pizza guide
from our kitchen to yours
Everything you need to know about the art of making pizza!
The scratch process can be very labor-intensive, but it can also produce a very high-quality product. We offer Italian branded flour specifically made for pizza!
FLOUR Roma Flour, 00 12% Protein (#233612): An excellent go-between flour. The benefits of greater dough tolerance over an all-purpose flour with a softer “mouth feel” than a high gluten flour. Competes with national brands. Applications: wood fired or coal fired. Luigi Flour, High Gluten 13% Protein (#231841): Tolerant to mixing, fermentation and machining. Developes crispier crusts with a chew. Minimizes soakage of sauce into crust preserving desired crust. Competes with national brands. Established product in the Roma family of brands for over 60 years. Applications: deck ovens and convectional ovens. Assoulti Flour, High Gluten 14% Protein (#231606): This high gluten flour lends itself to thin crust pizza dough. Competes with national brands. Established product in the Roma family of brands for over 60 years. Applications: deck ovens and convectional ovens.
DOUGH BALLS ROMA OR ULTIMO DOUGH BALLS These are frozen spheres of raw dough. This provides a shortcut for any restaurant that mixes and shapes their own dough. Additionally, using frozen pizza dough balls reduces the number of ingredients in the back storeroom that would be required to make dough. Premium flavor is developed during the natural rising process during thawing in the refrigerator or retarder. Once thawed, stretch and shape into crusts for pizza, or for breadsticks, calzones or stromboli. Roma dough balls are designed to make the perfect New York style pizza, which generally refers to a thin, chewy, yet crispy bottom crust which is derived from the hi-gluten formula. The Ultimo dough balls are designed to make higher-rising, handtossed, hand-stretched crust. Sizes offered: 8 oz., 16 oz. and 20 oz.
SHEETED DOUGH SHEETED PIZZA CRUST This product is thicker than the thin crust, but will not rise as much as the Ultimo Supreme crust. There is no naturally “raised edge” on this product, however, after proofing, a raised edge can be made. This product needs to be proofed before baking. Sizes offered: 12”, 14” and 16”. ULTIMO SUPREME PIZZA CRUST These are easy to use, frozen circles of sheeted, raw dough using live yeast technology. This product can be cooked directly from freezer to oven (FTO) or thawed out in a cooler to then be formed by hand to create a raised edge. They are slightly reshaped to create a natural, back of the house, homemade appearance. While baking, dough continues to rise, creating an authentic pizzeria style pizza. Sizes offered: 10”, 12”, 14” and 16”.
Baking & Handling Instructions Lincoln Impinger Oven 450o - 500oF 6-7 minutes* Convection Oven 400o - 425oF 18-22 minutes* Deck Oven 450o - 550oF
7-10 minutes*
*Due to differences in ovens, the baking temperature and baking time may need to be adjusted.
Baking & Handling Instructions Lincoln Impinger Oven 450o - 500oF 6-7 minutes* Convection Oven 375o - 425oF 16-22 minutes* Conventional Oven 400o - 450oF 18-22 minutes* Deck Oven 500o - 550oF
6-8 minutes*
*Due to differences in ovens, the baking temperature and baking time may need to be adjusted.
THIN PIZZA CRUST This crust is a raw pizza dough that has been made into a thin, flat frozen circle using the sheeting process. There is no “raised edge” on this product and does not need to “proof” or “rise” before baking. Simply take from freezer, top with your favorite cheeses, sauce and toppings and bake for about 10-12 minutes. Sizes offered: 10”, 12”, 14” and 16”.
Tomato-based sauces are not the only sauces on pizza these days. Alternative sauces like barbecue, garlic butter and Alfredo sauces are making a rise on menus. Don’t be afraid to mix it up a little bit!
Pizza sauce may be the least expensive ingredient in pizza, but it usually brings the most flavor. As with dough, there are many variations of producing this sauce - everything from made-from-scratch to pre-made sauces are available to your operation.
SAUCE 2 WAYS Scratch Using products like whole, diced/chopped, crushed/ground tomatoes, purees, and pastes, operators can create a signature sauce from scratch. Adding a heavy pizza sauce and water along with ground tomatoes and whole peeled tomatoes will create a delicious and fresh tasting pizza sauce. Seasonings will need to be added - this is where the personalization takes place. Here are a few items that have been used to make pizza sauce for over 60 years. Piancone Extra Heavy Sauce (#233001) Roma Supery Heavy Sauce (#493484) Piancone Il Famoso Ground Tomatoes, Peeled (#233024) Luigi Ground Tomatoes, Unpeeled (#234437) Piancone Whole Peeled Italian Tomatoes (#233022) After the desired taste profile is achieved, the sauce will need to sit in a refrigerator overnight. The water addition will take 6-8 hours to absorb into the solids.
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Most pizza sauce/crushed & concentrated tomatoes are processed as “extra super heavy”, “super heavy”, “extra heavy” or “heavy”. The thickness is measured using a consistometer, which is a flow rate test based on the distance the product will flow in 30 seconds. Ready-to-Use Don’t have the time or the workforce to create homemade pizza sauce everyday? Then, ready-to-use pizza sauce is the way for you to go. Prepared with olive oil, fresh Romano cheese and spices, our sauces will provide a distinctive homemade flavor. Advantages of using a prepared pizza sauce include consistent quality and flavor can after can, labor savings and convenience.
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS Everyone has their own unique recipe for creating pizza sauce. Even if you use the fully prepared sauces, it doesn’t mean you can’t add a few more ingredients to change it up. Here are a few ingredients we use:
Spices
Garlic/ Onion
Vegetables Meat & (pureed) Meat Bases
Pepper/ Salt
Olive Oil
Wine & Flavoring other liquids Sauces (hot & BBQ)
PRODUCT INSPECTION New York, Chicago, Detroit and Flatbread: Use one of our combinations of pizza sauce and ground tomatoes or use one of our already made and personalize it to your preference. California, Artisan and Neapolitan: Use a more natural sauce made primarily .from whole peeled tomato or fresh tomatoes. Evaluating the sauce: -Look for skin or seeds. They will add a bitter taste to the sauce. -Inspect under natural light if possible. Make sure the color is to your liking. -Create two or more pizzas with everything the same except sauce. -Make sure the overall consistency, texture and taste is to your liking. -Make a full batch of sauce. You want to see and taste exactly what the product will be like for your customers.
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When you’re deciding on what sauce to use, decide what’s the best fit according to the dough you make, the oven you use and the many other variables, but the key word is FLAVOR, the best possible taste and everything else will follow. I believe that there is not a real recipe: the main word is CONSISTENCY. -Roma Professional
Freezing fresh cheese is not recommended. Moisture will be lost during the freeze/thaw process and the product specifications will be altered. Performance will most likely change.
Exceptional Brand - Bacio Bacio - Or unique highest quality Italian pizza cheese, 100% natural ingredients like Grade A milk and our signature Kiss of Buffalo Milk. -Authentically smooth and creamy, with traditional dairy notes. -Consistent, velvety meltdown with no over-browning or burning and comes back to life completely after reheat. -Distinctive stretch that remains impressive, even as it cools. -Available in blocks, shreds and diced. ®
EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN PIZZA CHEESE WITH A KISS OF BUFFALO MILK
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Fresh Mozzarella Brands -Piancone Fresh Mozzarella Caprese Loaf (#253249) - Great product for Neapolitan, Artisan or New York style pizzas. -Roma Fresh Mozzarella Thin Sliced Log (#397845) - Perfect for for Caprese salad, pasta topping and all types of pizza. -Piancone Fresh Gourmet Mozzarella Log (#324367) - Dryer fresh mozzarella that works great on Neapolitan and Artisan style pizzas. Superior Brands - Piancone, Favoloso & Roma Original -Top quality mozzarella and pizza cheeses - distinct flavor profile. -Piancone offers a softer bite and texture. -Roma Original offers a firmer bite and good stretch. -Favoloso is a typical Wisconsin cheese with a firm bite and firm bite. -Holds up well as product cools (does not get translucent). -Available in blocks, shreds and diced. Best Brands - Roma Classico & Super Deluxe -The choice of the traditional pizza maker. -Full bodied flavor and excellent performance are its hallmarks. -Reheats very well and maintains its white appearance. and creamy texture as it cools. Value Brands - Assoluti & Luigi - Excellent quality products that offer great value. - Higher moisture offers a softer chew and performs well for delivery and carry-out. - Available in blocks, shreds and diced.
ADVANTAGES OF PRE-SHREDDED -Labor: Shredding your own blends takes time, training and experience. Assess your staff and make sure they are up for the job. -Waste: Waste will occur when shredding blocks of cheese once it has reached room temperature. The cheese will soften and will make it difficult to shred. -Consistency: With pre-shredded cheese, all shreds will be identical, making the melt on the pizza to be the same every time.
