Technique explainers and old methods under new constraints.
Dough, the line and the menu, treated as one system. Cold fermentation, the item that slows your Friday line and the case for a shorter menu, each with the cost math behind it.
Scope: Dough, ovens, fermentation, ingredients, workflow, styles
Two published portion charts, one from a cheese consultant and one from the late Tom Lehmann, agree within about an ounce at every size. Here's what each pie costs in cheese at this week's block price, and why the scale beats the hand.
Dough ball weight is one number per crust style multiplied by the area of the pie. Here's the table for 10- to 18-inch pies at Tom Lehmann's published thin, regular and thick factors, why the one-ounce-per-inch rule thins out your big pies, and what a heavy hand at the divider costs.
A stiff preferment wants 16 to 48 hours somewhere between 59°F and 68°F, a separate mix, and a crew that measures it the same way every day. Here's what it pays back, and the one-pie trial that tells you whether it belongs in your shop.
The chains are cutting menu items and pantry ingredients again, and new data says a short menu no longer buys a traffic edge. The reason to cut is what it does to your prep list, your walk-in, and your Friday rush.
Long fermentation gets sold as a flavor upgrade. The bigger win is operational: dough made two days ahead turns your most volatile prep task into inventory you can plan around.
A technique explainer: how one build quietly wrecks ticket times — and how to fix it without cutting it.
Get our free one-page cheat sheet: 15 benchmarks for prime cost, labor, delivery and rent, each with its source and a blank for your shop’s number. Print it and keep it by the office desk.
You’ll also get the Oven Scars newsletter. We never sell or share your address.