Photo by Eneida Nieves: https://www.pexels.com/photo/baked-pizza-on-pizza-peel-in-oven-905847/
Pizza Ovens “ The pros and cons of conveyor, brick, stone, deck, rotating carousel or deck oven.
The pizza oven you choose can make or break your business. It can create ambience or can simply be your workhorse. It's also important that you make the right decision from the start as its not generally a piece of equipment you won't change over due to the logistics of instal to start with.
Take into consideration the space, look, fuel requirements and capacity when making your purchase.
There are many styles to choose from such as wood ovens, conveyors, deck, rotating deck, carousel, infrared or countertop models. Each one has its benefits as well as its disadvantages. Many choose based on what they want instead of what they need for their business. This can come out costly if you decide to choose this path.
An old-style deck oven just won't do if you have a high-volume restaurant and have a high turnover rate for the kitchen staff. A forced air conveyor oven may not give your pizza the taste you want or the right cosmetic appeal for gourmet restaurants that want to use the pizza making process as part of the dining experience.
Brands to consider when looking at the below are Turbochef, Lincoln, Anvil, Woodson, Italforni & Middleby Marshall.
Let's break it down into pros and cons.
Conveyor Ovens
Conveyor pizza ovens are probably the most widely used pizza ovens in the pizza industry. The speed and airflow are fixed, every pizza is baked the same which results in a consistent product. Most pizzerias do most of their business in two 3-hour spans during lunch and dinner. The conveyor helps meet these demands and is ideal for a high-volume restaurant or takeaway. Also, can save on labour as they do not require an experienced pizzaiolo to put them in, shuffle them around and know when to remove them when ready.
One thing to keep in mind when purchasing a conveyor oven is how easy will it be to clean. The best choice is one with easy access to the internal components through doors or by the removal of panels.
Conveyor ovens have other advantages, too. Unlike most deck ovens, they only require 15 to 20 minutes of preheating time; they hold that temperature throughout the night and cool down quickly when shut down. Recent modifications to the conveyor style include the addition of multiple conveyor belts or split belts that allow for varied cook times in the same cooking chamber.
Stainless steel wire belts used with conveyor ovens. They are used to allow unimpeded heat from the burners to reach the bottom of the product. They are also needed because they are belts, which cycle back through the oven. One drawback is that oils and fall off from the toppings can drop through making clean up messy.
There are some disadvantages to conveyor ovens. Among them is the possibility of a shut down resulting from a malfunction of the conveyor belt. If there is a malfunction, the oven will not move the product through the oven and will require that it be shut down, disassembled and repaired. With conveyors that have fans to remove the cold air and move the hot air evenly through the cooking chamber, noise can be an inconvenience, but some manufacturers have worked on this and reduced the noise levels their ovens produce.
Cleaning and repairs are a difficult and time-consuming endeavour with those lacking easy access to the internal components. Another disadvantage to conveyors is they are generally more expensive.
The trend with conveyor ovens today is for larger ovens. To achieve more production with a conveyor oven you need to go with one that is longer so you can have more pizzas in the cooking chamber at one time. For example a conveyor with a tunnel that is 18-inches wide x 30-inches long can have two pizzas in at once. If you go with one that is 18-inches wide x 60-inches long you can get four pizzas in at once. Only the belt speed is increased, so the cooking time for each remains the same, but more pizzas are baking in the oven at one time. Instead of baking two pizzas in eight minutes, you are baking four in the same amount of time. Higher production is determined by how many can be baking at once.
Brick, Stone and Deck Ovens
Brick or deck pizza ovens require more effort and experience than the conveyor styles but can produce pizzas with exceptional taste. Producing great pizzas with these ovens are more of an art form. The way they cook is very different. Inside the oven, you find a large œdeck made from ceramic tiles, large bricks or sections of stone. The pizza is put in the oven, or œpeeled in, by placing them on large pizza paddles and sliding them inside the cooking chamber to cook.
First, you need a cook/pizzaiolo who will know when it's time to pull the pizza out of the oven. Because most of these ovens provide heat from one or more areas, such as from the bottom, back or sides, the temperatures may vary in different areas of the oven. In addition, each time a pizza is placed on the deck, the surface area where the pizza sits has the heat, which is stored in the cooking surface's material, pulled away by the product being cooked on it. Therefore, you need an experienced person tending the oven. Another advantage to this style is that you can get them as wood-fired, coal-fired, gas or electric ovens, depending on what you want.
The proper way to bake in these ovens is to œshuffle or œrotate the pizzas around inside the cooking chamber so that all sides are baked evenly. Each pizza is cooked to perfection with the skill and knowledge of the cook. The taste varies from pizzas cooked in conveyors because the pizza is placed directly on the cooking surface and bakes the bottom crust differently. Another difference in the crust is that the bottom is usually coated with flour or cornmeal to prevent the pizza from sticking to the surface, which adds a different texture, appearance and taste.
Other advantages of brick, stone and deck ovens are price and ease of cleaning. Generally, they cost less to purchase than conveyors. Cleaning is easier because they have fewer moving parts and can be cleaned by simply closing the doors, cranking up the heat, then scrapping and sweeping any remaining residue from the deck.
Deck ovens offer several choices when it comes to the baking surface. Stone baking surfaces have several advantages. Because pizza is best cooked from the bottom up to get a crispy crust and cook toppings, stone works well. Stone holds heat on the surface better than metal, so less heat is lost in cooking. Another advantage to stone is that it absorbs oils and moisture that is released from pizzas making them dryer. Like an old skillet, it becomes seasoned.
Metal surfaces work well because they too cook from the bottom up. The key here is to make sure the metal surface is thick enough (usually four to six inches). Unlike stone, oils and moisture collect on the surface and can end up frying the crust if not cleaned regularly.
Tiles are much like stone. They absorb oils and moisture but are not as thick. This makes them cheaper to buy, but they do not maintain surface temperatures as well as stone.
So, what are the disadvantages of conventional style ovens? As the doors are opened and closed to insert, shuffle and remove pizzas, the heat is released from the oven requiring longer cooking times as the day goes on. You need an experienced cook who will know how the oven bakes at different times and will also know when the pizzas are ready to be moved or removed. An inexperienced cook may remove them prematurely or too late, creating more room for error. Preheating and cooling time takes a lot longer and there is generally less capacity than a conveyor.
Rotating or Carousel Deck Pizza Ovens
These ovens are like regular decks. The difference is the deck surface rotates the pizzas and reduces the amount of shifting and skill needed by the cook. Because they reduce the number of times the doors to the cooking chamber are needed to be opened, less heat escapes, thus making them a little more energy efficient than regular deck ovens. These ovens are not for everyone, just those wanting a deck oven with a higher capacity, but with the systems conveyors provide. You still need a skilled cook, but not as skilled as needed for a traditional deck oven. Cleaning is about the same as normal deck ovens. With the higher production they provide comes a higher purchase price.
Benchtop Pizza Oven
Benchtop pizza ovens can be incredibly beneficial for any businesses that are wanting to create delicious, crispy pizzas whilst still saving out on valuable space.
Benchtop pizza ovens are the perfect space saving addition if you don’t have room for a large commercial pizza oven but still want to experience all the goodness that fresh, home made pizza has to offer.