Preparing pizza for a catalog shoot

How to prepare the dough, roll it out and docker it, put the topping in, put in the oven and to cut.

The pizza for the shoot is almost identical to the one a customer will receive. It’s always a real dish with original ingredients in the frame. We don't use PVA glue instead of cheese or play other tricks. There are just a few life hacks – the video and tips about are following below.

We use only ripe dough which hasn’t weathered - the sides of weathered dough will look too smooth. All standards of working with dough are described in the Knowledge Base, available to Dodo employees and franchisees.

Take the dough out to the heating. Put as many dough balls as you need in a covered, spacious tray and put the lid on to prevent the dough from getting weathered. The dough balls should not touch each other. Keep the tray at room temperature and wait 30-60 minutes for the dough to get warm.

Roll it out and docker it. Using semolina flour, begin rolling out the pizza base. Docker the dough warmed to room temperature. Roll out the dough carefully to the size of the baking screen.

Spread the sauce. Leave 1 cm to the sides, as in the standard. Do not allow to get on the rim, otherwise this place will be significantly different in color when baked.

Put the topping in. Completely cover the sauce with the topping. Spread the cheese evenly, paying special attention to the edges of the pizza – when in the oven, the cheese gathers in the center of the product. Place the pepperoni closer to the center, so the fat doesn't splatter on the rim - otherwise it will grow red.

Put it in the oven. Bake in standard Dodo pizza ovens. Special features of cooking are described in the Knowledge Base. This is classified information, if the link does not open - you need to request access.

Pulling up the toppings. Right after the oven, while the cheese is hot and has not set yet, use tweezers to "pull" the ingredients back up to the edges of the pizza, aiming for a symmetrically filled pizza. If you move the ingredients on a pizza that has already cooled, they will leave marks on the cheese.

Point up the edge of the pizza. Using a pizza cutter, gently press it to make it more clearly outlined. You can also use this method to make the edge narrower if it has puffed up in the oven.

Cut only the sides, do not cut through the whole pizza. We only create the seeming that it is cut. This is done so that the slices will not slide away when the cheese solidifies during the shooting.

Remove excess fat. If necessary, wipe off the fat from the pepperoni with a paper towel.

Brush the tomatoes, chicken and all the meat ingredients with oil to make them look juicy and add highlights to the photo. This makes them look more appetizing in the photo and makes the pizza look bigger because of the reflection of the light. Do not grease the mushrooms and bell peppers, because they will give out all the moisture in the oven and being greased will look unrealistic.

Done, you can start shooting.