Dough Press for Parbaking

[Janie_s_Pizza]

Hey!

I was thinking of opting for a dough press. I had a few doubts…

At my pizzeria we currently “hand-slap” our dough into thin crust before we put it in the oven. As the business is growing, making the crusts is getting tedious…

• Would a dough press give me the same result as a “hand-slapped” crust?
• Which brands would any of you recommend from DoughPro, DoughXpress, Somerset and Pizzaform Cuppone?

Also, I par bake my crusts (on a tray) in an air impingement oven at 430F for 3minutes…

• Would I be able to parbake my crusts on a dual-heated dough press and achieve a similar result as the air impingement? (Some of these dough presses go up to 450F)

Ideally, I would love to do a trial, but the country I’m based in has no sales offices for any of the dough presses.

This is my first time on PMQ, any advice would be golden!

Thank you
Janie

 

[Tom_Lehmann]

Janie;
No, you will not get the same finished crust from a press that you get with hand forming methods. If you research my articles (In Lehmann’s Terms) in the archives you will find an article that I wrote some time ago addressing this very question. Also, a press with a heated head and platten will not par-bake a crust. The heat only serves to create a skin on the dough allowing it to be more easily handled, or if using a die with a raised edge, to help the dough retain the raised edge after the dough is removed from the press.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor