Mr. Jim's Pizza

Many years ago we used the slogan "The Crust is the Difference". This was the comment I heard most from my customers about why they loved to eat my pizza. There are several reasons for this. Long ago I found that using a high gluten (protein) flour is the best kind to use for Mr. Jim's Pizzas. Our hand stretched pizza dough flour is made from 100% spring wheat with about 14% protein. Although this flour is generally more expensive than other types of flour it helps my pizza to have the uniform large cell structure and gives the crisp outer layer its nutty flavor.

Another reason they're so good is that in the late 70's I discovered that the most important part of a Mr. Jim's Pizza is a proper bake. This means that you cook the pizza long enough and at a low enough temperature so the the entire crust develops its full cell structure. This starts with well risen dough. It is allowed rise once and then we form it into portions for the pizzas and then it's allowed to rise again. Then it must be cooled for 12 hours to reach it's peak flavor and structure profile. Then we cook it much longer than the big guys and at a lower temperature. At Mr. Jim's my pizza has a fully developed cell structure even under the cheese and toppings.

Some pizza places keep the dough already stretched out in pizza pans in their coolers. This gets the crust and pan too cold. When they put it into a conveyor convection oven that is set to cook pizza made in a room temperature pan with dough that is warmed slightly by being handled this cold pizza does not cook. It can't cook through when its 30 degrees colder than what the oven is set for. This why you sometimes get a pizza from other places that has a gooey crust. When we prepare crusts in advance for busy periods they are never stored in a cooler and any extras are discarded. It is this careful attention to detail that you taste in the quality of our pizza.

We make our hand stretched dough every day in our kitchens. It is made 12 hours before we use it and is thrown away if not used within 96 hours. Papa John's dough comes form their warehouse and isn't even used until it's much older than 12 hours. It sometimes gets so old that the dough gets spotted with darks spots which cause off flavors. They call these spots bran browning but the joke is there is no bran in their flour; or anyone else's white flour for that matter. Most of the other chains get there dough shipped in already made and some even use dough that has been frozen.

I have to be honest here. Our thin crusts are made for us by another company and they are shipped in to us completely baked and frozen. My staff and I spent a lot of time researching for many years before we settled on this exact crust. It has qualities that we couldn't replicate on our own kitchens. They're made with a lower protein flour and give the crust a flaky texture and buttery taste.