Menu
Current Affairs of This Week
Current Affairs of This Week

This M’sian Started A Neapolitan Pizzeria Brand With Wood-Fired Ovens He Built From Scratch

Posted on December 29, 2020 by admin

Coronavirus vaccine race: how many doses…
Foldable phones and a PC, iPhone 12s…
U.S. judge orders two Georgia counties to…
LG’s new ‘QNED’ TVs will have up to nearly…
Singapore’s fallen Hyflux now has just…
No, It’s Not Too Late To Get A Flu Shot
How to Grill the Perfect Filet Mignon (With…
Tactical Analysis: The McFred midfield is…
MG ZS petrol variant continues testing…
The Danish New Year’s Eve dish that links my…
‘Locals earning more than expats now’…
Singapore: Healthcare workers to be…
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical Cooks Up A…
Three French soldiers killed in Mali IED blast
10 Signs You Have A Bad Relationship With…
Washington D.C. Is America’s Next Great…
Skoda Auto India announces price hike…
The new stimulus includes $15 billion…
Geek Review: Creative Outlier Air V2 True…
Nicole Seah is one of 12 people elected to…
S. Korean star Rain has nothing but praises…
South Africa imposes new virus curbs as…
Your car may be recording more data…
Steam reveals 2020’s most-played and…
5 charts show what the global economy looks…
As vaccines are rolled out, questions remain
Nachos are the best way to use up leftover…
Who’s on the plane? Scotland’s Euro 2020…
A former Disney Imagineer revealed…
Sonia Chew replaced as host for Mediacorp’s…
Tencent-backed online trading platform F…
Channing Tatum to Join Sandra Bullock in…
Old school fruity ice-pop balls available in…
The Latest: Sri Lanka reopens to tourists…
In 2023, you won’t be able to fly mo…
Investors take legal action over Cy…
Moderna: ‘We’re confident vaccine will…
Hershey’s Is Selling Meltaway Kisses For …
Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa: Player ratings as…
Coronavirus vaccine race: how many doses have Asia-Pacific countries ordered?
Daniel Ong, Jaime Teo accused of underpaying staff; face jail time
Much like BentukBentuk whose founders came from an IT background and now run a successful home decor business, Ikmal has a similar story.
Coming from a decade-long career in the IT industry, Ikmal picked up the precise art of making Neapolitan pizzas for his wife in a wood-fired oven he built himself.
The wood-fired pizza industry in Malaysia isn’t new, but Ikmal told Vulcan Post that the Neapolitan pizza one was, when he first started WOP Pizzerria 5 years ago.
But before they became the version sold today, his pizzas have gone through a couple of evolutions.
Ikmal’s always had a passion for authentic food, with a core focus on preparing them from scratch.
During the first year of his venture, Ikmal told Vulcan Post that the pizzas he sold were actually similar to those already in the commercial market. Think Pizza Hut and Dominos, but baked in a wood-fired oven.
His pizzas quickly became popular as customers were charmed by its homemade element.
The first evolution WOP went through happened accidentally, when Ikmal refrigerated the dough for longer than usual.
After baking it, its crust came out with some burnt spots, which received mixed reactions from customers. While a cohort of patrons appreciated its improvements, others didn’t like it and never came back.
“It was a learning experience for us and customers. We did a lot of explaining to customers and had to manage expectations for new ones who walked in,” he said.
Over time, he learnt about making Neapolitan pizzas with sourdough that had a crust in between a crunchy and chewy texture.
He learnt that to get that perfect crust, the dough had to be fermented for 48-72 hours before baking in an oven with a temperature between 430-480C°.
As sourdough pizza is also moister than other types of dough, it required a gentle yet strong hand to handle its stretching.
It would then be balanced with sweet hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes and the acidity of fresh buffalo mozzarella before it’s baked in the oven for 90 seconds.
“Every pizza that comes out of the oven is my artwork combined with many years of hard work,” chimed Ikmal.
This self-taught pizza connoisseur has since made 200,000 pizzas to date with no training, although the biggest cost factor was all the mistakes made along the way, resulting in throwing away dough, mozzarella, etc.
When I heard that Ikmal made his pizzas in a self-built oven, I thought he was just very particular about everything that went into his pizzas—or what his pizzas went into, even.
But there’s a more practical reason behind that too. He built them himself because he just couldn’t afford to buy locally made wood-fired ovens that would cost at least RM25,000.
So, he researched and built an oven on a trailer that was pulled by his car, enabling them to move their operations around.
They’ve gone from selling at weekend food events to setting up tables and chairs outside his family’s home. He later rented a small corner in a restaurant and opened his first pizzeria in Shah Alam.
To date, he’s built a total of six wood-fired ovens, each increasing in size to accommodate more pizzas at a time.
In May this year, Ikmal had to close down their Shah Alam outlet due to the MCO. Because the pizzas were best when fresh out of the oven, despite offering deliveries, WOP faced an 80% drop in sales.
But an unexpected turn of events happened when one of their fans, who happened to be SOCAR’s CEO, Leon Foong, decided to partner with the brand.
From thereon, the newly registered business bought over most of the assets from their old restaurant and relocated to Plaza Damas in Sri Hartamas. Now with enough funding, Ikmal was able to buy a wood-fired oven from Naples.
“Building the oven myself is a lot of fun but the oven professionally built by Gianni Acunto is way better,” he said.
In light of this new partnership, Ikmal hopes to bring in more regular customers and eventually host masterclasses to teach others the craft of pizza and cheesemaking.
And because of his obsession with ingredients on WOP’s menu himself, he’s also looking forward to starting his own charcuterie (French for a shop selling cold cut meats) very soon.
Also Read
Microsoft Wants To Assist Local Independent Software Vendors, Here’s What You Need To Know
Featured Image Credit: Ikmal, founder of WOP Pizzeria
Department of Tourism Philippines by CNBC Catalyst
Autel TPMS Tool

