Little Caesars Dough Recipe?

[IlliniPizza]

Hi,

I know this website tends to focus more on the famous mom & pop style pizzas, then the big chain restaurant pizzas.

But Little Caesars Pizza has been one of my favorites.

Little Caesars sauce recipe has been plastered all over the internet, and is an excellent recipe.

But their dough recipe has been elusive.  I made the NY style recipe from the recipe page of this website, and accidently used 1 tablespoon oil instead of 1 teaspoon, and it reminded me of the flavor of Little Caesars.

My very 1st job was at a little caesars pizza restaurant, and of the chain pizzas its been my favorite ever since.  Quite a few stores have disappeared over the years, but are still pretty abundant.

I figure with all the great minds out their we could crack the recipe pretty easily.  Here is what I remember from working at Little Caesars.  I wish I had paid more attention.

Dough:
           
                      Large Bags of Hi-Gluten Flour (Unknown Brand)
                      Large Bottles of Vegetable Oil, I don't recall Olive Oil (Someone with better tastebuds then me might know which they use)
                      24hr. Rise - No proof boxes, Dough Balls were put on Uncovered Freezer Trays, and put in the cooler, a crust would form on the top of the dough after 8 hrs. or so.
                     
Preparation:  

                       The next day, dough balls were taken out of the cooler, and punched down on a well floured table, and then sheeted through a dough sheeter.  Dough was then stretched and tossed by hand and placed into a 2inch deep black, hard coat pan covered in yellow cornmeal.  Pans were never oiled.  Cornmeal Only.
                       A pan rise would occur depending on demand, but wasn't a necessity.
                       Sauce was then applied directly to the dough, no oil applied to the dough.
                       Cheese was a blend, Mozzarella & Something Else (I don't think it was provolone)
                       Pizza was cooked at 800 degrees on a conveyor oven for 6-7 minutes

FAQS

                       Crazy bread was just a medium pizza, cut into 8 slices.
                       Garlic Butter and Parmasean Cheese were applied.
                         
             
I wasn't privy to much of the actually dough making, I think most everything was pre-packaged, so I doubt even the doughmakers knew all that much, but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Randy]

This should get you close.  Just add use your directions

16 oz High Gluten Flour (3 scoupped and leveled cups of flour)

9.7  oz Water by weight(warm 120deg.  F)

2 TBS   sugar

1 TBS Honey

1 Tablespoon  Classico Olive Oil

2  Teaspoon Salt

1 package instant yeast

Mix flour and salt.  Put yeast and half the flour in the mixer.  Mix the sugar and honey into the hot water.  Pour mixture into bowl and place mixer using dough hook on stir for about 2 minutes.  Stop mixer. Add Olive oil and the rest of the flour, then set mixer to knead.  Knead for 6  minutes stop mixer for 5 minutes then start mixer back on knead speed for 6 more minutes.  If the dough is sticking to the bottom of the bowl add a tablespoon of flour or more until the dough patch beneath the ball is say the size of a silver dollar.  You may need to add water.  Finish knead on a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball  Place in the refrigerator in a lightly sealed container coated with olive oil. for overnight up to three days.

Remove 3  hours before panning
Remove from the fridge and either divide dough in half on a slightly wet marble or counter for two 12" pizzas or leave whole for one somewhat thicker 16" pizza.  Work each piece of dough into balls with wet hands.   

.
If using screens Preheat oven to 500 deg F  Mix together an equal mixture of Semolina, flour and cornmeal.  Liberally coat the dough ball and marble with the mixture. Shape dough and place on pizza screen and add what you want. Cook for 6-8 minutes on lowest rack in oven and WITHOUT a pizza stone.

[justininiono]

Hello, I was a district manager for Little Caesars' for 4 years when I was younger.  I'll fill you in on what I remember.  The flour is indeed high gluten and used to be supplied commercially by King Arthur.  You can buy it retail as Sir Lancelot high gluten flour via the internet.  The oil used is soybean.  The yeast packets contain a blend of active dry yeast, sugar and salt, although I do not know the exact proportions.  The dough is proofed in the walk in cooler for a minimum of 8 hours but may be used up to 72 hours later.  It is sheeted mechanically but you can easily use a rolling pin at home. The dough should ideally rise in the pan for at least 1/2 hour before preparing.  If not you run the risk of huge air bubbles forming during cooking.  The ovens run at about 425 and the pizza cooks for 7 minutes.  That's all I can remember for now. 

[bloop_9]

What do you use for Little Caesars sauce recipe? I haven't found anything on the internet. I worked there too, and I remember a regular sauce base, and some prepackaged seasonings which were maybe salt, sugar and white pepper (?).

[IlliniPizza]

This is the Little Caesars Sauce Recipe that has been circulating the internet, and the one I use.  It is very, very close if not dead on.

When I make the sauce, I tend to use Dei Fratelli's Unsalted Puree, and skip the water.

The dough recipe Steve posted earlier is excellent.  The dough texture is as I remember, and stretches easily.

Little Caesar's Pizza Sauce

1 12 ounce can Hunts tomato paste
1−1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon Accent (optional−−−but if you want it exact, use it.)

Pre−mix the dry ingredients, mix, and set aside. In a small saucepan,
combine tomato paste and water. Over medium high heat, bring to a simmer.
Add the pre−mixed spice, stir in well. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 35−40
minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cover sauce and refrigerate until needed. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.
(4 − 12" pizzas)


Does anyone know if Little Caesars uses straight Mozzarella, or a cheese blend?  I can't tell.  I know the cheese doesn't reheat very easily. 

[justininiono]

Cheese blend is 2 thirds mozzarella, 1 third muenster.

[Snowman]

Okay, yeast packet is either 1,2,and 4 or 2,4, and 8.  First is ADY, second is salt, third is sugar (ounces).  I believe it was a 28 pound bag of flour, 8 ounces of oil.  The thick crust used 18 ounces of oil and a different flour.  Oh, and the water was 2 gallons of 105-110 temp. 

The cheese was two loaves of mozz and one round of Muenster.  However, I'm not sure that they loaves and rounds were the same weight.  I'm thinking it was 2 5 pound loaves and 1 8 pound round.  It's only been 15 years .

On the sauce, I can ASSURE you there is white pepper in it.  There's also black pepper, but the packet listed the ingredients, just not the portions. 

[IlliniPizza]

Thanks for all your help guys, I knew they used a cheese blend, and I was pretty positive it wasn't provolone.  It didn't taste like it.  Muenster.  I will give it a try this weekend.

justininiono, how close is the sauce recipe I posted.  The recipe posted was for dried spices. Does caesars use fresh spices?  Maybe for basil & oregano.  Caesar's seems to taste a little fresher then when I try to make it.  Does Caesar's use Hunts?  White Pepper?  I will give white pepper a shot, maybe splitting the quantity of black pepper in half, and adding an equal amount of white pepper. 

Have any of you tried Randy's American Style Recipe, it is very, very close.  I may replace the olive oil in his recipe and try soybean oil and see if I can tell a difference. 

On their breadsticks, do they use butter or margarine?  Is it straight grated parmasean or a blend?

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Snowman]

Breadsticks was margarine (I think 2 sticks and 3 cloves of garlic).  I remember having a guy prep it one day and he didn't know what a clove was, so he did BULBS.  WOW, that building may still smell of garlic .  The garlic is sliced thin, then put in the microwave (with the marg) until it melts.

The cheese is parm and kosher salt.  Ratio is long gone from my memory, but was certainly kosher salt.

[ihavezippers]

Hi, I am wondering for the pizza sauce recipe listed, what is the ingredient "Accent"?  I searched several grocers and food suppliers and could not find this mysterious substance.

[Pete-zza]

ihavezippers,

My recollection is that Accent is a brand name for monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Peter

[ihavezippers]

thanks petzza...i defintely know what MSG is (my wife is Chinese).
Thanks for the recommendation on the hi-gluton dough(I ended up getting Pendelton at the vender recommended to me in my earlier post)...tried my first pie tonight with it...the crust was very good, although I know I probably didn't get it exactly right.  The cheese blend listed for Papa Johns (earlier post) with 2 parts mozzerella 1 part muenster and was excellent. 
However, I wasn't too gung-ho about the sauce (also taken from the papa johns post)...it was extremely sweet and almost made me and my wife sick to our stomachs.  Aside from that though, I'm very thankful I've found this site and have substituted the regular flour for the hi-glutose stuff.

[Ronzo]

ihavezippers,

My recollection is that Accent is a brand name for monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Peter

http://www.bgfoods.com/accent/accent_index.asp

"Accent Flavor Enhancer"

[Perk]

Crazy Bread!! Man the memories!
That was the best! I remember getting the pizza and a bag of crazy bread.
eating the bread sticks first and then not really having any room left for the pizza.

I truly think Little Caesars  made bread sticks popular with the regular Joe franchise pizza place.
They were definitely the true king of Crazy Bread or bread sticks I should say.

