Does anyone know if you can cook a Chicago style pizza in a conveyor oven?
Sure can,
Are you looking for stuffed or traditional?
I’m leaning towards stuffed at this point
Sure you can, but the bake time will be rather long, 20+ minutes so your oven capacity won’t be spectacular. This is why the most commonly used oven for baking Chicago style pizzas are the “reel” type ovens such as Fish, Baxter, Reed, and Middleby-Marshall.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Absolutely. We discussed this on this very board a few weeks ago. Several of the top pizza joints in Chicago use conveyors (Nancy’s, Giordano’s, Aurelios).
I believe Giodano’s requires a rotary oven. I know the location I went to had one and the manager mentioned that they had to build the store around it.
Different Giordanos do different things.
They stopped requiring certain ovens sometime ago.
don’t get me going on conveyor ovens and chicago pizza again!!
they don’t cook the same as the revolving.
AND you can’t make a good thin crust on a conveyor, just ask any nancy’s franchisee.
ps, nancy’s is coming out with the “ultra thin and crispy”, it tastes like poo on cardboard.
sorry dfw
I’ll agree you can’t make a good thin on a conveyor, but you can certainly make a good stuff. That was what this poster was asking.
We regularly make the deep-dish stuffed pizzas during our annual Practical Pizza Production seminars and we bake them in both deck ovens and the air impingement ovens (Lincoln and Middleby-Marshall) with good success, but again, the baking time is on the long side. Heat penetration in the air impingement ovens can be a problem if the baking times are too short. As a result, we typically bake these pizzas (12 to 14-inch sizes) at about 15 minutes or a little longer. This year we are planning to have one of the new, Lincoln Fastbake ovens to work with in the seminar so we will be able to see if the new oven technology will allow us to bake these heavy weight pizzas any faster. Because the traditional, Chicago style deep-dish pizzas have a more biscuit like (dry, tender and flaky) finished characteristic they usually take a little longer to bake properly. Remember, in Chicago, the baking times for a thin crust pizza are 25 to 30 minutes for a thin crust and about 40 minutes for a Chicago style deep-dish. Stuffed pizzas are actually somewhat different from these. The biggest problem that we encounter when fast baking the stuffed pizzas is getting a great looking external appearance, but the cheese filling in the bottom of the pizza is only luke warm. What we have found to work quite well when baking stuffed pizzas is to form the dough into a deep-dish pan, leaving surplus dough hanging over the top edge of the pan, then apply the cheese filling and some fresh basil, top this with a very thin dough sheet that is pressed down firmly on the cheese and crimped tightly to the sides of the pan so both pieces of dough adhere together, using a rolling pin or pie pin, crimp cut the dough at the top of the pan. Place into the oven to bake for 5 to 7 minutes, remove from oven and add thin slices of cheese to the top crust followed by sauce and toppings. Place back into the oven to finish baking. Its a lot of work, but it produces a great pizza similar to Edwardo’s.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
I’m sorry but I am laughing my butt off here,how any of you can say you ‘can’t’ make a GOOD thin crust pizza on a conveyer.I would love for some of you to come to my place so I can show you a GREAT thin crust on a conveyer done on black anodized screens.We won 2 consecutive BEST of Philly contests w/ our Licoln conveyers.Again sorry for laughing.
Niccademo
i sure would like to try one of your pizzas, air impingement is not “baking” a pizza. i guess when all you or your customers are used to, it must “seem like the best”.
and tom the dough doctor… i must disagree with you on 1 point, your baked times are way off. i thin crust cheese and sausage takes only about 11-12 minutes. and a stuffed about 28 minutes. thats at 500, in a revolving oven.
if it is not baking the pie,what exactly is going on in my oven???
uhh, let’s just say it’s heating it up with hot air and melting cheese, kind of like a glorified toaster. sorry to break the news. i’m sure in some markets it’s the norm, and fully exceptable. it’s just not real pizza “baking”
you all can come by my place also,my thin crust is very crispy and brown on the bottom using the same method of “baking”.
up until 30 mins ago i was a baker of pizza,now i am full of hot blowing air.
Where are you located? By revolving oven, I assume you’re using a Fish (or similar) oven, right? Have you ever tried a Rotoflex*?
*I have no association with Rotoflex other than a wanna-be customer. Being able to cook a stuffed pizza is a requirement for me if I ever get to open my own place.
i’m in the chicagoland area
i’ve had the rotoflex truck come to my store to try out a few pizzas in their oven. i don’t think it’s worth the money,
i will admit though, it does take up a lot less space.
Thin crust should take 12 minutes or so. I’ve seen Tom quote these high cook times before and I don’t know where he gets them. He is simply not correct. I’ve worked all over Chicago and the standard pick up time was 20 minutes for a thin crust. A few minutes for prep, 12 minutes for cooking, and another couple minutes buffer.
Stuffed is about 28-35, depending on how deep. Nancy’s is on the deep side and theirs took 34 minutes.
Just a note on “baking.”
Most of the very large commercial “bakeries” use the air impingement type ovens. These ovens are enormous. I believe it is a commonly accepted theorem that this system “bakes” the product.
George Mills
“Its a lot of work, but it produces a great pizza similar to Edwardo’s”
Edwardo’s? Why would you try to mimic them. Try Lou’s, Ginos, or Giordanos.