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Pizza Testing gone BAD!!!

A few missing variables might narrow this down:
  1. How did you cook at home? On a stone slab in your oven (that’s how I did some testing before I got my decks delivered)? Or on a regular oven rack with crust in a pan? That IS different than on a stone deck…
  2. What was the temp at home?
  3. What temps are you trying right now in the oven?
  4. Have you checked whether the temp is at all accurate?
 
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Reverse is true - you SEASON a screen.
spray or brush with oil and bake it - it’ll smoke a lot.
Then do it again. And again.
They’ll turn a pretty coppery color.
Eventually, from use, they turn black. That’s when they’re GOOD.

You can use them after a couple runs of baking and that golden color though…
 
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Debbie

I hate to be the cynic here but with less than 3 weeks to go and you are not sure about your most crucial piece of equipment working correctly???

You really really need to either sort out the oven or defer opening. You only get one chance to do this and if your oven is not working properly then your dead in the water - its just not worth trying even if you you think you may get by - if you think the oven will fail now just wait until a busy night when it does you’ll lose so much credibility it will be very hard to regain those customers. Opening a store is hard enough but even contemplating it with no confidence in you oven is risky business.

I know that people are trying to help with ‘using screens’ etc but you really do need to get the oven working now or alternatively plan NOW for what you will do.

good luck.
 
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Debbie where the pans you used seasoned? If not that may have also been your problem They will reflect heat if they are to bright. Here is what you should do have your supplier help you out once you know if your oven is working properly get someone in asap to look at the oven and do as suggested check the temp in all corners, middle, back and front. If the temp is good. If the oven is fine then get the supplier to help you with the product you are going to use they should be able to help you trouble shoot.
 
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Mystery:
Debbie

I hate to be the cynic here but with less than 3 weeks to go and you are not sure about your most crucial piece of equipment working correctly???
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Sounds right. She is working to straighten out her oven issue, and there are three weeks to go before planned opening.
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Mystery:
I know that people are trying to help with ‘using screens’ etc but you really do need to get the oven working now or alternatively plan NOW for what you will do.
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Again, you are right on target with what she told us Tuesday that she is doing. Once the technician looks at the oven, she’ll have good baseline info on how to proceed . . . and how much any repairs will cost.

Not cynical at all, just a good, concise recap of what Debbie has been telling us.
 
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Patriot'sPizza:
dip them in salad oil, drain & place in the oven, so the oil creates its own non-stick properties…kinda like seasoning a cast iron skillet…you might need to do this several times…
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DO NOT DO THIS!!!

It is a sure way to have a nice fire in your kitchen. You will need to season your screens (or pans for that matter), but dipping them in oil is not the way to do it. The flash point of most oils is about 450ｰF (Corn oil
: 450, peanut: 450). That is just about the same temp or a bit below most pizza ovens. Cheaper oils will blast into flame at 350 (butter: 350, olive oil: 320).

Will it happen evert time? Nope, and Patriot’s has probably been lucky so far, but there is no reason to tempt the ‘pizza gods’ by doing something stupid. Dipping screens puts on far more oil than is necessary to season your screens, causing the drops of oil to build up in your oven. A five minute bake will not get the screen up to 500 degrees, but the oil left in your oven will sure get up there eventually.

To miminize the risk of a flare up, lightly paint your screens, or even better give them a spray of PAM and then heat them. The oil will smoke and harden into a nice non stick surface. Even if done with no flare ups, dipping screens in oil only leads to a sticky mess most of the time.

This is from personal experience by the way. I saw an in-experienced crew try to season some screens prior to an open once and they started the ovens on fire, then started the tile flooring on fire with hot oil from the screens they yanked out of the burning oven. Hot screens melt into flooring nicely.

PM6
 
I s/h mentioned 2 drain the screens b4 sending them thru the oven…result is same as “painting” but faster…we season 100+ screens quarterly or so…stinks up the place, but no fires…as some are draining, some are going thru the oven(s)
 
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pizza master6000:
It is a sure way to have a nice fire in your kitchen. You will need to season your screens (or pans for that matter), but dipping them in oil is not the way to do it. The flash point of most oils is about 450ｰF (Corn oil : 450, peanut: 450). That is just about the same temp or a bit below most pizza ovens. Cheaper oils will blast into flame at 350 (butter: 350, olive oil: 320).
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You listed the smoke points, according to what I have read, but point is well made. The flash point would be somewhere after the smoke 🙂 Build up of oil can lead to grease fires. The oil dripping from the screens will plasticize and become a sort of hard fuel for any flames that occur.

PizzaMaster describes really well what we do to season our screens. We used to have lots of sticking to our shiny screens until I got the “pizza peel to the head” here to season them like my other cookware.
 
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O.K. everyone… here’s what happened…

At my wits end I call the electrician - oven is in GREAT working order. I then called my supplier who said I was indeed cooking incorrectly in this commercial oven and explained what I was doing wrong (trust me, you don’t want to know) AND I also called the previous owner of the pizza oven and he came and spent a couple of hours with us and EVERYTHING got cleared up and the pizzas came out FANTASTIC!

The whole concept of cooking in this oven in comparison to my own is what the problem was - inexperience? absolutely and I really do feel foolish about it. BUT I am a fast learner, eager to learn and DO have experience in business in general so… although it has been suggested that I delay my opening I have chosen to stick to my Sept 6 grand opening (using a very “soft” approch opening I think you all call it when you don’t open with major advertising) I am also choosing to do this to ease into this business. I have only “1” competitor within many many miles and their focus is chicken with pizza as a sideline.

