The cartoon image of the pizza maker tossing a spinning disk of dough is cute, quaint, and entirely outdated. Modern pizza shops, bakeries, and pastry chefs use dough sheeters to roll dough quickly and produce the volume necessary to meet demand. A dough sheeter machine is an essential item of equipment for any commercial kitchen. They provide quantity with consistency and speed up production. In addition to pizza and pita, dough sheeters can form piecrust, fondant for cakes, and dough for cinnamon rolls, among many other uses. Dough sheeters are among the most heavily used pieces of kitchen machinery and require regular maintenance to keep running smoothly. Put these must-know maintenance tips for dough sheeters on your checklist.

Daily and Proper Cleaning

Refer to the manual for your particular machine for the manufacturer’s specific cleaning instructions. Unplug the machine before cleaning. Visually inspect the dough sheeter daily, especially the scrapers and rollers. Remove any remnants of dough and clean the machine every day. Keeping the scrapers in good shape prolongs the life of the rollers, which are expensive to replace. Cleaning the machine should be a checklist item for closing, and checking that the machine is clean should be on the opening checklist. Fresh hot water, a new and dedicated toothbrush (used only to clean the dough sheeter), and some clean cloths should be enough for daily cleaning. The goal is to prevent the build-up of flour and dough balls in the first place.

Refer to the manual to identify recommended, safe dish soaps or other cleaning products deemed safe for your machine. Your customer’s health—and probably your machine’s warranty—depend on getting this right.

Be sure your staff receives proper training on acceptable use and appropriate cleaning methods for the machine. Repair technicians could tell you horror stories of some of the things they’ve been called in to fix, from electric motors submerged in sinks to dough rollers that had been used as meat tenderizers (something that would not go over well with your vegan and vegetarian customers).

Manage and Maintain Moving Parts

Dough rollers have many moving parts, from rollers to belts to gears and pulley mechanisms. Fraying is a telltale sign of a worn belt and, possibly, a tracking problem with your machine. Replace the belt and call your maintenance company to come out and adjust the tracking. Make sure you know what kind of belt your machine uses and the make and model number of your machine. Belts come in rubber, Teflon, nylon, and fabric. Replacing the frayed belt with the wrong type could cause further damage or malfunctions in your dough sheeter. Use food-grade oil to lubricate chains, pulleys, sprockets, bearings, or other moving parts. This might require a little disassembly, so don’t tackle it if you’re not confident of what you’re doing.

Your machine will tell you if it needs deeper cleaning or professional maintenance. Squeaking or grinding sounds may mean that debris has gotten more deeply into the machine than daily cleaning can remedy. If dough that once emerged smooth and solid now comes out torn or stretched out too much, something has gone wrong with the rollers. Either they weren’t cleaned thoroughly enough, the belts that turn the rollers are worn or dirty, or the parts that regulate the speed of rotation are worn or in need of lubrication.

If the dough sheeter won’t switch on, the speed is erratic, or the cord or plug is frayed or bent, contact a qualified service provider to check the motor and electrical parts. The cost of paying for repairs related to motors and electricity will be less than that of injury to yourself or your employees.

Spare Parts

Dough sheeters in some kitchens run almost constantly. Well-maintained dough sheeters can last many years—even a decade or longer. The day will come, however, when the cost of multiple service visits approaches the cost of a new machine. Before you get much beyond half the cost of a new machine in charges for repair of the old one, start looking for a replacement. When you do switch to a new machine, keep the old one as a backup if you have the space to store it and it still works.

Even if your machine is running like a top, it’s wise to have spare parts or even a back-up machine readily available for the peak times that come with every holiday or major sporting event. Order an extra belt when you replace the current one. If you discover that one particular part seems to wear out or fail more frequently, store an extra one. Even if you have to call for service to install the part, you won’t have to wait for delivery. The time you save by having spare parts available could be the difference between keeping your operation up and running during a rush or having to shut down and lose business and maybe even customers.

Small, independent restaurants have found creative ways to stay in business during the prolonged period of social distancing and stay-at-home orders everyone is enduring together. Curbside pick-up and delivery are new operations for some, while others are old hand at it. Some shops that don’t have the resources or the configuration to set up delivery or pick-up have partnered with complementary businesses or found new avenues of local distribution at other essential businesses to keep going. Figuring out ways to survive in this climate is incredibly challenging and exhausting, but it’s happening. One thing bakeries, pizza parlors, and pastry chefs can’t scrimp on now is the maintenance of the equipment that makes any operation at all possible. A quick review of these must-know maintenance tips for dough sheeters could make the difference between producing product and closing your doors:

• Perform food-safe, staff-safe cleaning daily
• Put checking and cleaning the dough sheeter machine on the opening and closing checklists
• Train staff in the appropriate use and correct cleaning of the dough sheeter
• Lubricate moving parts with food-grade oil
• Leave motor and electrical repairs to professional servicers
• Address repair issues promptly—don’t let small problems turn into big ones
• Maintain a cache of spare parts
• Keep a functioning older machine as a back-up to a newer one

Your dough sheeter is a kitchen stalwart. Keep it in good shape, and it will turn out smooth, consistent dough for years to come.