Real pizza, juicy and fragrant, on the thinnest dough with a crispy crust, can be cooked based on the best traditions and recipes of Italy, using a branded pizza oven. The choice of thermal equipment for the kitchen is quite wide. What type of oven, in terms of performance and cooking methods, will achieve the perfection of the taste of the famous product?
Types of ovens
With all the variety of recipes and methods of cooking pizza, two more well-known types of pizza are conditionally distinguished - Italian and American. When preparing each of them, a certain number of rules must be observed. This applies not only to the preparation method and ingredients, but also to the ovens in which the pizza is baked.
Among professional kitchen equipment to increase efficiency and automate processes in the kitchen, mainly in restaurant chains and cafes, the main types of stoves are offered:called Pompeian, electric and gas. Furnaces are also classified according to the principle of their operation into hearth and conveyor.
Before making a purchase, experts strongly advise you to think through all the details, as the correct choice of the type of oven will affect the quality of the prepared dishes and the organization of the staff.
Wood Stoves
The wood-burning pizza oven, also called Pompeii, is considered to be the classic and also the best option. Its design was developed on the Apennine Peninsula and was a semi-open hearth, which was used exclusively for cooking. The stove is somewhat similar to a fireplace and consists of a hearth, which is usually made of fireclay bricks or natural stone, and a dome or vault, created in the form of a hemisphere from tapering rows of bricks. Such a wood-fired pizza oven can withstand high temperature loads, inside it the heated air masses circulate from the bottom up, which ensures fast and high-quality cooking. This process of cooking pizza takes about 3 minutes, while the temperature of the oven is 350-400 ° C.
Fuel briquettes, charcoal, hardwood firewood are used as fuel. It takes 40 to 60 minutes to heat up the oven, during which time the temperature in it reaches 500 °C. Then the burning fuel is moved to one of the walls of the furnace to ensure uniform movement of thermal masses. The finished layer of pizza is laid out directly on the oven floor and during the cooking process it is turned with a specially designed shovel for the most uniformbaking.
Classification of wood stoves
The wood-fired pizza oven has been used since ancient times. It is considered an invention of the Italians, but similar household appliances were in use among the ancient Egyptians and the Turkic peoples. This is the most classic way to prepare the prototype of pizza - tortillas with filling, as well as homemade fragrant bread and other dishes. And today it is believed that real pizza can only be cooked in a wood-fired oven. Only now it has several variations and is classified according to the method of delivery, installation and capacity.
Pizza oven can be supplied assembled and disassembled. The latter option is convenient for installing it in a specific room. It is mounted and sheathed on site by professional craftsmen.
According to the type of installation, ovens can be ready-made and have a finished look, mobile, installed on special trailers and used at outdoor holidays and other events, as well as built-in, usually made to order in a specific hall of a pizzeria, restaurant or other institution. The capacity of this kitchen equipment can be different and depends on the type of establishment, its capabilities. Small cafes order small ovens, which are designed to cook four pizzas with a diameter of 35 centimeters at the same time. To increase the efficiency of processes in the kitchen, medium-sized ovens are used, allowing you to cook up to 10 pizzas, and large ones - from 12 andmore.
Advantages and disadvantages
Perhaps no stove will achieve such a quick effect as a wood stove. In just a couple of minutes, you get a ready-made pizza, wrapped in a special fragrant smoke, giving its taste a unique piquancy. Yes, and according to experts, real pizza comes out only in a wood-fired oven, where it is baked over an open fire.
The beautiful appearance of the equipment allows you to put the oven directly in the hall with visitors who can watch the rather spectacular process of preparing their favorite dish. Such an oven does not require electricity, gas and has an affordable price range.
However, the type of fuel used cannot be called cheap, especially considering the time required to heat up the furnace. Its dimensions are also not always convenient. For a long time, open fire was also considered the main drawback, but thanks to the use of a hydrofilter over the stove, today this is no longer a problem.
When choosing a wood-burning stove, experts advise paying attention to its model, installation method, and combustion product emissions. The price issue largely depends on the choice of equipment. It can be both an economical option and a stove with rather expensive decorative tiles or mosaics.
Deck ovens
If the stove is purchased not for an expensive restaurant, but for a more modest establishment, experts advise purchasing a kind of analogue of a wood-burning stove, in which gas and electricity play the role of fuel. This is a pizza oven. According to professionals, thisa more economical option that allows you to vary the ingredients and baking time.
The name "hearth" is due to the ceramic hearth inside the equipment. The principle of cooking is based on heating elements installed inside the working chamber, which look like tubes. They glow under and over the top of the chamber. This is a kind of analogue of a wood-burning stove, only gas or electricity is used here as fuel.
Heating the oven to 250 ° C is set using a thermostat. Pizza takes about 8 minutes to cook. Such furnaces can have either one or several tiers, which significantly affects productivity. Tiered ovens save space and increase cooking efficiency.
Classification of hearth ovens
Hearth stoves are classified by capacity in the same way as wood stoves. According to the number of levels, they can be one-, two- and three-level. By type of power, their electric and gas types are distinguished.
Pros and cons
The main advantages of such industrial devices are small size and low power consumption. Hearth ovens differ in the internal volume of the chambers, which also serves as their advantage. You can choose a model for a certain size of pizza, calculate the performance of the oven depending on the seats in the pizzeria, etc.
