Best pizza oven to buy??

[Pizza Boy]

My wife and I want to open a pizza place here in town. Were in the finding the best oven to use and recipes stage. Any help would be appretiated.
Thank you.

[Mannlicher]

I had good results with Blodgett ovens.

[Kbear919]

maybe think about doing a wood fired oven to be different!

[scott123]

What town? Population? Describe the average townsperson. What demographic are you targetting? Are there other local pizzerias?

[Pizza Boy]

Originally Posted by scott123

What town? Population? Describe the average townsperson. What demographic are you targetting? Are there other local pizzerias?

Were in Temecula Ca. I want to make a NY style thin crust pizza. there are no other New York style pizza in town only franchise.

[scott123]

NY Style, huh? You've come to the right place

Again, population of town? What type of jobs do people do? Any major corporations near by?

Closest college/university?

Average income? Ethnicity of townspeople?

How many pizzas do you want to output in a day?

How many tables are you thinking of having? Square footage of space?

What hours will you be open?

Do you have anywhere local that sells used baking equipment?

Where is the closest bakery? Do you have a good bakery in your vicinity? Have any bakeries closed down recently (bread ovens and pizza ovens can be similar).

What are the local franchises? Pizza hut? Domino's? Little Ceasars? How far is it to the closest NY style pizzeria and do they produce a decent product?

For a NY style pie, you want a Vulcan type of oven. Vulcan is to NY style pizza ovens as hobarts are to mixers. There are knockoffs, though. I haven't looked at the specs on ovens in a while, but you're going to want 3" of corderite on all sides (hearth, ceiling, walls). When you get that much thermal mass, there is pretty much no recovery time after the door is opened and the closed.

[Pizza Boy]

Originally Posted by scott123

NY Style, huh? You've come to the right place

Again, population of town? 90K
What type of jobs do people do?faily new city there is a guident with about 7,000 employees I'm setting up within walking should be grat for lunch crowds.
Any major corporations near by? see above

Closest college/university? none

Average income? 60k Ethnicity of townspeople? mostly white, some mexican

How many pizzas do you want to output in a day? 2-300

How many tables are you thinking of having? seating 50?
Square footage of space? 1,600

What hours will you be open? 11 to 11

Do you have anywhere local that sells used baking equipment? yes

Where is the closest bakery? Do you have a good bakery in your vicinity????????????? have to check
Have any bakeries closed down recently (bread ovens and pizza ovens can be similar).

What are the local franchises? Pizza hut? Domino's? Little Ceasars?yes to all
How far is it to the closest NY style pizzeria and do they produce a decent product? none I'll be 1st

For a NY style pie, you want a Vulcan type of oven. Vulcan is to NY style pizza ovens as hobarts are to mixers. There are knockoffs, though. I haven't looked at the specs on ovens in a while, but you're going to want 3" of corderite on all sides (hearth, ceiling, walls). When you get that much thermal mass, there is pretty much no recovery time after the door is opened and the closed.

Hope this helps thank you.

[scott123]

Baker's Pride is a popular brand of pizza oven

This one here looks like it's suited to your tasks:

http://cgi.ebay.com/452-BAKERS-PRIDE...ayphotohosting

At 1 1/2" thick, the baking stone is a little thin for my tastes, but it's not the end of the world. As I mentioned before, the thicker the stone, the less impact opening/closing the oven door will have on the oven temp. A thicker stone will also, imo, make a puffier crust/superior crust. Thicker stones will take longer to preheat, though. They'll also be more expensive to replace and weigh a ton be harder to transport. No matter what you do, don't go thinner than 1 1/2. Thinner than 1 1/2 and you'll be talking seriously impaired pizzas, imo.

You definitely want a gas oven.

Most Vulcan style pizzeria ovens are run in the 550 range, but my recommendation would be to go higher than that. At least from a perspective of the best pizza. The higher the temp, the better the oven spring, the puffier the crust. The extreme of this is the amazingly puffy crust of the 800+ deg. hearth wood oven Neopolitan pie.

[Pizza Boy]

Great info. thanks, although i'm planing to make a thin crisp crust NY style.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Pizza Boy

Great info. thanks, although i'm planing to make a thin crisp crust NY style.

I think what Scott is talking about here is a puffier crust on the border of the pizza.

[scott123]

Thanks Greg. Yes, that's what I'm referring to. A NYC style pizza has a very thin, crispy (but a little floppy unless you fold it) crust underneath the sauce/cheese, but the outer ring has a puffy interior with a chewy exterior. This is achieved by stretching the dough with your knuckles and, for those adapt at it, tossing it in the air. As you drape the dough over your knuckles, the weight of the dough naturally pulls it downward, stretching the middle more than the edge. The goal is a slightly thicker edge and an extremely thin middle. You should be able to see light through the middle of a raw crust.

A hotter oven takes that exterior edge and sends it soaring very quickly with an intense oven spring. The crust underneath the sauce/cheese, though, goes from almost see through thin to just thin.

An almost see through raw interior crust takes some finesse to achieve. Good flour/good gluten development/good level of hydration will get you most of the way, but without proper technique, you'll not only end up with torn pies, you'll end up with pies that stick to the peel or to the baking stone. The thinner the crust, the more fragile it is and the stickier it gets. It almost seems like it's so thin, the sauce soaks through the crust and causes it to stick on the other side . Whatever the reason, extremely thin crust pizzas can take some skills, but man do they taste good. Wow. I look at Sicilian pizzas with their thick bready crust and barely melted cheese and can't help but shake my head. I know, 'to each his own taste.'

On days when I don't want to make a pizza for myself and I go to the pizzeria for a pie, I'll request an extra thin pizza. I'll know the moment I walk in the door if the pizzaolo has the chops to make a really thin pie. The younger, less experienced guys, they just don't have the guts

[panini]

It's not necessary to fold anything if you eating pizza properly. Most older Italians lika myself use utensils.