Welcome To The Smokehouse
Smokehouse Levain Works is a small-batch, island-based studio overlooking the Salish Sea...
Pilot Bay Artisan Dough
Bringing Food Back to Life.
At Smokehouse Levain Works, we believe the art of food has been lost to the rush of production. Dough has become a base, a wrapper, a vessel — instead of the heart of the meal. Pizza, panuozzo, focaccia, pita, brioche: these foods were never meant to be defined by their toppings or fillings. Their character begins in the dough itself.
Our Pilot Bay Artisan Dough brings that truth back to the forefront.
Crafted slowly through levain fermentation, each dough develops natural softness, depth, and digestibility that speed simply cannot create. When dough is restored to its natural rhythm, everything placed on it or inside it tastes the way it was meant to.
This is not reinvention it’s
A return to real dough.
A return to nourishment.
A return to food brought back to life.
Smokehouse Levain Works grew out of a creative life spent in television, photography, theatre, and the Moveable Feast food trailer — years of storytelling, resourcefulness, and feeding people with intention. My mother taught the earliest lessons: simplicity, patience, and whole ingredients. She cautioned against refined sugar decades before it became a health conversation, believing food should nourish both body and spirit.
Later, while interviewing a young woman with celiac disease who travelled with her own toaster, I began to understand the growing disconnect between people and the foods they once loved. Bread became something to avoid. Pizza caused discomfort. Sweet buns were set aside completely. My own experiences mirrored the stories I was hearing.
Gabriola Island brought everything back into focus.
In the cedar Smokehouse at Pilot Bay, overlooking the Salish Sea, I discovered a different rhythm — coastal humidity, quiet air, and the slow breath of the tides. Dough began to transform the way it used to, long before speed and shortcuts reshaped how we bake, whether in our wood-fired or convection ovens. Our fermentation to freezer method of preparing dough to ship for use in restaurants or homes, for community events or private parties allows us to share the products prepared on Gabriola to destinations around the corner and around the globe.
This is where Pilot Bay Artisan Dough was born.
A dough shaped by place.
By patience.
By natural fermentation.
By the belief that nourishment starts with the foundation.
Our goal is simple: to make dough that people can finally enjoy again.
No shortcuts.
No additives.
No rush.
Just simple ingredients — and the quiet transformation that unfolds when you let time and alchemy do their work.
This is Pilot Bay Artisan Dough.
Slow-fermented. Island-crafted.
Food brought back to life and into
the lives of those who once enjoyed them.
Our carefully fermented doughs are the foundation of our brioche, our pizza—and these unique Panuozzos. Made and baked exactly like our pizza dough, this special dough is developed over several days to withstand high heat without losing its flavourful airiness. The result? A crunchy exterior with a light, web-like interior that stays beautifully tender.
The only difference is how we snip the baked dough open to preserve that airy structure, then freeze it as soon as it cools from the wood-fired oven to lock in freshness. Ready to be filled to the brim with your favourites—from specialty cheeses with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and arugula, to thinly sliced prosciutto or other deli delicacies.
Basically, anything you’d put on top of a pizza can be nestled inside one of these beauties. Perfect as a handheld treat or a truly special luncheon offering that will wow your guests.
Our frozen pizza dough can also be used to make your own Panuozzos at home. Simply place a dough ball in a lightly olive-oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and a dish towel, and let it rest overnight in the fridge if you’re baking later, or on the counter until proofed and ready. Once your wood-fired oven or pizza stone hits the perfect temperature, you’re good to go.