The only thing, based on reviews and expert advice on equipping pizzerias with technological equipment, it is important to pay attention when buying a hearth oven to the internallining of the chamber and on the quality of the hearth. With its insufficient thickness, which is often found in inexpensive models, ceramic sector plates are loosely fitted. This significantly degrades the quality of baking. The pizza comes out moist and often burns.
Experts recommend more expensive hearth ovens, in particular Cuppone ovens. This Italian company produces equipment with a chamber made of material that imitates stone, which allows you to bake excellent pizza. Experts unanimously advise not to save on the stove, as the future success of the institution depends on it. They also recommend paying attention to groups of heating elements (heaters), separate adjustment of their temperatures.
The indisputable advantage of multi-deck ovens is the ability to continue working in the event of failure of one of the tiers until the service arrives or until the necessary spare part is replaced. Expert reviews say that this is an important advantage and, despite the sufficient performance of even one chamber of a hearth oven, it is advised to immediately purchase two-chamber equipment.
The ovens are specially equipped with heat-resistant glass, which is very convenient for monitoring the baking process. Under the ovens can be both upper and lower, a fairly convenient solution for the front wall and control is provided.
These advantages make such a pizza oven quite popular. The price of such equipment is also one of the advantages, as it differs significantly from wood-burning stoves. Depending on the model, the availability of levels, the country of the manufacturer, itvaries from 20,000 to 260,000 rubles.
Of the shortcomings of the oven, there is low thermal protection and the likelihood of pizza burning when laying it directly on the oven.
Conveyor ovens
In large pizzerias or in a network of pizzerias, a conveyor oven has become quite popular. For pizza, it has a container in which it is launched on the one hand and on the other hand it is already ready. On average, the chamber uses a temperature range of 220 °C. Heat flows are distributed in the system automatically, preventing the pizza from burning. It takes about 8 minutes to cook.
Unlike wood or deck ovens, conveyor ovens use convection heating rather than direct IR heating.
According to experts, conveyor ovens are indispensable equipment for a pizzeria chain, especially those located in busy places. With a constant flow of visitors, it is simply necessary to comply with such a basic requirement as obtaining products that are unified by type, type, size, and amount of filling. Conveyor ovens do an excellent job of this task, which you just need to program for each specific type of product.
Classification of conveyor ovens
Conveyor ovens are distinguished by high productivity. Small equipment per hour is able to give out 12 ready-made pizzas, medium - up to 20 pizzas. Large ovens, respectively, give out for the same time from 20 dishes.
By type of food, like hearth stoves, they are gas and electric. And according to the method of their installation -floor and desktop.
What are the advantages and disadvantages
Among the advantages of conveyor ovens are uniform heating and baking, high productivity. Among the shortcomings of the equipment, its large dimensions, high cost and high power consumption should be noted.
Of all the known types of ovens, working on conveyor equipment from pizzaiolo does not require special professionalism. This is the simplest pizza oven. At the same time, its electric model is considered more practical and does not require a gas supply. However, gas ovens are considered more economical.
How not to make a mistake in choosing?
When choosing a set of necessary equipment, experts advise paying special attention to the oven. Choosing the right capacity is quite difficult, so it is so important to think over the planned flow of visitors, the size of the pizza and its type, the type of sales - whether the pizza will be cooked to order or served directly in the hall.
The main thing, according to experts, when choosing a pizza oven, is to start first of all from the concept of the establishment. For economy class, fast food, there is no reason for special concern. If we are talking about a good restaurant, then it is necessary to select equipment corresponding to its class.
Next, you need to decide on the type of pizza. Low temperature equipment is suitable for American and Canadian pizzas. For classic Italian pizza, equipment is selected with high modes, which are provided, for example, by wood-fired ovens. But do not forget that theyrequire considerable skill pizzaiolo. The baking process in such ovens is short, but it requires special attention, dexterity, the ability to maintain a fire and knowledge of other nuances of pizza production.
A more individual approach to the choice of the country of origin. Pizza ovens are made almost all over the world. Many restaurateurs traditionally prefer Italian manufacturers, among which the most popular are Morello Formi, GAM, Frosty, Pizza Group, GGF, Apach, OEM, Sirman, Fimar, Pavesi and others.
Expert reviews say that it is always better to give preference to high quality equipment from well-known world manufacturers, moreover, time-tested. So, for example, for seasonal cafes, restaurants that have pizza in their assortment of dishes, the Gam pizza oven will be an ideal solution. The compactness of the models of this brand allows you to save kitchen space, as well as install equipment directly in the hall, baking pizza in front of customers.
According to professionals, German manufacturers Mastro, Bartscher, American Lincoln, Baker Pride, Turkish SGS, Euro Gastro Star, OZTI, Bartscher are doing their job well.
Own "pizzeria" in the garden
Nowadays, you can see many excellent examples of the successful location of the outdoor cooking area in private houses and cottages. Here you can cook kebabs, fresh bread, various dishes in pots and, of course, pizza. To create such a zone, they resort to the help of professionals, and often, using instructions and videos on websites,build a pizza oven with their own hands.
The most common option is considered to be a clay oven. To create it, you need to think over the dimensions, calculate everything clearly and begin preparing the foundation. The furnace itself is made of refractory material - adobe, fireclay bricks. The assembly of the vault can be started with an arched opening made of reclaimed red brick and a clay-sand mixture. Particular attention is paid to the extraction in the oven.
Tips and tricks for building a clay oven can be found in the book "Build Your Own Earth Oven" by the most famous builder of such equipment Kiko Denzer.