PRODUCT INSPECTION Make a pie with everything the same except cheese blends and see what works best for your operation. Texture & Stretch: The cooked cheese should be properly stretchy - not too tough, but not too soft either. Mozzarella provides the best stretch on a pizza, so make sure it’s within your cheese blend. Melt: Have you ever had a pizza slice and the cheese fell off once you took a bite? You don’t want that for your pizza. Make sure your cheese does not become too runny or too hard. Color/Browning: The color and browning is all about personal preference. It’s all about what cheese you use. Run tests to see which blend of cheese you like more. Greasiness: When you see a few puddles of grease on your pizza it’s from the fat oiling off of the cheese. This may be from a few different things: The cheese has a high fat content, the cheese is at the breaking point (old), or the oven wasn’t hot enough to fully bake the pizza. Hold time: Are you serving buffet style or utilizing takeout? All cheeses will naturally harden as they cool, but you should evaluate how each cheese blend holds color and texture. You don’t want your customer to see a very hard or transparent cheese on their pizza pie when they get ready to eat.
36% of all pizza orders contain pepperoni. 62% of Americans prefer meat toppings while 38% prefer vegetables.
Fully Cooked Terminology Hand-pinched
Crumble
Oblong
Irregular
Pepperoni Slices
Sliced Sausage
Pepperoni Cubed
Rope Sausage
Pepperoni Form: Pepperoni is available in traditional slices, diced and sticks. Brands: Best - Roma: Hasn’t changed in over 30 years, fine grind, utilizes premier meat block, all natural seasonings, consistent taste, deli sliced smoked with real wood chips. Better: - Luigi & Ultimo: Coarse grind, utilizes premier meat block, all natural seasonings. Good - Luigi Fonte Argento: Coarse grind, round and red, cost effective. Ingredients: Roma & Luigi pepperonis are lean - formulated to target 38-42% fat vs the usual 42-46%. This minimizes ‘grease-out’ and shrinkage during cooking. The product uses real sugar in the fermentation rather than the cheaper dextrose. Sausage Form: Italian, cooked, pork, breakfast, hand-pinched style®, oblong, irregular, fine crumble. Brands: Fully Cooked Sausage: Assoluti, Roma, Ultimo Fully Cooked Pork - Italian: Roma Fully Cooked Pork - Breakfast: Ultimo Fruit & Vegetables Moisture: Make sure fruit and vegetable toppings have been dried before cooking, whether fresh or canned. Apply gentle pressure in order to get rid of excess moisture. Thin/Thick: Thin slices will give better coverage with less product and reduce excess moisture.
Hand-Pinched Style® Toppings Unique line from Burke that offers the authentic craggy-style appearance of raw meat that has been directly pinched onto a pizza. Available in sausage & pork, beef, meatballs and pepperoni. Italian Flavor Seasoned with a combination of herbs and spices that are typical of Italian foods, such as fennel, anise, garlic and parsley. Breakfast Flavor Seasoned with a combination of black pepper and sage. IQF Individually quick frozen. Product pieces are frozen separately and generally remain free-flowing in the package.
Gourmet Toppings Fiorucci Pork Pancetta - #16080 Citterio Mortadella - #237047 Piancone Prosciutto Di Parma #232994 Assoluti Pork Capicollo Hot #247865 Roma Mascarpone - #232124 Roma Pesto no Nuts - #318036 Roma Gorgonzola Crumble #263722 BelGioioso Burrata - #93031 Piancone Ricotta with Sweet Cream - #465328 Piancone Shaved Parmesan #267652 Baby Argula Lettuce - #4607 Fresh Brussels Sprout - #136 Cherry Tomatoes - #3746 Piancone Glazed Balsamic Vinegar - #3547
Pot Roast Pizza 6 oz. West Creek beef, pot roast 1 pizza crust 6 oz. demi glaze 6 oz. Bacio mozzarella cheese, shredded 4 shakes Roma pizza seasoning
Place crust on pizza screen. Spread sauce on bottom of crust. Spread pot roast over sauce evenly. Spread cheese over pot roast evenly. Bake until golden brown, approximately 7 minutes.
Prosciutto Pizza with Fresh Fig Jam 1/2 cup water 2 tbsp. orange juice 1 tsp. orange zest 8 fresh figs, peeled & chopped 1/2 cup sugar, granulated 1 sheeted pizza dough 1 tbsp. Piancone olive oil 6 oz. Roma prosciutto 3 oz. Roma cheese, blue crumbles 6 oz. Bacio cheese, shredded 2 blades chives, fresh In a saucepan over medium heat, add the sugar, water, orange juice, and orange zest; stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add in the figs and cook until soft, approximately 5 minutes, continue stirring to prevent scorching. Thaw dough on lined sheet pans covered with plastic at room temperatures 1 hour or overnight in the cooler. Stretch 14” dough piece to 16” size by pan stretching, hand stretching, or knuckle docking. Place dough on pizza screen sprayed with pan release. If pan or hand stretched, dock dough before adding toppings. Brush dough evenly with olive oil. Spread Mozzarella cheese over entire pizza and then add the blue cheese crumbles. Top with shaved Prosciutto. Evenly distribute fig compote over dough in small dollops, using a teaspoon.
Arugula Sausage Beef Pizza 1 Ultimo dough ball 1 tbsp. Piancone extra virgin olive oil 8 oz. Bacio mozzarella cheese, shredded 1 med Peak tomato, sliced and roasted 4 oz. Ultimo ground beef, hand pinched 4 oz. Assoluti Italian sausage, hand pinched 2 oz. Roma cheese, Parmesan 1/2 cup Peak arugula Brush olive oil evenly over pizza shell, up to ½ inch of edge. Evenly layer with mozzarella, tomatoes, beef, and sausage. Place in preheated 450° F conventional or pizza oven and bake 12-18 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and top with parmesan and arugula.
Moonshine Grilled Chicken Pizza 1 pizza crust 1 West Creek chicken breast 2 oz. Peak onion, red 4 oz. Peak tomato, diced 1 oz. Peak arugula 2 oz. Roma mozzarella, shredded
Season chicken and place on grill to cook. When cooked, set aside and slice lengthwise. Take pizza crust and brush sauce on the bottom. Sprinkle with red onion and diced tomatoes, then place cheese on top of them. Top with chicken and place on char grill to heat and get crust crispy. Place on lower heat of grill to melt cheese and get marks on the crust. Take off and cut to your liking, then top with arugula to serve.
Broccoli Rabe Breakfast Pizza 2 tbsp. Piancone extra virgin olive oil 4 red potatoes 1 pizza crust 1 1/2 cup broccoli rabe 1 cup pancetta, large diced 2 West Creek eggs 1 cup Raffinato cheese, grated romano 1/4 cup basil, fresh Preheat oven with pizza stone to 500° F. Prepare potatoes: Cook and let cool then cut in 1/4 inch slices, season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Fry potatoes in oil and drain. Prepare broccoli rabe: Blanched, shock and toss broccoli with 2 Tbsp. Piancone Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste (drain marinade before using). Brush top of pizza shell with oil. Starting 1/2 inch from the edge of shell shingle potato slices around cover. Spread broccoli rabe over the potatoes. Sprinkle on pancetta. Gently place eggs on next and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake until eggs are cooked. Remove from oven, brush crust with oil and sprinkle with cheese. Garnish top of pizza with basil and sun dried tomatoes.
Spicy Buffalo Pizza 16 oz. Roma dough ball 8 oz. Piancone creamy Gorgonzola dressing 4 oz. West Creek hot sauce 3 - 4oz Roma breaded chicken breasts 8 oz. Bacio whole milk cheese, shredded
Form the pizza shell. In a medium bowl, combine the julienned chicken and hot sauce. Spread Piancone creamy Gorgonzola dressing over dough, then top with chicken mixture. Add the Bacio cheese. Bake in preheated oven until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.
ROMA HISTORY Mr. Louis G. Piancone
Creator of the Roma Family of Products
In 1951, at age 20, Louis G. Piancone departed his home in Corato, Italy for the United States. After several years working in a delicatessen and delivering cheese, Piancone decided to pursue the true American dream and opened and Italian delicatessen in Bradley Beach, New Jersey on March 31, 1955. Upon realizing the need for wholesale distribution to restaurants in the area, Piancone took his stores in a different direction. In 1964, he sold the retail side of his business and focused his efforts on supplying food to restaurants under a new name - Roma Food. Over the years, Piancone and Roma Food focused on quality, authentic Italian products delivered with impeccable service. Today the same great authentic Roma Family of brands and dedication to customer service can be found at Performance Foodservice Hickory. Since 1955, Roma has been sourcing delicious Italian food and ingredients. From one-of-a-kind cheeses to high-quality pantry supplies, Roma means great flavor, quality and heritage.
ROMA Family of Products