pizza shop and mixes dough in a planatery mixer and does well AND makes sense.  Two things you do not.  Or tell us where your pizza shop is located? 

[scott r]

repguy, why do you think that someone has to own a pizza shop to be an expert on making pizza?  I don't understand this point you keep trying to bring up.  Is it not possible that someone could actually study and make pizza every day at home and actually end up more knowledgable than someone who is running a business?

[David]

If you actually worked in a pizza shop you could defend your position. BleedinMassive actually works in a pizza shop and mixes dough in a planatery mixer and does well AND makes sense.  Two things you do not.  Or tell us where your pizza shop is located? 

So you agree Marco does well and makes sense.Glad to see we're finally on the same page.

[OnlyBleedinMassive]

Ok, a few questions to respond to.

Chiguy, punters are customers.

I'm making new York style pizzas,  they are between 22 - 24 inches in diameter, selling them as slices,

You'd swear i was putting heroin on them - the punters just keep coming back, which is great.  There is only two of us running the place, i do all prep and all cooking.  Other guy does front of house.

I do feel that if you are making a few batches of dough daily, you will definitely get to know the dough.  How long to let it rise, what sort of oil to use, electric/gas, yes all of these factors and many,many more will effect your end result.

Anyway, with regards to the #*%$ planetry mixer, if you can get your hands on one cheap, cheap, do so.  All i was asking pizzanapoletana was what are the brand names and model types of the mixers she/he would recommend because i'd like to go and research them, maybe even give them a taste drive, and obviously to see how it effects my dough. 

These things don't come cheap, the planetry mixer we got was €500.00, ($625.00) which was a bargain.  But it's small, 25 ltrs, so Camillig, when your setting this thing up and you want your first few batches to taste great, do an awful lot of practicing around with dough, with temperatures, with idy, cake yeast, etc, . 

The first customers that walk in to your place, you want them to absolutely rave about your pizza.  When you think that you are nearly there, get your mates around, crack open a few bottles of vino, and ask them for their honest opinion. 

Check out www.hilditchauctions.co.uk (i think), i bought my Bakers Pride oven there and shipped it back.  I got it for a song, they will do mixers. 

And if pizzanapoletana gets back to us with some brand names and model types, you could keep an eye out for them. 

You can get on their mailing list, they do a catering auction twice a month, and are very pleasant people to deal with, i have dealt with a woman there called Gina Cassidy.

Hope some, any or all of this is of help,

Go gently.

[evilal]

I'm making new York style pizzas,  they are between 22 - 24 inches in diameter, selling them as slices,

You'd swear i was putting heroin on them - the punters just keep coming back, which is great.  There is only two of us running the place, i do all prep and all cooking.  Other guy does front of house.

OBM... where is your place and what's it called? It's very hard to get decent pizza in Dublin (apart from Botticellis) so tell me where you are and I promise to become a regular customer!

Alex

[Camillig]

Hi there, i've just opened a place in dublin.  I would advise you not to go pre made, not even to buy your dough in, what you need to do (starting out) is to keep your costs to a complete minimum.  Buy yourself a planetry mixer, at a catering auction, hilditchauctions.co.uk (i think), you'll get one there for cheap as chips.  Get yourself a 40ltr Hobart, (workhorse) and experiment with the dough receipes on this site.  this is what i did. Only operating a few days, and the punters love it!

best of luck

[Camillig]

Hi,

Thanks for your response, will give what you say a go, it will be a great start for me!
Will keep you informed of my progress.

Cheers Rich.

[Pete-zza]

Rich,

Can you tell us which recipes from the forum you have been using? I was wondering what the punters like there in Dublin.

Peter

[OnlyBleedinMassive]

Hi Peter,

It is actually unbelievable the amount of work you have put into pizzamaking.com, i see your posts everywhere.  So, first off a big Thank You.

We have been really testing our market, through diferent periods throughout the day.  We are trying to cater for the Breakfast (Not with pizza, with an other product!!), lunch(12 noon - 2.30pm), dinner (5-8pm), Supper (9-11pm), and then the mad yokes plastered on drink market 1am - 5.30am.

We have kept it very simple initially, we're just doing a plain slice, peperoni slice and cheese and mushroom slice, we do a gourmet slice for the lunch time trade. 

As i said this is really a testing period.  The main thing is that people really, really like this stuff.  So now that we are over the very serious hurdle of getting what we feel is the right dough mix, and getting the right response from our bakers pride, gas oven, we now have an open book with regards to toppings.

The slices are new york, we really want to keep it like that, for the night time pisshead trade - it just keeps it simple for them and us!!!!!!!

But lunch time is another story - any suggestions for feeding the suits (professionals) would be great.

Anyway, thanks again, some of your tips and suggestions have gone into our dough, so a piece of you is over here.

Go gently.

P.S. My name is not rich, although i wish i was

[Ronzo]

OBM,

Good luck with your shop, brother. If I'm ever in Dublin, I'd love to come to your place and give you some business.