The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[pizzaprices]

For years I shopped across from a GFS store that I had always thought only carried kitchen and serving equipment for the food industry. I'm still working up the courage to build a few pizzas and in the meantime I've been baking my own bread, just to learn a little about the finer points about baking a satisfactory pizza foundation. I use a digital readout gram/ounce/pound scale now to weigh out the flour and water. I measure in grams. 225 grams of bleached, 225 grams unbleached flour, 290 grams water, 1/8 teaspoon of dry yeast. I thoroughly knead the warm dough at least five minutes while the yeast multiplies, pop it into a loosely lidded glass jar in a high warm spot in the kitchen and let it rise to 4X volume. Then I re-knead thoroughly and pop the dough ball into an olive oiled bread pan and thoroughly pat the doughball with a natural bristle brush saturated with olive oil. When the doughball fills half the pan I carefully drip a little more oil if the surface looks dry. When the dough reaches nearly to the top of the pan side I pop it into the oven for 25 minutes or until the top is medium brown. I pre-heat the old gas oven to 490F. multiple loaves take longer so watch for the color change. I cool the loaves on a screen until I'm satisfied with the moisture content then cut the end off and stuff the loaf into a gallon freezer bag. A nice one pound of flour loaf.
Well, I got side tracked so back to the GFS store. I stopped in to buy an oven thermometer. The hash marks burned off the first oven thermometer I bought at Krogers. I opted for their grill thermometer because it reads a little higher. Then I found the food section. They have gallons of every ingredient you ever wanted to put on top of a pizza. Dry instant Yeast is the first item that caught my eye which they have in at least half pound bulk packages. Flour comes in 50# bags. Really, I thought I was in heaven with their prices on bulk foods and sauces and sliced pepperoni and cheeses. They also have pre-baked pizza shells or crusts but i thought they were a little pricey. Those shells are baked with the lip down. Snappy crusts use more olive oil so they won't get wet during the final cooking. Drain excess moisture from your toppings before you add them to your pie. If you want salty bread or pizza shells use a salt shaker a little while before you apply the olive oil so that the salt has a chance to melt. Don't add salt to the dough mix, it kills the yeast. I think the pepperoni was five pounds for $15.00 MOL and the bulk cheese was $4.00 + per pound. The bad news is the GFS stores are only located from ontario down thru the states to the gulf of Mexico in a narrow band. Includes Florida http://gfs.know-where.com/gfs/
Ok, I've got two loaves in the oven and I haven't sliced the butter. Don't forget the 10# bag of onions are half as much as anywhere else.
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http://www.geocities.com/pizzaprices/pizzaprices.html

[pizzaprices]

The bulk dry instant yeast was $2.39 per pound and $4.79 for 2 pounds at the GFS store on telegraph road in Monroe Michigan. I was told 'don't put it in the freezer', put it in a tightly capped jar at room temp.
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http://www.geocities.com/pizzaprices/pizzaprices.html

[pizza]

Thanks so much for sharing this great information.

Your story is certainly an interesting one and one that should be told.

I love the fact that you gave esy step by step instructions regarding your process.

Please keep up the great posts!

albert

[dfandreatta]

Thanks for the details in your post!

Yes, GFS carries lots of items at good prices. I have found it good to "shop" some of those things, because you don't always get the best deal in bulk in some of the places like Sam's, Costco or BJ's. And if you can't use the large quantity and wind up wasting it, that's no good either.
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"Papa Don"
Apollo Beach, Florida