Recipe Decoding?

I know a small time franchise pizza concept in a distance town that I have always been impressed with. Tried to copy many times, always came short taste and quality wise. They use a proprietary ingredients bag for the dough mix and that is it. Suppose I get hold of the pack, is there a recipe decode service?

It’s dough, what do you expect to find in the pack? A typical dough will have flour, water, yeast, maybe some salt, sugar(or honey, molasses, agave nectar, ect), pz44, parmesan? Will the pack tell you what protein content their flour has? What hydration ratio they use? Warm or cold water? Proofing procedures? All of these are as important as the ingredients that they add to the flour and water.

If he has access to a bag of mix he probably has access to the procedures as well. Just saying.

If they keep their secret well, I think that you can just “get close”, by making a lot of tests, which also asks for a great pizza knowledge (if their crust has a complex flavor, from where do you start your tests? etc).

I know the type and brand of flour and the process. tried many things, never came close. It’s the yeast mix bag what makes the difference. I can smell Parmesan cheese among other things and see the sesame seed. Really need some professional help. Close enough will do.

In a bag like this… As far as I know, you can find in flour mixes egg powder, milk/whey powder, butter, potato flakes, dry SD, soy, plus many enhancers and different flours…
But without having tasted or seen any picture, I think it will be hard to help you :frowning:

Is there any professional service to analyze the ingredients and make something close?

Sorry I can’t help you on that, I don’t know…

It can be done but it is EXPEN$IVE as well as unnecessary. I used to do it all the time when I worked at AIB. First you document the finished product with pictures, measurements and actual samples for matching, then you collect all the information you can regarding how it’s made, every little bit helps, then, if you can get it, dissect the mix/goodie bag by dumping it out and sorting through it with a pick to identify as many ingredients as possible, now you prepare a test version and conduct a few trial bakes t fine tune your version of the mix. The short way is to just replicate the finished product paying little attention to how they make it, it’s the finished product you’re after, not the mix.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor