This Best-Selling Pizza Chain Uses Fresh Dough, But Frozen Toppings

A frozen pizza makes a satisfying meal when you need a cheap and cheerful dinner. However, there's something heavenly about a pizza that's made with fresh dough and baked until the edges are pillowy, charred, and chewy. One best-selling pizza chain that combines the best of both worlds is Papa John's. The chain restaurant uses fresh pizza dough but frozen toppings to create golden pies that have both an airy crust and a flavorful scattering of meats and veggies.

Papa John's pizza dough is mixed, shaped, and proofed in processing centers to guarantee that each ball is uniform and consistent (the machines take only 10 minutes to mix 2,500 pounds of dough). While the unhealthiest things you can order at Papa John's include the Epic Stuffed Crust and the bacon cheesesticks, the dough that's used to make these menu items is a mixture of the same basic ingredients you'd find in homespun pizza dough that's free from additives. On the restaurant's website it states that "our dough recipe features a unique blend of six clean and simple ingredients as pizza was originally intended: high-protein flour, water, yeast, oil, sugar, and salt." The chilled dough balls are then distributed to local branches along with boxed frozen toppings, such as green peppers, cooked sausage, chicken breast chunks, and baby spinach. Once Papa John's pizza chefs are armed with ingredients, they set to work making speedy pies to order.

Fresh dough has a more complex flavor than frozen pizza dough because of the mellow tang that comes from the active yeast. It also rises better as it meets the fierce heat of a pizza oven, creating little air pockets inside that give the final pie its yummy structure and golden, crispy base. This is why small pizza joints make their dough on-site. Indeed, the best place to buy pre-made pizza dough isn't your grocery store but your nearest local pizzeria. That said, it's a mistake to roll out pizza dough because it can deflate all the precious air bubbles inside that produce that delectably light crust. This is why the chefs at Papa John's hand-stretch the fresh dough before adding the sauce and toppings. 

As the toppings come frozen, they retain more of their nutrients (such as Vitamin C) far better than fresh produce, which loses its nutritional value over time as it's exposed to oxygen. Freezing vegetables while they're in season also means customers can benefit from the flavor of peppers, sweetcorn, and mushrooms while they're at their best. These veggies also tend to be blanched first before they're frozen to prevent discoloration and browning. Combining the benefits of fresh dough with frozen produce and meats creates quality pizzas that boast an incredible flavor, appearance, and mouthfeel.