We sat down with Dodo chef Tom, creator of our #HomebakePizzas to talk all things, well, homebake pizza! Read the interview below…
Hey Tom, what’s your role here at Dodo?
I am the Head Chef of our lovely site in Marston, The Up in Arms, where I oversee the day to day operations of the kitchen.
How’s work been during lockdown?
Lockdown 3.0 has been very successful and a great challenge. We run our services with two platforms, Deliveroo & our own C+C service, both of which have been nice and busy. Our C+C service has been offering a great discount and it’s always great to see return customers week by week.
We have also had a great response to our “Homebake Pizza” offering. Making up to 120+ pizzas each week that get sent out nationwide daily!
Speak of the devil… Dodo Homebake Pizzas, how did they come about?
The origins would date back to early summer 2020, during Lockdown 1.0.
A simple test with a vacpac machine and a few cook at home taste testings… and we knew very quickly that it was something we could add to our repertoire. While it’s *nearly* impossible to replicate that wood-fired feel at home, with our process and methods during production, it’s a winner!
How long did the pizza’s flavours/toppings take to perfect?
Not long at all! We already have years of experience and product knowledge to know what works and what doesn’t – being able to transfer these over into Homebake versions was seamless.
What’s our Homebake Pizza vegan offering like? 🌱
We currently offer 2 vegan pizzas on our Homebake menu. Finding the cheese was the hardest part, and the one we have found is the first Dodo has ever used on a pizza. As far as vegan cheeses goes, it’s great! So, we offer a Vegan Margherita and a Vegan “‘Noduja”. The ‘Noduja is a recipe I developed myself from jackfruit.
How do you cook the Homebakes?
Each HB is cooked, packed and sent out on the day to ensure freshness. We start by hand stretching each pizza and topping it with our signature tomato sauce. Then we bake this in our wood-fired 400c oven until we achieve that super speckle. They are cooled quickly and then topped, packed and sent out. The whole process takes less than 2 hours from dough ball to being in the courier’s hands.
How easy is it for Dodo lovers to cook at home?
It’s as easy as turning your oven on and having a tiny bit of patience. You simply drop an upturned baking tray onto the top shelf of your oven and get that up to 230/200c fan. Once hot, you slide your pizza onto the baking tray and wait between 6-8 minutes. Carefully remove and viola! Hot Dodo pizza from the comfort of your living room.
So, when/where are our HBs available to buy?
They are available to buy from our website https://dodopubs.com/
Where you can have them delivered to your door or even pick them up from The Up in Arms’ kitchen hatch (we would love to see some new faces!)
…In 3 words, describe Dodo homebake Pizza?
Simple. Authentic. Delicious.
Thanks, Tom! Finally, do you have a quick message to our customers with advice on getting through lockdown?
Focus on anything positive and block out the negative. Use this time to do/learn something new and come out of this an upgraded version of yourself! Whether it’s studying a new language, reading a book or even making Neapolitan pizza from scratch! Just keep your spirits up and make sure there’s happy in your days.
📸 @ed_nix_photos