There is one machine that conjures up perfect pizza balls in seconds. Naturally, it comes from Italy and remains unmatched by various far-eastern competing products. The shapers from Vitella are very popular among restaurateurs and bakers. In this photo series, we show how the shapers work.

For the perfect pizza balls, Vitella offers several adjustment options on the machine. First, the perfect setting for your own dough must be found. That's why we offer our customers a testing opportunity in our show kitchen. That’s also where the not entirely professional, but informative pictures come from.

First, our testers weigh their brought dough and distribute it evenly on the 15-ball plate from Vitella. Vitella offers various plates for many different ball sizes. In our case, 15 balls per shaping process. The plate is pushed into the shaper until it locks in place. Fold down the viewing window and press the start button. But first, we set three values: the top pressing pressure, the bottom pressing pressure, and the duration of the shaping process. In our photo series, you can see how we approach the perfect pizza ball through minimal adjustment of these values and eventually achieve it.

Several factors play into the perfect setting: How fresh is the dough? Can it go into the machine right after kneading? That’s the ideal case. If not, how long was the bulk fermentation? How much hydration does the dough have? This is especially important for the pressing pressure. And finally, how many seconds does the shaper need for the balls to be completely sealed at the bottom? In our case, after several tries, shaping takes exactly 15 seconds. Our guests were very satisfied with the Vitella and the pizza balls the machine shaped from their dough.