SC - Pizza Wars - OOP

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Christine A Seelye-King wrote:
> 
> My housemate just came in and asked me about the apparent 'Pizza Wars'
> going on between Pizza Hut and Pappa John's.  Pappa John's has an ad
> campaign that says they let their pizza dough rest for a period of time
> from 1 - 3 days, which, they claim, is ever so much better than the
> fresh-from-the-mixing-bowl dough that Pizza Hut uses.  So, what's the
> deal here?  What does making the dough sit for a few days do for it?  (My
> guess was develops more glutens, which would make it tougher, or would
> it?)
>         This is as close as he comes to interest in food preparation, so
> I want to indulge him and come up with an answer about his favorite food!

There seem to be two schools of thought here. I don't even know what
kind of flour is used by the big chains, but my local hole-in-the-wall
pizzeria uses a very high-gluten flour, I think with a relatively
quick-rising yeast mixed right in. I could be wrong about that, though.
Anyway, their pizza is hand-thrown, or stretched, call it what you will,
and between the flour and the method of forming the pizza (no tell-tale
cookie-cutter seams at the edges), _and_ the fact that it is baked
immediately upon forming, with no rest period, I'd have to assume a fair
amount of gluten development is the effect they're after, for a crunchy
crust and such.

This may not be the case, though, in other parts of the US. I wonder if
perhaps some of the chains that deliver over comparatively large
distances (my place is maybe 1/4 mile away) have the crusts become
rather soggy in transit, especially because of the various packaging.
Maybe some people prefer a really tender crust if genuine crunchy isn't
much of an available option?

<I _meant_ to do that!>

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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