[foodblogger]

I have fond memories of Little Ceasars Pizza.  One of my first professional gigs was the opening of the Little Ceasars Pizza in my hometown.  I had a short period where I made little money playing the drums.  Why they would hire a band I have no idea but I'm sure it was cheap because I only got paid $50 but the band leader always paid me less.  This weekend I am planning on an experiment with NY style pizza for the superbowl.  I think I will try a Little Ceasars as well.  I decided to pull a Pete-zza and switch the different dough recipes on this forum into baker's formulas.  Looking at Randy's Recipe I came up with:

Randy's Little Ceasar's Dough
Flour 100%
Water = 60.6%
Oil = 3.1 %
Sugar =6.3%
Honey = 3.1 %
Salt = 2.1%
Yeast = 1.6%

Snowman in a stealth way presents 4 recipes, depending on whether you use yeast package 1 or 2 and whether you are making thin or thick.  Here are Randy's recipes as baker's formulas.

Thin #1                              Thin #2                          Thick #1                    Thick #2
Flour = 100%                          Flour = 100%                 Flour = 100%             Flour = 100%
Water = 57.1%                      Water = 57.1%               Water = 57.1%          Water = 57.1%
Oil = 1.8%                              Oil = 1.8%                       Oil =  4.0%                Oil =  4.0%
Sugar = .89%                         Sugar = 1.8%                  Sugar = .89%          Sugar = 1.8%
Salt = .44%                            Salt = .89%                     Salt = .44%              Salt = .89%
Yeast = .22%                         Yeast = .45%                   Yeast = .22%            Yeast = .45%

[foodblogger]

Continueing further with my Pete-zza style calculations, I will calculate exactly what I need for a 12 inch pizza.  I have decided to go with Snowman Thin #2 because the yeast content seems about right for what I have been able to make work in a 24 hour cold fermentation.  Looking at the round pizza on the Little Ceasars website - http://www.littlecaesars.com/ I decided to use a thickness factor of .11.  I like to work in grams because my scale is accurate to 1 gram and I hate converting decimals into fractions (1/8 oz - 0.125 oz).  I'll also include the dough recipe for a 12 inch pie in ounces.  For a 12 inch pie you need 385 grams of dough (13.5oz)

Snowman's Thin #2 - 12 in pie
Flour = 238 grams (8.34 oz)
Water = 136 grams (4.77 oz)
Oil = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Salt = 2 grams (0.07 oz)
Sugar = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Yeast = 1 gram (0.035 oz)

[Pete-zza]

foodblogger,

Nice job. I'm impressed. Just wait until you try working with baker's percents and thickness factors for the deep-dish style with different pan depths .

I had forgotten that Randy had posted his version of a Little Caesars dough recipe until I stumbled across it recently when I was looking for something else. The LC version is almost identical to Randy's Papa John's version that I used to slim down Randy's American style except that the LC version has a bit more water. Your baker's percents are similar to what I calculated. Can you tell me how you calculated the baker's percents for the salt, sugar and honey?

I also noticed that you came up with four formulations based on the information provided by Snowman. Do you think it is possible that Snowman intended to provide information for only two formulations, one thick and one thin? In other words, the thin version would have 28 lbs. of flour, 1 oz. ADY, 2 oz. salt, 4 oz. sugar, 2 gal. water, and 8 oz. oil, and the thick version would have 28 lbs. of flour (a different flour), 2 oz. ADY, 4 oz. salt, 8 oz. sugar, 2 gal. water, and 18 oz. oil.

What struck me most from the Snowman data was the small amount of yeast and sugar in the LC formulations. I had speculated that it would be very difficult for a commercial operation to use a lot of yeast and sugar in a cold fermented dough because the dough balls would expand too quickly, use up a lot of real estate in the dough trays, and otherwise be more difficult to handle from a dough management standpoint. In a home setting, you can get away with using a lot of yeast and sugar because of the small amount of dough involved. I also suspected that a commercial operation the size of LC or PJ would not use honey because of cost and handling problems. I found that the honey was a worthwhile addition in a home version.

Peter

[foodblogger]

Can you tell me how you calculated the baker's percents for the salt, sugar and honey?

I used the conversion 1 T = 1/2 oz
1 t = 0.166 oz
For 1 package IDY yeast (I use Red Star IDY) I looked at the package and it is 1/4 oz per packet.

The tablespoon and teaspoon conversions are obviously a little subject to error because the density of sugar, salt and honey are different but its close enough for government work.

Do you think it is possible that Snowman intended to provide information for only two formulations, one thick and one thin? In other words, the thin version would have 28 lbs. of flour, 1 oz. ADY, 2 oz. salt, 4 oz. sugar, 2 gal. water, and 8 oz. oil, and the thick version would have 28 lbs. of flour (a different flour), 2 oz. ADY, 4 oz. salt, 8 oz. sugar, 2 gal. water, and 18 oz. oil.

Certainly one way to look at it.  If that is the case then the correct formulations would be Snowman Thin #1 and Snowman Thick #2.  I was just assuming that he remembered that the yeast/sugar/salt came in packets and he couldn't remember if it was 1,2,4 or 2,4,8.

