On This Episode
Pizza Dough Techniques: Max explains that ideal pizza dough should have minimal resistance when bitten into, achieved through shorter bulk fermentation and longer proofing, as excessive fermentation creates stronger gluten and a chewier texture.
Restaurant Ownership Challenges: Opening a restaurant involves unexpected costs, overwhelming decisions about equipment purchases, and difficulty finding accurate information about profitable business models in the industry.
Kitchen Equipment & Space: Max invested in a large walk-in refrigerator (11′ x 6′) despite the higher cost, seeing it as a strategic asset for potential future expansion to multiple locations.
Sourdough vs. Commercial Yeast: While sourdough is trendy, Max believes commercial yeast has valuable properties and flavors, stating that sourdough is “overrated” despite using both methods and preferring a balanced approach.
Pizza Production Schedule: Through experimentation, Max found that a single-day fermentation (30 hours total) produced better results than two-day (50 hours) or three-day (70 hours) methods, which also simplifies production scheduling.
