I use fresh veggies ie… mushrooms, green peppers and I have a conveyor oven. Most pizzas come out perfectly done, but when a veggie pizza comes out, or a pizza with a cheese covering (blanket) comes out it has so much water, it makes the dough wet.
I tried to add flour to my sauce, but its still an issue.
Any suggestions?
cooking the veggies beforehand will help get some water out.
I do not speak from experience on this since I have used canned veggies.
I plan to go to fresh onions and sweet peppers on my sausage peppers and onion pizza.
Otis
kevin I have a conveyor oven. Most pizzas come out perfectly done, but when a veggie pizza comes out, or a pizza with a cheese covering (blanket) comes out it has so much water, it makes the dough wet.
Hi Kevin: What make and model oven are you using?
George mills
Its a lincoln Impringer
36" gas conveyor double oven
Prep and storage of those veggies can have a big impact too:
- Get mushrooms and bell peppers that are CLEANED and ready to use if possible. Then you don’t have to wash them. Otherwise, after washing, DRY them prior to slicing to keep extra water out of the picture.
- Get “drain” bottoms for your toppings storage - both the bulk and the toppings line. They have them in all sizes. This will let the veggies drain and breathe (they’ll hold up longer too)
kevin
so much water, it makes the dough wet.
Response, I think Otis has the answer. The only time I ran into this problem I think it was in some Pizza Uno shops in Michigan, it may have been some other company, It was a long time ago but I think they began putting veggies in a pan and running them through the oven then pouring off the water and putting the various veggies into the topping pans on the prep tables then putting them on pizzas as the orders came in. If I recall, they did not pre bake the veggies in large quantities just enough for say the next hours production.
George Mills
Sometimes we add a few sprinkles of bread crumbs on top of a pizza that has mositure. The bread crumbs absorbs it as it’s cooking.
or sawdust
Made me laugh right there
D
Did you ever try running your pizza twice in the oven while using a reduced heat? Too much heat will burn the cheese and the dough, but the veggies usually take longer to cook. I use a Marshall Middleby conveyor oven at 520 fehrenheit and I always cook my veggie pizzas twice. 1st I run it from all the way, the 2nd time I run it from halfway!
that’s what you get when you use a conveyor to blow hot air on a pizza!
try using a real oven, and BAKE the pizza…
oh, i forgot, that might take some skill.
fresh mushroom are notorious for releasing moisture. We had the same problem. Our solution was to reduce the portion of each veggie we put on the pizza by about 25%. We also put sprinkle about 1/2 oz of mozz on top of the pizza before it goes in the oven. That disburses any moisture, and keeps it from pooling in the middle. And finally, we have paper towels at the cut table to dab up what little moisture still remains when the pizza comes out.
FYI, I tried precooking the fresh mushrooms to release the moisture first, but they smell and taste like crap. Also, make sure your veggies are drained well before you put them on.
Running a pizza through 1.5 times should not be an option. Dabbing moisture with a paper towel should also not be an option. Just imagine how this looks to the customer! How do you push the pizza back if your oven is full, or count on your oventender to open your window and pull a pie out halfway through. Spend the time with your ovens and set them up right with time and temp that you don’t have this problem. I have done this over the years in my store with MM 360’s, 570’s, Lincoln 1000, X-2 and a XLT. As far as Conveyor Basher, you say it takes skill to bake a pizza in a deck, but not a conveyor, and I would agree, but it takes more marketing skill to sell enough pizza to fill three belts in my ovens than it does to move pizzas around in your decks.
They open the window and put the pie back in at the half point . . . it comes right out then end like the rest of the pies.
quote=“paul7979”]Running a pizza through 1.5 times should not be an option. Dabbing moisture with a paper towel should also not be an option. Just imagine how this looks to the customer! < < SNIP > > Spend the time with your ovens and set them up right with time and temp that you don’t have this problem. I have done this over the years in my store with MM 360’s, 570’s, Lincoln 1000, X-2 and a XLT.
[/quote]
I do believe the thread actually started with having difficulty doing just that. I do find it hard to imagin that I can set one oven temp/time to cook perfect 1-topping pepperoni pies as well as my Gardon Walk that is 7 water-laden vegetables that will, by definition, leach water in the cooking process. Onions, peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes are all just soggy little deal that can cause problems when stacked on each other.
I am testing precooking the oinons, peppers and oilves. Put those on pie first and put tomatoes and mushrooms above. They will get the most heat, more direct heat, and possibly evaporate juices quicker. I am also toying with par-drying (not pre-baking) sliced tomatoes for the pizzas. Partially dehydrating at low heat will intensify the flavors, but drive off some of the volatiles that give the fresh taste. More testing needed for me.
What I want to see is your conveyor blow hot air. you could patent that process since most iven have huge mechanized systems that move the puer-heated air in the bake chamber. Think of how compact and inexpensive such an oven could be!!
I;d also pay money to have your marketing brilliance in my town . . . if you can fill up three conveyors consistently in my market, then your consulting would be worth giving you dibsies on one of my kidneys 
Assuming you are thoroughly draining your veggies, keep in mind that a cheese blanket over the top of the pizza will lock in all the moisture released by the vegetable toppings (not a good thing). You already know where I’m going here.
Make sure the amount of vegetable toppings isn’t excessive.
Try to place the worst offenders at the top of the pizza: fresh tomato, peppers, mushrooms. I like to put the onions down at the bottom (one of the first toppings to be applied) as this helps to keep them from burning.
Contact your oven manufacturer rep to see if they can provide you with a better profile to help dry off the top of the pizzas during baking. In many cases this works great.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
I thinks thats just RUDE
I guess not everyone is such a pizza aficiondo like you. This site is supposed to be help to all who are reaching towards the same goal.
Hey guys, play nice!
Think about it for a minute, what are the physics involved in the concept of a hair, hand or clother dryer? Air flow/movement and heat. Air impingement ovens are great at drying up all the water released from a veggie laden pizza, and yes, they can/do an excellent job of making crispy crust pizzas too, providing they are profiled correctly. Please don’t criticize other kids on the block because of the toys they have to play with. We all have different concepts as to what we want our pizza to be, and we all use different tools to make those pizzas. We all use different tools to do different jobs. Some ovens work better for some concepts than others, but that doesn’t make the other ovens wrong. Air impingement (conveyor ovens) can provide for a fast and consistent bake, if that is what you are looking for. Deck ovens still provide a bit of charm as we watch the pizzas being peeled in and out of the oven, but they do not rule the roost in tewrms of sheer production capacity or consistency of bake. Just try to see if you can get Domino’s to change back to their old deck ovens! Please don’t tell me how bad Domino’s is…you can’t criticize them until you have an equal number of stores! They are successful in their own right, afterall, somebody is buying all those pizzas!
I ain’t gonna say no more!
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
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