While most everything the Costco food court sells is utterly delicious, it's their pizza
that's tops.
Starting from an unassuming ball of dough, adding in a few handy robots, and ending with
that ginormous finished product, here's exactly how Costco pizza is made.
Good dough is the foundation of any great pizza, which is why Costco puts so much effort
into every detail of their dough.
First, they purchase the dough from a Brooklyn-based pizza distributor, who delivers the authentic
New York style dough fresh daily.
Then, Costco employees utilize a special dough-squishing contraption to flatten the dough ball into
a perfectly shaped crust.
And finally, workers go over the dough with a unique tool called a dough docker, which
pops any air bubbles in the dough to ensure it bakes evenly.
No wonder the crust is so dough-licious!
After all that care they put into crafting the pizza, you just know Costco is going to
use a special pan too.
Costco uses pizza pans with holes, otherwise known as perforated pans, and these holes
allow the crust to bake up crispier thanks to two things:
1.
Rather than solid metal grabbing all the heat, the holes ensure that it transfers directly
to the crust.
2.
The holes allow moisture to escape out the bottom, rather than sog up the crust, and
lets the entire thing cook evenly.
Plus, as an added bonus, pizzas baked on perforated pans cook faster.
And when the pizza is this good, who wants to wait?
Costco doesn't just use special pans, though.
They also use robots.
We know what you're thinking: robots?!
"What the f--- does that have to do with pizza?"
But it's true.
Once the pizza dough is squished and docked, the prepared pan gets placed onto a special
sauce robot.
At the push of a button, the contraption spins the pan around and spits out sauce in a very
precise stream as its arm moves towards the center of the pie.
The result is a kind of spin art effect on the dough, and while it's mesmerizing to watch,
the reality is that the robot not only ensures that just the right amount of sauce is on
each and every pizza, it also ensures that the right amount of sauce is equally distributed.
Sure, it will inevitably lead to humanity's doom.
But that's a small price to pay for good pizza.
If you've ever ordered a whole Costco pie, you've probably noticed it can be a bit oily.
But there's no oil robot to blame.
Instead, according to one Reddit expert, Costco instructs employees to use a lot.
"The only thing that concerns me is how much oil gets used in the process of making a pizza
skin (the stretched out and sauced pizza dough).
Too much.
And when you don't use the corporate requested amount because you think it's too much and
corporate notices?
You use more oil to avoid being in trouble.
Some managers over compensate and use a quarter cup of oil+ when making them."
"This whole damn thing was about oil!!"
Now that we've got the crust and the sauce, and some oil, it's time for the good stuff:
the toppings.
And Costco doesn't skimp.
If you order the combo, you'll get Italian sausage, pepperoni, and a medley of sliced
green bell peppers, red onions, mushrooms, and black olives.
And a lot of each: a whole combo pizza weighs in at an incredible 4.49 pounds.
Then there's the pepperoni, which gets decked out with 60 slices of pepperoni per pie.
And the cheese!
Made with a combination of low-fat mozzarella, provolone, and 10-month-aged shredded Parmesan,
a single cheese pizza includes a whopping one and a half pounds of cheese alone.
Wow!
One thing you never have to worry about when you grab a slice from the Costco food court
is that you're going to be cheated on the portion, and that's because the food court
employees use a handy dandy cutting guide that ensures every slice is exactly the same
size.
Considering each pie is absolutely massive, you know that after the cutting is done, you're
also going to be getting a massive slice; one sixth of an 18-inch pizza, to be exact.
Just more proof that Costco has every aspect of the pizza-making process down, even something
as simple as how best to cut it.
With all those gadgets and doodads, Costco has their pizza making down to a science.
Starting with a ball of dough, employees can make the crust, sauce it, and add the toppings
all in about 75 seconds flat.
And even the oven has been optimized for performance, with conveyors zipping pizzas through at just
the perfect temperature.
All told, from start to finish, a Costco pizza takes under eight minutes to make.
And that's part of why their pizzas are always fresh.
One Reddit expert revealed that the company never serves leftovers, saying
"Everything left over is tossed after we roll the door at night, and made fresh in the morning."
And during the day?
One Costco supervisor wrote on Quora
"Any pizza slice that doesn't sell within the hour gets thrown out and replaced to maintain
freshness."
Great pizza made at light speed by robots?
Turns out we're living in the future right now, and it's delicious.
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