Pre-stretching shells on screens?

[Ramsey]

Does anyone have experience/tips on screening pies in advance of dinner rush? Currently we have 2 racks that hold 15 shells each and we stretch as we go. I’ve worked in pan pizza places where we sauced/cheesed 150 or so pies for the rush. I don’t want to sauce or cheese just stretch. I’m concerned with shell sticking to screen(spraying with PAM 1st should fix), and also with shell drying. Would start them at 3-3:30 on Friday and do 120 or so. They would need to keep about 2 hours as I would pull them out at 5:45. I’m thinking busy Domino shops do this. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[td_VP192]

We use this system.

First the screens must be seasoned very well. We coat them with oil and send them through the oven until they’re no longer tacky. Then we cover them with cornmeal and send them through again. If you repeat the steps again it’ll ensure properly seasoned screens.

Ideally we want the shells to sit a half hour before we use them. Our dough is designed in a way where it’s best if it sits for a while. We’ve found that depending on the humidity, stretches last anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. If that sit for more than an hour and a half the chances of them sticking increase. We just flip the shell over and put the ‘dry’ side down.

We take a four week average broken down hour by hour to determine how many stretches we’ll do. It’s better to do it that way then to stretch all of them at once. This way the shells will have different shelf lives to accomodate an average business day by the hour.

 

[Ramsey]

We season our screens with oil & flour, works well. I’m thinking more like stretch out 100 for example, put in rolling rack w/door. Put in walk-in until I REALLY need them, like 6:00 Friday, then roll out the ammo. I’m worried they’ll stick, even though our screens are very well seasoned, PAM is an option.Also, I’m thinking bake will change and customers DO like seeing pizzas stretched and “made to order”. We really only pre-stretch a few at a time, except for Friday we have 15-20 ready. How many do you pre-stretch for friday dinner. And any problems associated with it? I’m not worried about throwing a few extras away, I’d rather be prepared for 100 pie hours… Thanks

 

[paul7979]

Ramsey, how many people are you scheduleing on these nights, and how long do your rushes last this busy. We start Friday nights with 30 preps, 15 of them sauced and cheesed and 15 of them just blanks. Our rush typically lasts from 5:30-8:00 or so doing $500-$850 per hour and we can typically keep up with having a 30 pie head start. Customers still see us slapping dough like mad and don’t even realize their dough was made 10-15 minutes ago. Other than weekend dinner rushes, we try to keep between 5 and 10 preps up trying to make sure nothing sits more than 20 minutes.

 

[Ramsey]

we have a similar rush. I have 6 guys in kitchen plus myself. 1-grill, 1-fryers, 1-bainmarie, 1-floater/bagger, 1 -pie maker, 1-pie-cutter and me stretching /setting up drivers/whatever. 5-8 maybe 180 pies, not bad but we could do much better. haven’t been marketing heavily but I’m re-doing menu and will be soon. also, opening 2nd place in 6-9 months in great spot and want to be ready. expect to sell lots of pizza… Thanks

 

[paul7979]

Just a world of a different situations between our stores. No grill, no fryer, just a slap table, makeline for toppings cut table and phones. Typical Friday I have 6 people plus my wife and I. 1 on the cut table cuts and dispatches, with very occaisional help, 2 permanently on phones with one floating from makeline, and 4 on slap/ makeline with one floating to phones and helping out cut table. I could care less about adding fryer or a sub line as I don’t see them being nearly as efficient as the pizza line.

 

[Ramsey]

I would LOVE to just sell pizza. I will be scaling down our menu somewhat. Being in Philly cheesesteaks are a must have and a big mover, wings,ff, o-rings,etc fly as well. thanks and good luck