How long does it take to cook a pizza in a commercial oven?
Pizza is a universal word – in fact, it’s more like a complete language. Everybody knows what ‘pizza’ means and, moreover, everybody loves it. The language of pizza includes ‘mmm’ and ‘yum’ and ‘wow’: it comes with rituals of exchanging slices of this for slices of that, pulling away the slice upon that first bite to distance oneself from the string of cheese. But enough of the romanticising, yeah? Let’s get down to the sciency stuff.
Cooking pizza has never taken long. Centuries ago, the founders of pizza-making discovered that it’s best cooked at high heat, and only for a matter of minutes. But what about in today’s commercial pizza ovens? Has much changed? How long does it take to cook a pizza in a modern commercial oven?
The heat-up process
Every oven, domestic or commercial, needs some time to reach the optimum pizza-cooking temperature of 400 degrees Celsius. Every pizza oven is different, but it usually takes about 15-20 minutes for an oven to heat up properly.
Preheating the pizza stone
Preheating the pizza stone is a vital part of the pizza-making process. If the stone isn’t hot enough before you cook the pizza, you’ll end up with a base that’s floppy and undercooked and topics that are burned. Any expert pizza maker will tell you that the pizza stone has to be piping hot in order to get the base crispy and well-cooked.
How big is your pizza?
Restaurant pizza tends to be larger than home-cooked pizza, so it might take a fair while longer to cook a pizza in a commercial oven – especially if we’re talking about party-size pizzas for share-platters. Whereas a small pizza may only take one or two minutes in a commercial oven, a large party pizza may take a little longer.
How many toppings?
Australians have their own way of making pizza – it’s very different to the traditional Italian style. While Italian pizza is simple and uses toppings sparingly, such as tomato, cheese, herbs and meat, Aussie pizza tends to be a bit more indulgent. Australian pizza can have a heap of toppings on it, which will take longer to cook than a traditional Italian pizza.
So, how long?!
It usually takes around 2-3 minutes to cook a pizza in a commercial oven. Then, your staff have to slice it up, add the finishing touches and serve it up with excellent presentation.
No customer in the world wants to wait around for their delicious restaurant pizza to be served up. That’s why, when you invest in a commercial pizza oven from Alfa Ovens, your customers will never have this problem. One of the most reliable and durable pizza ovens on the market, Alfa Ovens are made in Italy and distributed Australia-wide. Get in touch with the team at Alfa Ovens and browse their range online today.