I appreciate ALL the advice on the TT from you and please don’t write me off yet. I want to be part of this family and maybe someday I can offer something back.

Thank you again,
 
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Your success story is a good start to giving back . . . so hurry up and succeed so we can here about it 😃

Glad to here it was simply a technique adjustment. Those are the funnest and cheapest solutions to find!
 
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NicksPizza:
Your success story is a good start to giving back . . . so hurry up and succeed so we can here about it 😃

Glad to here it was simply a technique adjustment. Those are the funnest and cheapest solutions to find!
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Your now on your way to bringing on Debbie the queen of Pizza and Video 🙂

Dave
 
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Oh yeah, I meant to mention that too - dipping seems extreme and messy. But I wouldn’t go to PAM. I just lightly spray with vegetable oil. Works fine in a regular ordinary spray bottle…
 
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Oh c’mon - tell us what you were doing!
Not to make you feel silly, but to give everyone a chuckle, I bet…

Glad you figured it out.

You’re right about a soft opening being one where you pretty much just open the doors for business without a lot of fanfare. And that’s fine - but here are a couple ideas:
  1. Decide your hours and keep them. Just because you are new and small and experimenting does not mean you should be unprofessional or unreliable. If you are supposed to be open from 10 to 10, then do so even if empty…
  2. Do a lot of test cooking and perfect something. Go ahead and open with it. Then GROW YOUR MENU as you are ready. Just a thought that you don’t have to have everything you are PLANNING to cook ready in order to get the doors open. Gives you a chance to bring people BACK in to try new things.
  3. To do #2’s last item, you need to get customer contact information. Start this from day one - with a POS if you have one as part of your project, or with a “mailing list signup” if you don’t. Give people a 10% discount for their address even…
Good luck!
 
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“Debbie” said:
O.K. everyone… here’s what happened…

At my wits end I call the electrician - oven is in GREAT working order.[ I then called my supplier who said I was indeed cooking incorrectly in this commercial oven and explained what I was doing wrong (trust me, you don’t want to know)] AND I also called the previous owner of the pizza oven and he came and spent a couple of hours with us and EVERYTHING got cleared up and the pizzas came out FANTASTIC!

The whole concept of cooking in this oven in comparison to my own is what the problem was - inexperience? absolutely and I really do feel foolish about it. BUT I am a fast learner, eager to learn and DO have experience in business in general so… although it has been suggested that I delay my opening I have chosen to stick to my Sept 6 grand opening (using a very “soft” approch opening I think you all call it when you don’t open with major advertising) I am also choosing to do this to ease into this business. I have only “1” competitor within many many miles and their focus is chicken with pizza as a sideline.

I appreciate ALL the advice on the TT from you and please don’t write me off yet. I want to be part of this family and maybe someday I can offer something back.

WE WANT TO KNOW???
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Yes, everyone can use a little humor on a Monday so chuckle away…

I was cooking on a rack in the middle of the oven (electric deck oven, not a convection oven) on a brand new pan using as little oil as possible and trying to keep the cheese a nice light color!!!

Once these “little” things were cleared up…

Ya, I know, pretty dumb. Thanks Dave, you gave me a chuckle today too, and thanks of course to Nick and to MM. MM your right about reliability. I currently sit in my Video Store sometimes from 8pm til my closing time of 9pm without a single customer BUT I sit here ready willing and able to rent movies until my computer clock says 9pm cause thats one of the most important factors in business - reliability. (I also have the TT to browse and keep me occupied)

Thanks everyone!
 
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Debbie-

Glad to hear that problem is solved … just remember that this is not going to be the last crisis that you’re going to have to deal with (read the “having one of those weeks” thread). I don’t know if you can still do this, but I would go with a “soft opening” in September - let you and your staff get acclimated for at least a month or 6 weeks before doing a big Grand Opening. You never get a 2nd chance to make a first impression, and you want to show your new customers the best possible experience that you can give them. This won’t be possible if you have your Grand Opening right away; the order takers won’t know enough about the menu to answer questions, the cooks won’t be up to speed (taking too much time to prepare orders), the drivers will forget to take sodas or salads with them and will get lost, and the list goes on.

I don’t want to discourage you in any way - I love this business and couldn’t imagine trading it for anything else (well, 90% of the time anyway); it’s just that you are going to run into a number of crisis situations that need to be dealt with NOW as a pizza shop owner - and it seems that the first few weeks in business should be about getting yourself and your staff knowledgable and “in sync”, rather than trying to set the world on fire with huge sales numbers. I know how you’re feeling right now better than anyone - you’re impatient and a bit frustrated, you probably wanted the store to open weeks ago, and you want to get going now. Just remember that in this business, you’re not running a sprint - this is a marathon.

Make sure you’re ready to handle it before you start going after big numbers, or you’re likely only going to get those big numbers once or twice. The money you spend on a Grand Opening is only worthwhile if you develop regular customers from it. If you’re in a location that can potentially do $2000 days, make sure you’re ready to do a $500+ hour, because that’s what you’ll likely be getting.

Best of luck to you, I hope everything goes more smoothly now, just be prepared for those times when it seems like the world (God included) is conspiring together to make your life as challenging as possible. You need to be able to take those times with a grain of salt and a big dose of good humor.
 
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What are Admiral ovens ? I have never heard of them.

Thats probably where your problem lies. if you have bad ovens you will never solve your problem.

Your ovens are the very hart of your system . Why you would hope to be sucessful with out the very best ovens on the market is beyond me.

I hope you get them to work for you.

George Mills
 
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