Ask The Experts: Question for Mike Rasmussen

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

Dear Sir,
I would like to ask two question:

  1. if I buy hot press for dough with diameter of 12 inch and try to make 10 inch pizza how can i get raised edge on crust ?
    2 I have tried to freeze finished pizza before baking so i can take it out from freezer and throw it in owen, and it is quite good, but how can i determine how long it is OK to be consumed

thank you

Dalibor Jurina
Croatia

2

Dalibor;
If your hot press has flat top and bottom plates you can easily press out a smaller size dough skin, however, it will not have a raised edge. To get a somewhat raised edge, you will need to carefully push the outer edge, about 1-inch, or so, back in to create a thicker portion of dough around the edge. This thicker portion will raise more than the rest of the dough to give you something of a raised edge. The only other option is to buy the Little Toro hot press from A-M Manufacturing <www.ammfg.com> with a raised edge die. Be aware though that you will need to have a set of dies for each size ppizza crust you wish to produce. Note: Due to the oil on the pressed dough surface, it is nearly impossible to form a decent raised edge by rolling or folding the edge of the dough to form a raised edge.
As for shelf life of the frozen, unbaked, dough, it will be in the neighborhood of 10 to 15-days at most.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor