Friends I am planning to open a pizzeria very soon in India. We need a oven which can bake approx 25-30 10" NY style pizzas an hour. Even though realizing that conveyor kind ovens can be more practical I have a strong inclination towards stone based deck ovens (Also I am familiar with there working since have worked in a pizzeria for some time with gas deck ovens). Unfortunately choices in India are limited. We have dealers here who keep import models. I have shortlisted following (maybe will add some more to below list later)
- Bakepartner’s PizzaMaster counter-top model “PM 451 ED – 1DW”. http://www.bakepartner.com/brochures_pdf.php?pdf=pizzamaster_brochure_english_electric_series_350_400_450_550_700_800_900.pdf. Please see below picture. The inner baking surface is 36 Inch by 18 Inch. Further this baking area, as you can see from picture above can be further split into 2, literally doubling the baking area. Cost is approx 6000 USD http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/Smileys/enhanced/shocked.gif. Honestly little too much for me. But willing to stretch if the bake quality and related advantages are worth it
- Roller Grill’s Pizza Oven Model PZ 430 D. Please refer http://www.rollergrill-international.com/en/produit/double-infrared-and-modular-pizza-oven-427.html. The best part is that this oven will only cost me only 1350 USD. Surely suits my pocket more
Now this second oven uses infrared heating source. Searching more I found some info here: http://www.pmq.com/Summer-2001/PMQs-Oven-Review/. Sharing excerpts frpm same below
Infrared ovens tend to be the most energy efficient. They use infrared heat, which is similar to, but not exactly the same as, microwave technology. Instead of heating food from the inside out, they heat the pan and surfaces around the food and cook from the transmitting energy through infrared waves. The difference in these ovens and microwave ovens is that they have the ability to brown or crisp the crust, but they are the same in that they do not waste energy heating the surrounding air. Another advantage of infrared technology is the ovens radiate less heat into the kitchen and run very quiet. There are some drawbacks to infrared ovens. One is that there is no air agitation, which means there is no moisture evaporation. Another consideration is the pans you use need to be flat because a warped pan will cause the top surface to cook inconsistently. A characteristic of infrared ovens is they retain most of the moisture when baking, which can be good in keeping flavor.
End goal is to bake good quality NY style pizzas. I realize that dough preparation (the percentages), hydration level, fermentation and refrigeration etc are all important factors in preparation of a good pizza. But I feel that a good oven would also contribute a lot in the preparation of final product. So the concern. Competition is tough here in India with lots of new pizza shops opening up. So just want to be sure I am in line with competition even if it costs me a little extra. Also I am not very knowledgeable how infrared heating source would be when it comes to baking pizzas.
Members please assist me take an informed decision here. Don’t want to regret later.
Thanks
Rajeev