Dr. Oetker Stories
Well-rounded: This is how the Dr. Oetker pizza is made
1.5 million frozen pizzas come off the production line at the Dr. Oetker plant in Wittlich every day. But what exactly goes on behind the scenes? We provide insights and show which steps a Dr. Oetker pizza goes through before a consumer holds it in their hands at the supermarket.
27.4.2022 • Behind the scenes
Welcome to Dr. Oetker in Wittlich, Germany!
One of our modern pizza production plants is located here in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), where around 1.5 million frozen pizzas are produced for the German and international market daily.
A pizza is only as good as its ingredients. All delivered raw materials are therefore thoroughly checked in the quality assurance department before they access production. The firmness of cheese is tested and, of course, tasted.
The tomato semi-concentrate for the sauce is checked on its flow rate. This ensures that it is not too thick or thin and that it can be processed ideally.
The production process begins with preparing the dough. The ingredients are mixed, knead into a dough in large containers,...
... and then portioned into more manageable balls of dough.
After the dough balls are shaped into pizza bases and have been pre-baked, they cool down in the rotating cooling tower so that the topping can be added.
But before that, the pizza bases must first pass a visual inspection. Bases that are not perfectly shaped go back into a new pre-dough as a high-quality ingredient. Thus, nothing is wasted.
Topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, tomato slices and pesto, a simple pizza base becomes a Ristorante Pizza Mozzarella.
In the freezer, the pizza turns into a frozen pizza: At a frosty - 32 °C, the pizzas are frozen...
... Before being wrapped in foil and visually inspected again.
Packaging follows. The pizzas are put into their folding boxes and are then packed in sales units.
Meanwhile, a team meets for the daily tasting. Do the pizzas look, smell and taste as good as they should? Our pizza experts use all their senses for testing.
Samples are taken from all batches produced. The pizzas are only released for sale after microbiological tests.
The frozen pizzas wait in the over 30 meter tall high-bay warehouse...
... for their onward transport, which will take them to the stores and then perhaps to your home.
Buon appetito!
In four films, we follow the path of a frozen pizza from product development through production in Wittlich and sensory analysis at Dr. Oetker to the in-house test kitchen and consumer service in Bielefeld. Our employees provide a glimpse behind the scenes of their daily work.
For more information please contact:
Matthias Hanigk
Media Spokesperson Frozen Pizza & Snacks / Dr. Oetker Professional