Pizza: It's Not Delivery--It's From the Grocer

Anyone can enjoy pizza, from vegans to carnivores to those following kosher and gluten-free diets. Pizza provides sustenance and satisfaction at all times of the day.

Frozen-pizza evolution

Frozen pizza has come a long way from those decades ago with overly chewy crusts, bland sauce, rubbery cheese and meat specks tougher than jerky. Today’s retailers’ freezer cases stock all types of pizzas, from thin and thick crusts to stuffed and self-rising. An alternative to supermarket frozen pizza is refrigerated pizza sold in the deli, commonly referred to as take-and-bake—and many of these pizzas are delivered to the supermarket in frozen form. The retailer defrosts them for refrigerated merchandising.

The primary challenges with any frozen pizza are preventing the sauce from combining with the dough and producing a crust that can be frozen and reheated without becoming rigid. Traditionally, the dough is partially prebaked, or parbaked. The ingredient toppings tend to be precooked. More recently, frozen pizzas with raw toppings are being developed as upscale, all-natural offerings.

Kraft Foods, Northfield, IL, debuted the self-rising crust in 1995. Patents on the process cover the preparation and safe storage of frozen, yeast-leavened dough, a process involving the meticulous addition of hydrocolloids for stability and surfactants to facilitate flour hydration and initial dough development. Modified-atmosphere packaging keeps the pizzas bathed in inert gas rather than oxygen, which can erode the dough.

In 2004, Schwan’s Consumer Brands North America, Bloomington, MN, provided another new concept for retailers’ freezers—brick oven—which relies on a fried-baked crust.

Most recently, Schwan’s introduced a frozen pizza it promotes as “restaurant-style pizza without the hassle of take-out.” The secret is the company’s proprietary one-step bake-and-serve tray that cooks the crust crisp and evenly.

Crust as a canvas

Pizza brings out the artist in everyone. But before the sauce gets spread and the toppings applied, pizza manufacturers must determine the type of crust they plan to work with.

Thick or thin, crust comes down to flour, yeast, water and a variety of optional dough improvers and adjuncts. The crust processing factors include mixing time, management of the dough (proofing time and temperature, forming the dough and storage), stretching (or rolling, pressing or sheeting), ovens and bake time. The last two variables are for parbaked crusts. Rising crusts are raw dough, sometimes called live dough due to the active yeast.

Flour selection comes down to the desired texture and other sensory attributes of the crust. Choosing the right flour is all about gluten content. Formation of a homogenous gluten network is important, as a flexible, homogenous gluten structure is able to retain the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast during proofing.

“The development of the gluten takes place during dough mixing,” says Susan Kay, senior application technologist, bakery innovation, Danisco USA, Inc., New Century, KS. “The most-important parts of gluten development are the hydration of the gluten, as well as gluten interactions. Good, even hydration is very important for dough flexibility and behavior in the later stages of making the crust. If hydration can be improved, it is possible to improve the properties of the gluten network. The same is the case when gluten interactions are improved.”

Going with the grain

All-purpose wheat flour has a moderate amount of gluten and is often the flour of choice for pizza dough. However, bread flour also works. It’s higher in gluten, which gives the crust a lighter texture and more volume, even a bit of chewiness.

Choose the flour carefully. If the flour or flour blend is too low in protein, the crust of the baked pizza will be soft. If there’s too much protein, the crust can be tough. The flour for pizza crust usually ranges from 8.5% to 14.0%, depending on thick or thin, and the desired baked texture. Because higher-protein flour absorbs more moisture than lower-protein flour, if a softer-crust pizza is desired, then use lower-protein flour.

“As a rule of thumb, thin-crust pizzas are produced with higher-protein flours—up to 14.0%—and thicker-crust pizzas are produced with lower-protein flours,” says Harold Ward, senior quality specialist, research quality & innovation, ConAgra Mills, Omaha, NE. “I’ve seen thick-crust pizzas produced with as low as 11.0% protein flour.”

Some dough formulas call for semolina flour to add color, texture and chew to the crust. Others will call for a dusting of cornmeal on the bottom of the crust. This, too, adds color and texture. It also gives the frozen pizza a fresh, pizzeria feel.

“Formulating dough for manufacturing is worlds apart from making dough in a retail pizza shop, but developers can certainly create formulas that deliver pizzeria-style crust in the production environment,” says Ward. “Unlike a retail pizzeria, manufacturers will typically use one type of flour for all crusts, whether it is thick, thin, pan, etc. Usually, this is a medium- or low-protein hard-wheat flour between 11.0% and 12.5%. In general, the mixing process in manufacturing is high-speed and is aided by the use of reducing agents to achieve a dough consistency that is easily pressed.

“For whole-grain pizzas, flour choice depends on the characteristics of the finished product,” continues Ward. “If a lighter-colored, smoother-textured crust with a mild, sweet taste and broad appeal is desired,” he recommends the company’s whole-grain white wheat flour. “For a more-traditional whole-wheat or whole-grain look and taste, products ranging from fine whole wheat to coarse products can be used in any number of combinations,” he says.

Other grains, including rye and ancient grains, alone or in conjunction with wheat products, are also possibilities, notes Ward. “For example, a grain and seed inclusion sprinkled on a finished crust tastes great and gives a unique, hearty look,” he says. Or, if the target market requires it, he points to a number of traditional grains for gluten-free applications.

To deliver pizza to those with gluten intolerances, it is possible to simulate a yeast-leavened, wheat crust through the use of hydrocolloids, such as xanthan gum, and alternative flours. Gluten-containing flours are replaced with alternative flours such as amaranth, arrowroot, brown rice, buckwheat or tapioca.

“Our corn bran is a great way to increase the fiber content in pizza crust,” says Casey Lopez, associate scientist, Grain Processing Corporation, Muscatine, IA, noting that it provides 85% dietary fiber, making ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ fiber source claims possible. “Because it is corn-based, it is not an allergen concern, making it ideal for wheat-free and gluten-free applications.”