Commercial Dough Rollers

A commercial pizza dough roller machine is built to take a ball and open it in one or two passes, usually through a pair of rollers set at an angle to each other so the piece comes out round.

A pastry sheeter is built for repeated, controlled reduction of a sheet, which is what laminated pastry needs. They are not interchangeable, and using one for the other job gives a poor result.

It does, and it is the main objection to the machine. Rolling presses gas out of the edge as well as the centre, so a rolled base tends to have a flatter, more even rim than a hand-opened one.

That is exactly what some operations want and the opposite of what others do. For a Neapolitan-style pizza with a puffed cornicione, hand opening is still the method; for a thin, even base or a par-baked product, a commercial pizza roller is better at it than most staff.

Roller gap is adjustable on these machines, and the setting determines thickness; the diameter follows from the dough ball weight and the gap. Both are set up once for each product you make and then left alone.

Because the weight of the ball drives the result, consistent balling matters as much as the roller. A dough rounder upstream is what makes that repeatable.

Between the chilled dough and the topping bench, at a height where the operator can feed and catch without turning around. The bases usually land on a tray or a peel and go straight to the pizza prep fridge line.

Keep flour handy and keep the surrounding bench clear — a base coming out of the rollers needs somewhere to go immediately. Pizza trays stacked within reach save a lot of fumbling.

Rollers and scrapers are the parts that need attention, because dough builds up on both. Most machines allow the rollers to be reached for cleaning without tools; follow the manufacturer's instructions on what comes out.

Keep the dough-contact surfaces clean and dry, and check the scraper blades that keep the rollers clear, since a worn one lets dough wrap around the roller. Replacements come through the spare parts request page.

It depends on who is opening the bases. If one skilled person does it and the result is good, the machine buys you nothing. If bases are opened by whoever is rostered, it buys you consistency every night.

It also buys speed at the rush, which is when inconsistency usually appears. If the base you sell has a rim rather than an even edge, look at pizza formers instead, which press the ball in one action and leave that rim; they come as heated and cold presses. The rest of the range is in pizza shop equipment.