Proof of the pizza

CONVEYOR ovens have simplified pizza-baking during the past 10 years. Used mainly by restaurant chains and delivery units, they are often operated for long hours by relatively unskilled chefs. But for many caterers they are simply too big or - at prices of £10, 000-£15,000 or more - too expensive.

For restaurants, bistros and take-aways seeking to retain a sense of pizza's Italian heritage, conveyor-belt cooking presents the wrong image. But there is no shortage of more traditional types of oven, many designed for the front of house area.

The main option is the deck oven, comprising one or more wide-mouthed compartments at convenient working height. These offer a large area on which pizzas can be loaded, either in pans or directly on to a ceramic hearth, if fitted.

Some pizza deck ovens are similar to deck-type bread-baking ovens but, according to Tom Chandley Ovens which makes both types, the design needs to be radically different. Marketing manager Martin Dyson says that pizza ovens cost more to purchase and run than bread ovens because they must be able to reach higher temperatures (650ºF against 450ºF). Pizza ovens need a lower internal compartment height than bread ovens - typically 6in against 8-10in - to deal with the shallower product more efficiently. "Traditionally, you are meant to bake a pizza in less than five minutes. An oven with poor heat-retention and performance will take 10 minutes or more," Dyson explains.

High-temperature baking is a key consideration for PizzaExpress. With more than 75 outlets, all based around deck ovens, it must rank as Britain's largest user of this type of equipment. Its bigger competitors Pizza Hut and Pizzaland mostly rely on conveyor ovens. With its focus on traditional Italian thin-crust or "cracker" bases, the chain requires its ovens to run at nearly 400ºC or 750ºF. "You can either cook pizzas or glaze pots," says Dick Bird, who is in charge of the chain's quality control.

At such high levels, good heat distribution is vital because cooking only takes 21/2-3 minutes and the difference between a correctly cooked pizza and a burnt one may be only a matter of 20 seconds or so. For the same reason, reliable thermostats are essential.

DOORS

Most ovens have solid doors but latest designs from Sveba-Dahlen, the Swedish company that supplies most of the chain's three-deck electric ovens, now offers doors with a glazed view panel. These help cut the need to open and shut the doors.

Ovens with glass doors emit more heat than those with solid ones. But this is not a big problem because of the large extraction systems installed over the oven area at PizzaExpress.

Glazed or not, an upwards-hinged door is preferred to a drop-down. With the latter, believes Bird, pizza chefs working under pressure are in danger of burning their forearms on the door. Also, the hinges on drop-downs tend to go out of alignment over time because the doors are used as shelves and have weights constantly imposed on them.

No timers are fitted or needed. Chefs develop an intuitive ability to time the constantly changing oven contents. They also get to know and allow for the location of hot spots that can occur on some decks.

While all pizzas are cooked in pans, PizzaExpress prefers ovens with ceramic hearths. In Bird's experience, metal bases can warp, which results in uneven cooking. Tiny hairline cracks can occur in the ceramic decks, but are not a problem provided the base is fully supported. But if part of the hearth drops down, hot-spot problems quickly follow.

Other features to be considered when buying, says Bird, include effective insulation on handles and doors, and porcelain element casings that do not collapse if the element needs changing - if that happens, the oven can be ruined.

Modular

The main tables on page 68 show basic details of deck ovens. Most series are built in modular fashion, allowing up to four decks to be stacked on top of an appropriate stand.

If a choice of temperatures is required, for example US-style deep pan pizza requires a cooking temperature of around 540º F, or to bake off other items such as cakes or pasta dishes - it is essential that the decks can operate independently.

Many of the main specialist suppliers, such as Baker's Pride, Blodgett, Garland and Sveba-Dahlen, can offer customised installations as well as a wide choice of deck sizes. Most deck ovens in the tables now come with a ceramic hearth, which offers better insulation and the potential for baking directly on the oven floor as well as in pans. The most notable alternative to this is the Garland Air Deck, where the cavity walls, including the floor, have a slotted surface through which heated air is blown via plenum chambers above and below the cavity.

The constantly circulating air creates a heat curtain effect at the door-opening and is claimed to require 30-40% less energy input than a conventional deck or conveyor oven. It is said to give savings of up to 35-48% of floorspace compared with a conveyor oven of comparable output. It is made in gas and electrically heated versions.

Most estimates indicate UK sales of electric and gas pizza deck ovens split at about 50-50. Electric heating tends to be considered more consistent in producing the solid heat needed for pizza-baking but large ovens need a lot of electricity. That has made gas, with lower running costs, a preferable option at some locations. One way of saving gas is the fitting of infra-red burners on Blue Seal deck ovens, which are claimed by APV Moffat to cut energy consumption by up to 50%.

Beyond internal dimensions and power-input ratings, a point of difference between ovens lies in external appearance. Several of the continental products aim for the rustic look of a traditional brick oven. On Zanussi, TICC, Garland GAM and Monarch ovens, this is reflected in the styling of the steel fascia, while French-made Morice ovens can be specified with real brick panels bolted on to the front and sides to achieve a built-in look.

The Baker's Pride range can simulate a traditional built-in oven with its Il Forno Classico option, where a tiled arch conceals a powerful gas oven.

Wood-burning

For ultimate authenticity, there is the option of wood as a heat source. The Earthstone pizza oven from French company Ephrem uses a 1,300mm circular chamber made up of 120mm thick refrectory cement casings. With a small pile of logs (preferably hardwood) burning directly on part of the hearth, the oven can deal with up to 10 pizzas at a time and reaches 900ºF-1,000ºF. The cast-iron door is used as a heat-regulator device.

A complete kit costs about £3,000, but add to that at least £500-£1,000 for a builder to assemble the oven within the desired brick frontage and install appropriate extraction.

Basil Brown, managing director of The Pizza Centre, estimates weekly running costs at about £30. He admits that wood fuel may sound a bit daunting but says ignition is easy. Expertise in handling and rotating the pizzas is essential.

Small ovens

Investment in a full-size oven may not be warranted if there is a lack of space or where caterers do not specialise in pizza. So the tables include a selection of counter-top pizza ovens.

Many of these work on the principle of a regular convection oven, with a series of separate shelves. They are aimed primarily at applications where the main requirement is to heat up ready-made pizzas. n