Hi Tom,
Quick oven question.
Just wondering if there should be a big difference between the cook characteristics of the Lincoln Countertop Conveyor 1304 (electric) Oven and a full size Blodgett Conveyor Oven (think it’s gas) ?
I’m asking because I’ve got the Lincoln at home and am trying to develop a menu for a new shop.
Am using the same dough recipe as my work but they cook on a full size Blodgett conveyor.
Work cooks a 52% hydration thin and crispy dough through at 266c(510f) for 9mins.
When I put it though the smaller electric Lincoln at home, it burns the cheese and dough ?
Wondering if my whole idea of building the menu on the smaller electric conveyor is flawed ?
Appreciate any help or thoughts.
luke
Luke;
I think your approach is flawed for several reasons:
- The small counter top ovens cannot be zoned with different finger arrangements like the large production scale ovens.
- Gas v/s electric, no comparison between these two ovens. The electric oven will have a significantly slower bake than the gas oven.
- The counter top oven is baking your pizzas with what amounts to a single top finger configuration which is why it burns the top of the pizza.
Counter top ovens have their place and they do work quite well but not in your specific application. If you just want to get in some practice time making pizzas not a problem, but trying to develop baking qualities and baking parameters for a large gas oven just isn’t practical in my view.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Thanks as always for the reply Tom, it’s a big help !
Can I ask what you mean by single top finger configuration ?
The model I have seems to have two panels on both the top and bottom for air flow.
There is also a section between then which has no holes (i’ve attached pictures).
So do you think if I got say the smallest gas conveyor oven I could in my garage, that would that be able to mimic what a bigger gas production oven does in a shop?
It’s important as I’m quite focused on the one thin and crispy style of pizza that is a point of competitive differentiation in the area I’m considering for a shop.
I guess there’s not much point me continuing to try to build and demo a menu using the lincoln impinger electric countertop model…
I mean I’m using exactly the same dough recipe, temp, and cook times and my results far differ from my works big Blodgett Gas Conveyor.
Those are the fingers that you’re holding in your hand, they direct the columns of hot air and regulate the amount of air impinging upon the product being baked.
I won’t mention the manufacturer (major manufacturer) but one year they provided us with their smallest gas air impingement oven for use during the AIB pizza seminar. That oven was supposed to compete with the larger 32" gas air impingement ovens provided by other manufacturers. Long story short, we had to stop using the oven as it was such a poor comparison to the other ovens and our students were seeing the difference. We stopped using the oven to save the dignity of that oven manufacturer. In my opinion, the smallest oven that you should consider using should be a 32" oven. What kind of finger profile you will need to use is yet to be determined. In the TT archives, not too far back I think we had quite a bit of discussion on finding the correct finger configuration for specific types of pizzas.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Thanks again Tom for the quick reply.
So by 32inch, you mean the length of the cooking chamber ?
Yes…I did notice a few 20inch gas ovens…was wondering if that was still too small.
Appreciate the help.
I’m referring to the oven conveyor width, the full designation is a 3240 (32-inches wide and 40-inches long (baking chamber) This oven, if I remember correctly has four fingers on top and four on the bottom. There is also an 1832 which is 18-inches wide and has a 32-inch long baking chamber, BUT I do not know off hand how many fingers this oven has top and bottom. If I remember correctly, I think it has three on top and three on the bottom. While not as configurable as a 3240 it might be an option for consideration. You might check with George Mills on there specs, he would know. The key here is the number of top and bottom fingers, I would go with nothing less than 3 top and 3 bottom.
Also, if you go with a 3240 the oven can be moved into a store since it is large enough for production use. For most manufacturers I think they would consider the 3240 size the work horse of independent pizzerias. Whatever oven you decide upon just make sure you have adequate gas supply available (pressure and volume) along with sufficient ventilation.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Hi Tom, got a location that I’ll be signing a lease for next week hopefully…so exciting.
Just wondering if you had any thoughts on the WOW PS640 Oven ?
It’s basically the oven that seems to be a great option as it’s used by the shop whose dough recipe I’m using.
I can get it off the same company that installed theirs…and they are happy to configure it the same way.
I think my area of concern is that I want the option to be able to configure the top fingers if I can for less top browning.
I noticed in their store when I worked there that they occasionally cooked the top too much…they then tried to counter this by cooking the pizzas for less time…but it meant the bottom of the crusts weren’t cooking enough.
Appreciate your thoughts !
Luke;
It’s a great oven and it should work well for you. Yes, the top fingers can be reconfigured to provide less top bake. I would suggest modifying one of the last top fingers (exit end top) to provide less airflow or possibly even just a radiant panel. The key is to bake your pizza to the bottom bake and then adjust the top fingers to achieve the desired top bake. I like to work inward from the exit end of the oven as this approach provides for the greatest overall bake to the top while controlling the top color. BESURE TO WORK WITH THE COMPANY TO MAKE SURE YOU GET THE RIGHT FINGERS INSTALLED TO PROVIDE THE TOP BAKE THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.
If you encounter any problems in this respect, please contact Jerry Henke at Middleby Marshall, Jerry is Director International Applications Support (say “Hello” to him for me if you contact him) Jerry can be contacted at jhenke@middleby.com
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Thanks Tom, really appreciate the advice !
Counter top ovens never cook well… my theory is that the oven itself doesnt have enough mass to create any radiant heat benefit to the cook… even in the impingment arena the oven itself warms… I always have noticed a better cook from an oven that has been on for at least an hour even in my full size newly purchased Lincoln’s… the Blodgett oven have a fantastic cook but if I remember correctly my experience with the Old Master Therms was they broke often and we’re extraordinarily expensive to fix…
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