Crispy pizza with fluffy edges, delicious Italian tomato sauce, delicate mozzarella cheese and your favourite toppings. Pizza is one of the most popular dishes, with new Italian restaurants opening all the time. Which pizza oven should you choose? Which one will be good at home and what kind is better for a restaurant?
Crispy pizza with fluffy edges, delicious Italian tomato sauce, delicate mozzarella cheese and your favourite toppings. Pizza is one of the most popular dishes, with new Italian restaurants opening all the time. Which pizza oven should you choose? Which one will be good at home and what kind is better for a restaurant?
What should you pay attention to when choosing a pizza oven?
Pizza is made using basic ingredients, and anyone with basic cooking experience should be able to manage most pizza recipes. However, without appropriate equipment preparing pizza can be more challenging.
Real, Italian-style pizza should be baked in a wood-fired oven, with a temperature of up to 500°C! You will not be able to achieve such temperatures at home, but try to choose equipment with the highest possible temperature.
A gas or electric oven? Which one will be better for preparing pizza? Electric models are a much more reliable choice, as they allow you to maintain the optimal temperature with greater precision. How to prepare pizza in a gas oven? The situation is more difficult in this case, because such ovens usually only heat the food from below. So for pizza an electric oven will be a better choice.
Which pizza oven should you choose? What should you pay attention to?
- The maximum temperature – this is a key aspect when preparing pizza. Domestic ovens most often offer a maximum baking temperature of approx. 250°C, although models that heat up to over 300°C are also becoming more and more popular! This is important if you plan to prepare pizza regularly.
- Pizza setting – many ovens offer a special pizza baking function. This is very convenient, because you don’t have to choose the settings yourself and you know that the selected function will be suitable.
- Hot air cycle – if the oven does not have a special pizza function, choose one with a hot air cycle. It offers temperature equalisation inside the oven, which ensures that the entire pizza is baked evenly so that the edges rise impressively, and the cheese melts thoroughly and blends with the rest of the ingredients.
- Grill function – once your pizza has properly risen, but is still insufficiently baked on the top, switch the oven to grill mode – a moment is enough for the cheese to turn deliciously brown!
- Pizza accessories – some ovens also come with accessories that make it easier to prepare pizza – these could be a pizza stone or a special, round tray. Such accessories are always a good sign, as they suggest that the oven was made with baking pizza in mind.
How long should you bake pizza?
The length of baking pizza depends on the temperature, so essentially on the type of pizza oven. If you have an oven that heats up to a maximum of 250°C, then you will need approx. 10-15 minutes if you’re making thin or medium crust, and even 20-25 minutes if you’re making thick crust.
The baking time decreases as the temperature increases. An oven reaching 300°C will significantly speed up the entire process – in this case even 5 minutes may be enough. However, the key to baking the perfect pizza is observing your progress. Carefully watch how the dough rises and the edges turn red. Each oven is different and the baking time may vary from model to model. Therefore, always check during baking to make sure you achieve the best results – if you miss the right moment your pizza may easily get burnt!
Pizza stone or baking tray?
Homemade pizza can be prepared on a regular baking tray, which is the most popular method. However, if you know how to improve the flavour and shorten the baking time of pizza, you will never use an ordinary baking tray again when preparing Italian cuisine. No matter what pizza oven you have – in each one you will achieve better results if you bake it on a pizza stone!
Pizza stones are popular for a number of reasons. First of all, the stone should be placed in the oven while it is still cool – it will heat up together with the oven. Pizza placed on a hot stone will be ready much quicker than if you put it on a cold tray in the oven. But these are not the only advantages of using a pizza stone:
- A shorter baking time means less risk of burning your pizza from the bottom – the stone provides a balance between perfectly baked dough and properly baking the ingredients on the pizza.
- The stone absorbs moisture from the pizza, so that it can become fluffy and crispy around the edges.
- And what’s more, pizza does not stick to stone. So you can count on the perfect pizza every time.
- With a pizza stone, you also don’t have to worry about cleaning the oven after baking – if the cheese melts off the pizza, it will remain on the stone instead of dripping to the bottom of the oven.
The capacity of pizza ovens for commercial use
Preparing good pizza at home is possible, but it is nothing like that in traditional pizza restaurants, which are continually improving their recipes, and thanks to the professional gastronomy equipment have the perfect conditions for baking real, Italian-style pizza.
The capacity of commercial pizza ovens varies. If you choose a real wood-fired oven, then you can virtually prepare pizzas non-stop, putting two or three pizzas inside at a time and taking them out after about 60-90 seconds! Such equipment will also give you the best results, because it will reach a temperature of approx. 500°C. However, not all restaurants have suitable conditions for installing a wood-fired oven, but in such cases you can opt for electric pizza ovens, in which it will take a little longer, but the taste will be very similar to traditional pizza. For example, this electric pizza oven offers you a spacious inside with a 60 cm chamber.
Necessary equipment for restaurants serving Italian cuisine
Although wood-fired ovens do not differ much from each other, the differences in the case of electric ovens can be huge. So what should you pay attention to?
- Maximum temperature – most commercial pizza ovens offer a baking temperature range from 320°C to 460°C. For the best results, choose the highest possible values.
- Capacity – depending on the oven, you can prepare two, four or even eight pizzas at a time. How big an oven you should choose depends on the size of your restaurant and the number of items on your menu.
- Maximum pizza size – although traditional Italian pizza is most often served with a diameter of approx. 30cm, you will also find ovens for larger sizes – with a diameter of 45 or even 60cm!
- Stone or tray – check what the pizza will be prepared on. Many ovens come equipped with pizza stones, but some also come with tin trays.
For preparing pizza in a restaurant, you will also need a special pizza paddle for putting the pizza in and taking it out of the oven. Choose a model with a suitably long handle and made of appropriate materials in accordance with the principles of health and safety.
Which pizza oven should you choose – summary
Which pizza oven should you choose for home use, and which oven will be best in a small restaurant? As mentioned earlier, the most important aspect of equipment for preparing Italian cuisine is the temperature, which is responsible for baking the pizza perfectly crispy, fluffy and covered with perfectly baked ingredients. The second element worth considering is the use of a pizza stone, while the third aspect to keep in mind is the optimal baking time. Remember, however, that you should also use high-quality ingredients in order to achieve the best results. If you stick to the above advice, then you’re in for an amazing Italian treat!
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