I had speculated that it would be very difficult for a commercial operation to use a lot of yeast and sugar in a cold fermented dough because the dough balls would expand too quickly, use up a lot of real estate in the dough trays, and otherwise be more difficult to handle from a dough management standpoint. In a home setting, you can get away with using a lot of yeast and sugar because of the small amount of dough involved.

Excellent point.  I first got turned on to using smaller amounts of yeast when I read 'The Bread Baker's Apprentice.'  I never thought of lower yeast for commercial settings from the 'dough expansion vs. fridge space' standpoint. 

I also suspected that a commercial operation the size of LC or PJ would not use honey because of cost and handling problems. I found that the honey was a worthwhile addition in a home version.

Again, another excellent point.  When I was first working out my Gino's clone, I started doing all kinds of crazy things to turn the dough yellow, like grinding cornmeal and soaking it in oil/water etc.  The process I worked out made a tasty yellow pizza dough but it was way too complicated for a commercial operation.  One day I was trying to figure out how to make tandoori chicken and one of the ingredients was red food coloring.  It was like a bomb went off in my head.  Of course!  Yellow food coloring!  I simplified my recipe to one that you could actually make commercially by omitting the Rube Goldberg processing and adding yellow food coloring.  One of the things that people have to keep in mind when trying to duplicate the results of any commercial restaurant is that your final process can't too complicated for non-chefs to prepare.

[foodblogger]

I've decided to make a couple pizzas for the Superbowl on Sunday.  I am going to make up the doughs tonight.  One is going to be a pizza I have been working on by modifying the DOC guidelines a bit so that I can make it at home and to be more in line with my own personal tastes.  The other is a stab at a Little Ceasars style pizza.  I have been pouring over the forums here and I have been intrigued by the processing method found in the Patsy's Pizza thread.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1053.280.html
I have decided to try that processing method with the Little Ceasars dough and the other pizza I have been working on lately.  I have included the final recipe/processing below, modified to make a 12 inch pizza.  I'll let you know how it turned out.

Snowman's Thin #2 Little Ceasar's
Flour = 238 grams (8.34 oz)
Water = 136 grams (4.77 oz)
Oil = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Salt = 2 grams (0.07 oz)
Sugar = 4 grams (0.14 oz)
Yeast = 1 gram (0.035 oz)

Preparing the Dough
1) Stir water and salt with spoon/whisk until dissolved in stand mixer bowl.
2) Add approximately half the flour first, then the yeast. Fit stand mixer with hook attachment.
3) Mix 60 seconds on stir to incorporate yeast.
4) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.
5) Mix on stir speed for 5 minutes, adding in remaining flour gradually over the 5 minute mix.
6) Mix on 2/3 for 5 minutes.
7) Check dough temperature with digital thermometer; it should be 80 degrees at the hook.
8- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 15 more minutes.
9) Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 2 minutes on lightly floured prep area.
10) Place dough into a bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap. Put in fridge for 72 hours.
11) After 72 hours, remove dough from fridge and carefully transfer to a well floured couche, cover with plastic wrap and allow to warm for ~2 hours.

Prepare the oven after the dough has been on the counter for 1 hour.

Preparing the Oven
1) Place a baking stone on the lowest rack in the oven.
2) Place another baking stone (or some unglazed quarry tiles) on a rack 3 notches above the first. Notches vary from oven to oven so shoot for 7.5 inches.
3) Turn the oven to the highest possible heat and preheat for 1 hour.
4) While the oven is preheating you will hear the gas turn off. When this happens open the door until the gas kicks back on.

Little Caesar's Pizza Sauce

1 12 ounce can Hunts tomato paste
1−1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon Accent (optional−−−but if you want it exact, use it.)

Pre−mix the dry ingredients, mix, and set aside. In a small saucepan,
combine tomato paste and water. Over medium high heat, bring to a simmer.
Add the pre−mixed spice, stir in well. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 35−40
minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cover sauce and refrigerate until needed. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Cheese
Use 2/3 low moisture part skim shredded mozzarella and 1/3 shredded muenster.

Dough Shaping Steps
1) Place dough ball in flour bowl. Dust both sides well. Dust prep area with flour.
2) Flatten ball into a thick pancake-like shape with palm of hand, ~ 2" thick. Keep well dusted.
3) Press fingertips into center and working toward the rim until skin is ~7 inches round. Keep well dusted.
4) Place hands palm down inside rim and stretch outward while turning. Stretch to ~9 inches round.
5) Place skin over knuckles (1st time dough is lifted off bench) and stretch to 12 inches.
6) Pat excess flour off skin. Place on floured peel and dress with favorite toppings.

[Pete-zza]

foodblogger,

Good luck. I look forward to your results.

BTW, what kind of flour will you be using?

Peter