Top 7 car Diagnostic Scanner

Best Professional OBD2 Scanner
Autel maxisys ultra scanner
Autel MK908p Diagnostic Scanner
Launch scan tool: X431 V+
Autel MaxiDiag MD806 Automotive Car Diagnostic Scanner
launch car code reader: CRP129x
Autel TPMS Tool ts601

Random Posts

  • Collagen Peptide and Gelatin Market 2020-2027 Industry Data Analysis | US, Allengers, Edaptms, MTS
  • Hiker killed, another in critical condition after 10-metre fall at scenic Hong Kong stream popular with trekkers
  • Ivory Coast president meets opposition leader amid tensions
  • Things We Saw Today: Let’s Cook the Egg Sandwich From Birds of Prey
  • Singapore moves racist children’s book to library parents’ section after review
  • There’s a BMW M3 DTM Race Car Body For Sale For Just $5,900

Popular

  • Visa Postpones Rollout Of New Fee Structure - 692 views
  • Whats Driving The Gluten Free Food Market Share? Hero Group Ag, The Hain Celestial Group Inc., Seitz Glutenfrei, Dr … - 526 views
  • 氷川きよし、EXILE MAKIDAIが志村けんさん追悼「真心と御恩は一生忘れません」 - 502 views
  • «Женское обрезание» в Судане признали преступлением - 476 views
  • 爆発的な拡大懸念 新型コロナ 福岡県内で1日最多の17人 自動車工場勤務の男性も 3日まで生産中止 - 473 views

Tags

5G 2021 Analysis Apple Argentina Borussia Dortmund Brazil Bundesliga China Colombia Coronavirus Donald Trump Enterprise European Union Finance Forecasting Germany Government Health Care Industry Juventus F.C. La Liga Law Liverpool F.C. Los Angeles Lakers Manchester United F.C. Manufacturing Market research Market share Mexico NBA NFL Premier League Report Research Russia School Serie A Stock Student System Tennis Turkey UEFA Champions League Vietnam

Recent Posts

  • Maite Perroni afirma que Dulce María nunca tuvo intención de participar en el reencuentro de RBD
  • [2021] ¿Cómo Será El Mercado De Software De Vídeo Por Internet En Un Futuro Próximo? análisis Para 2030
  • Chic abayas on the catwalk in rare Saudi fashion show
  • Avrådan från resor förlängs
  • 31 omhändertagna efter polisens narkotikainsats
©2021 Current Affairs of This Week | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes