DoughLAB targets UK with sourdough pizza designed to reduce kitchen preparation
Madre producer seeks distributors, foodservice wholesalers and retail partners.
Hungarian pizza producer The DoughLAB is seeking UK distributors, foodservice wholesalers and retail partners for its Madre range of hand-stretched sourdough pizzas.
Madre uses an active liquid sourdough originating from Altamura in southern Italy, fed daily rather than supplied as an inactive powder. The dough is fermented for 48 hours and has a hydration level of approximately 80 %.
The company is targeting hotels, restaurants, pubs and caterers looking to reduce the staff time needed for kitchen preparation. Labour costs remain a concern for
54 FDPP- www. fdpp. co. uk the sector, with 85 % of hospitality respondents citing them as a pressure in the British Chambers of Commerce’ s first-quarter 2026 survey [ 1 ].
The range is designed to let operators serve Neapolitan-style pizza without needing a specialist pizza chef on each shift, at a time when chef recruitment activity is increasing. CV-Library recorded 40,395 chef job adverts between April and June 2026, up 83.4 % year on year, according to the Craft Guild of Chefs [ 2 ]. DoughLAB completes fermentation, stretching, topping and the first bake at its factory near Budapest, leaving kitchen staff to complete the final cooking stage after thawing.
Josep Zara, co-founder and chief executive of The DoughLAB, said:“ We wanted to take the most difficult and unpredictable part of the process out of the restaurant and move it into a controlled environment. If the fermentation, stretching, ingredients and first bake can be controlled centrally, the restaurant team can concentrate on service instead of reproducing an entire specialist production process during every shift.”
The pizzas can be finished in approximately 2 – 2.5 minutes after thawing, in an oven preheated to